Owned by the Tribune Company, the Chicago Tribune at one time called itself the "World\'s Greatest Newspaper". It is definitely the most important daily of Chicago and also one of the ten largest newspapers of America. James Kelly, John E. Wheeler and Joseph K.C. Forrest were the founders of The Tribune and its first edition was published on the 10th of June, 1847. Over the next eight years the paper saw several different owners and editors. In 1855, Joseph Medill and Charles Ray bought majority of the shares in the paper and under their editorship it became the main organ of the Republican Party in Chicago. In the mid nineteenth century The Tribune bought over three other Chicago papers and absorbed them - the Free West in 1855, the Democratic Press in 1858 and the Chicago Democrat in 1861. From 1858 to 1860 the paper was called the Chicago Press & ; Tribune after which it changed its name to Chicago Daily Tribune.

Over its long history, the paper has had its fair share of ups and downs. In 1919, the paper created a major stir in the world when it printed the text of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1942 its story about America having broken Japan\'s secret military code shocked the world. But Americans won\'t forget the paper\'s major blooper during the 1948 presidential elections. Based on early rounds of counting the editorial team of the paper believed that Republican Thomas Dewey would win. The paper\'s early edition had the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman" but it was Harry Truman who actually won and the paper became a collector\'s item.

In 1974 the paper performed a major feat when it printed the entire text of the Watergate tapes in a 44 page supplement, not only becoming the first paper to do so but also beating the government printing office. In 2001, The Tribune redesigned itself and launched a much better newspaper in a size that is much easier to handle. Over the years the paper\'s strongly Republican policy has changed and today it has a much more centrist position. Despite having supported George W. Bush during the elections, the paper has attacked the Bush government over a number of issues in the past couple of years. The Tribune has a daily readership of 1.7 million and on Sunday this figure goes up to 2.7 million. Today, the paper has some very good columnists including Steve Chapman, Clarence Page and Dawn Turner Trice. Writers of The Tribune have won a total of 24 Pulitzers including the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing which went to Julia Keller for her brilliant account of the deadly tornado that ripped apart Utica, Illinois.

Despite being smaller in circulation and advertising revenue than its rival the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times is also one of America\'s ten largest daily newspapers. Owned by the Sun Times Media Group, the Chicago Sun Times is more of an urban tabloid and is formatted to suit the needs of the modern reader. In fact the paper makes more money of the newsstand than the Chicago Tribune. The paper started off in 1844 as the Chicago Evening Journal. This makes it the oldest daily newspaper to be continuously published in Chicago. The paper was relaunched in 1929 as the Chicago Daily Illustrated Times. In 1948 the paper merged with the Chicago Sun and that\'s how the Chicago Sun Times was born.

The paper was bought over by Rupert Murdoch\'s News Corp in 1984 and the paper began aping the style of another paper owned by Murdoch - the New York Post. There was a singnificant drop in the journalistic quality of the paper and it became a victim of over sensationalization. The paper\'s political allegiance shifted towards the Republicans and with the Chicago Tribune becoming more centrist, the rivalry between the two papers softened. Murdoch later sold the paper to Hollinger International but soon the controllers of this company - Conrad Black and David Raddler were indicted for major financial irregularities and Hollinger International was renamed Sun Times Media Group. But there was worse to follow. The Sun Times was censured in 2004 by the Audit Bureau of Circulations for forging its circulation figures. However, the paper, which has won eight Pulitzers, is back on track now. Cheryl Reed, the new editorial page editor, made an announcement on the 10th of July this year saying that the paper was returning to its liberal, working class roots which would revive the rivalry between them and the Republican loving Chicago Tribune.

The weekly Chicago Defender was started by Robert Abbott on the 5th of May, 1905 with an investment of a mere 25 cents. At that time only 300 copies of the newspaper were published at a time. The first issue of the paper was basically a four page, six column handbill which was created on Abbot\'s landlord\'s kitchen table. It had news put together by Abbot and also clippings from other papers. But by World War I, the paper became the largest and most influential black weekly of America and was known to severely attack racial injustice. In 1940 the paper was bought over by John H. Sengstacke. The Defender became a daily paper on the 6th of February, 1956 and was renamed the Chicago Daily Defender. Following Sengstacke\'s death in 1997 a legal battle followed and the paper saw several different owners till it was finally taken over by the Detroit Group in 2004. The paper continues to be a major fighter against racial injustice and has a weekly readership of about half a million.

In 1971 some friends from Carleton College started an alternative newsweekly called the Chicago Reader. The paper is published every Friday and has a average weekly circulation of 120,204. It offers intensive local news and is known for its long and hard hitting cover stories. It also serves as a guide to the culture, arts, entertainment and real estate of Chicago.

Started in 1871, The Daily Herald is a paper meant for the north, northwest & western suburbs of Chicago. Paddock Publications Inc. own and run the paper on their own and this is a testimmny of tHe success of the pa0eP AnD the companq as mosT of the smaller papers have been bought over by larger publishing houses. The paper is the largest exclusively suburban newspaper in the Chicago region. The special feature of the paper is that it has it has divided the suburbs into 29 different zones and each zone gets specific news about the schools, community events and local governance in that area. The motto of the Daily Herald is "Big picture. Local Focus."while it has excellent national and international coverage, it also covers local news in detail.

The Daily Southtown founded on the 11th of September, 1906 is for the south suburbs of Chicago and Chicago Southland region. The paper is known to be aggressive in its reporting and is belived to be one of the best written non metro dailies in America. In 2006, the paper won the award for the Newspaper of the Year in the suburban dailies section. This paper is also owned by the Sun Times Media Group.

Perhaps the most interesting paper of Chicago is the StreetWise. Priced at one dollar, the paper is sold by homeless people or those who face the danger of becoming homeless. The paper was started in 1992 and contains art, poetry and articles by vendors apart from local and national news. Around 200 vendors together sell 20,000 copies of the paper every week. They buy the paper for 35 cents and keep the rest as profit to support themselves.

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