By Darren Johnson
Journal & Press
When taking over The Journal & Press, I was pretty adamant about adding syndicated copy.
You know, stuff like this…
And this…
And this guy who writes a humor column (sample below)…
Newspapers have the option of subscribing to wire services and syndicates that include stories, columns, comics and puzzles that aren’t local in nature.
Daily newspapers use a lot of such material.
Community paper editors have mixed opinions on such use. Some use none or just a little, maybe just a single puzzle, wanting to offer a purely local experience. I probably use more than the vast majority of small-town editors.
But it’s not out of laziness.
I have two main reasons why I use a good deal of syndicated copy:
The reader experience. I bump into readers all of the time who say they like LOCAL WRITER 1, LOCAL WRITER 2 and…
The comics
A certain puzzle
Humor Hotel
It bumps us up from 32 to 40 pages, so the paper feels more substantial.
It doesn’t cost much more to print an extra eight pages.
The postage rate is the same either way.
And I like daily papers — even though we don’t print daily, I still want that feel. And I think other readers feel the same way. I see a lot of people picking up daily papers with all of their syndicated copy at area stores. Why can’t we compete with them, at least on the one day we print?
If you’re on a plane, in a doctor’s office waiting room, on the beach and looking to occupy your mind — syndicated copy hits just right!
Our syndication service gives us more than what I’ve listed above. Here’s where I can play editor and curate what actually makes it in. For example, we can run Rick Steves’ European travel columns. He’s a celebrity of sorts, well known to PBS watchers. His pieces are well-written and come with great photos, like this one…

But how many of us are planning European vacations right now? These feel a bit privileged.
I also get celebrity articles from Variety about Taylor Swift, Tom Cruise and similar folks, religious columns, gritty partisan columns, horoscopes, a pet column, a Mayo Clinic health advice column, recipes and more. Some of it I will run in our Sunday Paper Edition emails.
The Chicago Sun-Times recently was embarrassed for running a syndicated story on summer books. The problem? It was written by AI and most of the books on the list were totally fabricated. Some low-level hack at the syndication service cheated, and the Sun-Times didn’t vet the copy and just flowed it onto the page.
I do vet the copy that goes into the paper. Sometimes a political cartoonist might push the envelope too far, so I’ll pick a different cartoon from the same artist. You can’t please everyone, though.
Anyhow … Please respond to the poll above. I’m interested in your thoughts on syndicated content.
Humor Hotel: It’s official: The dogs have won
By Greg Schwem
Tribune Content Agency
Special to Journal & Press
It was one of those days Chicagoans like to call “Fake Spring.” At 5:30 p.m. temperatures hovered in the high 60s. Scores of young couples, accompanied by their children, their bikes and their strollers descended on city parks for late afternoon fun, knowing snow could easily fall that same week. And it would.
After all, this is Chicago in March.
I joined my niece, her husband and their 5-month-old son at South Lakeview Park, a three-quarter-acre green space crammed into a neighborhood of renovated two-flat structures and populated by families desperate to hang on to city living a little while longer before the inevitable move to the suburbs and wide open play areas.
More than 50 children tumbled down slides or chased one another through the park’s confines. Their parents, some sipping White Claws, High Noons and other Gen Z-favored beverages, watched to the best of their abilities. Happy shrieks filled the air.
“We’d better get in line for the swings,” my niece said as the four of us approached the chaos.
“There’s a LINE?” I replied. “For the SWINGS?”
There was.
I’ve waited in line for Bruce Springsteen tickets, amusement park rides and, although I’m not proud to admit it, the chance to enter the world’s largest Starbucks on Michigan Avenue. But not playground equipment. Also, I know that when it comes to waiting in lines, we have the patience of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt listening to a question posed by CNN.
I expected a parent to stroll up, whip out a plastic card designating membership in the “Frequent Swing Club” and say her child was therefore entitled to the next available swing.
“This city needs more parks. And more swings,” I said to my niece. She didn’t argue.
The following day, at approximately the same time and in similar weather conditions, I happened upon Noethling Park, a mere half mile from South Lakeview. Although slightly smaller, it appeared positively huge, due to its lack of population. No children were present because no playground equipment existed. The park’s only occupants were two dogs, frolicking happily while their owners chatted on a nearby bench.
Since I’m certain dogs can talk, I could only imagine what they were saying to one another.
“We won. We are now loved more than children.”
It certainly appears that way.
Incidentally, Noethling Park is also known as “Wiggly Field,” and boasts, on the neighborhood association’s website, to be “Chicago’s first official dog exercise and play area.” The park’s rules include a strict “no food” rule. For both dogs and humans.
Sorry, new moms who may just need a bench for nursing. Ditto to moms of toddlers who feel Wiggly Field would make an ideal location for a spring picnic. Move along. Unless you are a dog, there is no place for you here. Try South Lakeview Park. It’s easy to spot. Just look for the swing line.
Later that week, I was relaying the “dogs over humans” story to a friend at an upscale Italian restaurant in the West Loop. This being a Friday night, the restaurant bustled with activity. Looking around, I only saw adults. No children were on the premises.
A table for eight sat empty next to us. But not for long.
A party of nine strolled in. Four couples and one dog. I don’t excel at identifying dog breeds at first glance. This one was small, white, dressed in a sweater and cradled in its female owner’s arms. Eventually she placed the canine under her seat. While talking to my friend and simultaneously eavesdropping, I could tell the first 10 minutes of conversation among the couples revolved around the dog.
Since I’m certain dogs can understand human language, I am convinced this dog was thinking, “I, too, have won. My human cannot live without me. Even for a 90-minute meal featuring fedellini arrabiata and sauteed broccolini.
I left before the party had completed its meal, so I’m not sure if they planned to continue their evening.
But the group looked as if they would easily be comfortable in a trendy nightclub with a strict dress code, a two-beverage minimum and a bouncer making sure nobody under 21 entered the establishment.
Unless the underaged guest was a dog. Come on in!
Greg Schwem is a corporate stand-up comedian and author of two books: “Text Me If You’re Breathing: Observations, Frustrations and Life Lessons From a Low-Tech Dad” and the recently released “The Road To Success Goes Through the Salad Bar: A Pile of BS From a Corporate Comedian,” available at Amazon. Visit Greg on the web at www.gregschwem.com.
And Now for the (Syndicated) Comics…
‘Broom Hilda’ by Russell Myers
’The Middletons’ by Dana Summers
More tomorrow!
Do be careful with the syndicated content. If you’re going to run puzzles and Jumbles and Sudokus in the paper, make sure you’re not running the same ones week after week! I know it’s happened with the Jumble for sure!