They Won't Go Quietly

To the grim satisfaction of many at the Chicago Sun-Times, both Conrad Black and David Radler are now doing penance after a thieving ownership that drained financial resources and creative energy from the newspaper for a decade. But there's little joy in the newsroom, where 40 familiar faces — both well-liked veterans and promising newer staff — are gone, too, after a brutal round of layoffs kicked off the year.

"It's like an exercise in anorexia," says Hedy Weiss, Sun-Times theater and dance critic, who joined the paper 24 years ago. "Each time you think you can't get more skeletal, you do."

Yet despite the constant drip of discouraging news about the publication's future, she and many other longtime employees remain loyal to the scrappy paper. They feel an emotional pull to its mission and don't wish to participate in an exodus of talent. But mostly, they just love their work, with a passion that arguably may be blinding them to reality. [Click for MORE]

> Conrad Black reports to Florida prison

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