Sun-Times Media Group announces management changes

John Barron, who last month was named publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, is taking on the same role for a group of weekly publications and North Shore magazine, the publications' parent company announced Wednesday.

Sun-Times Media Group Inc. said Barron's appointment as publisher of the Pioneer Press division is part of a reorganization designed to streamline decision making and lower costs at the financially struggling media company.

Larry Green, current president and publisher of Pioneer Press, is retiring, according to a news release.

Other moves include the elevation of Lisa Tatiana to publisher of the Merrillville, Ind.-based Post Tribune from her post as vice president of advertising. She replaces Murdoch Davis, who is leaving the newspaper.

The company also announced it will combine the Midwest Suburban Publishing and the Fox Valley Publications division to create the Sun-times Media Group Suburban News Division. Fred Lebolt, president and publisher of Fox Valley Publications & New Media, has been named the new division's president.

Lebolt also will become publisher of the Lake County News-Sun and the SouthtownStar newspapers and their online counterparts.

The announcement is the latest in a series of leadership shake-ups for the Sun-Times and its parent company. In recent weeks, the Sun-Times that managing editor Donald Hayner would become editor-in-chief, replacing Michael Cooke, who left to become editor of the Toronto Star.

The company also announced that Cyrus Freidheim, chief executive officer and chairman of Sun-Times Media Group, was resigning, to be replaced by Jeremy Halbreich, the former president and general manager of The Dallas Morning News.

Sun-Times Media Group owns the Chicago Sun-Times and dozens of suburban newspapers and Web sites that serve more than 200 communities in the Chicago area. The company has made recent cuts due to declining advertising revenue, including last month's closure of 12 weekly newspapers and asking union employees to take cuts in compensation.