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ABOUT THE MORNING LEDGER

Owned by a nonprofit and funded by readers, we cover the city with no shareholders to please.

Our promise

We check every fact twice, we call people before we write about them, and when we get something wrong we say so at the top of the story. That is the whole job.

OUR STORY

The Morning Ledger began as a four-page paper sold on streetcars in 1921. A century later we publish around the clock online and still print every morning.

In 2019 the paper became a nonprofit, owned by a community trust. Today more than 60,000 readers pay for our journalism — and anyone can read it.

Our history

A century of Chicago stories

From streetcar paper to reader-funded newsroom.

1921

First edition

Four pages, sold for two cents on the State Street streetcar.

1956

The night presses

A new plant on the river lets us print the morning paper overnight.

1998

Online

The Morning Ledger publishes its first stories on the web.

2019

A nonprofit newsroom

Ownership passes to the Ledger Community Trust.

2026

60,000 members

Readers now fund most of our reporting.

THE MASTHEAD

Reporters and editors who live in the neighborhoods they cover.

Ideas

Metro

Sports

Climate

Politics

Opinion

OUR STANDARDS

The promises every Morning Ledger journalist makes to readers.

Accuracy first

Every fact is checked twice. When we get it wrong, we say so at the top of the story.

Independence

Advertisers and donors never see a story before it runs, and never decide what we cover.

Fairness

We call people before we write about them and give them time to respond.

Transparency

We explain how we reported a story and link to the documents we used.

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Years in print

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Press awards

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JOIN 60,000 MEMBERS

Your subscription pays for reporters, not shareholders.