Chicago's severe weather left many without a newspaper — marking a historic day, media analyst says

A severe storm Monday night that brought tornadoes across a wide swath of the Chicago-area didn't just leave thousands of residents without power — it also left some without access to print newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times.

Readers with home delivery service did not receive their Tuesday paper because of “production issues caused by severe weather,” according to the Chicago Tribune's website. The Chicago Tribune Co. prints the Sun-Times newspaper as well as the Tribune, Daily Herald, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and other papers.

Several newsstands in Chicago said they did not receive copies of either the Sun-Times or the Tribune on Tuesday. City Newsstand, which has a location in Portage Park and Evanston, said it received The New York Times but not the Wall Street Journal.

The companies said they expect delivery to resume Wednesday. The Sun-Times, as well as the Tribune, also told readers that home deliveries will resume Wednesday and include Tuesday's issue.

Businesses like Millennium News and Views in the Loop said customers took notice and inquired about the lack of Chicago papers — something media business analyst Rick Edmonds described as a historic day for Chicago print media and just one of the impacts to the news business.

Edmonds, leader of news transformation at the Poynter Institute, said single-copy sales are already down nationally and days like Tuesday put commuters and readers out.

“If we're talking about some readers who are used to buying a single copy, get on the commuter train, that would really sort of put them in a pinch if they were not attuned to looking at it digitally,” Edmonds said.

A second consecutive night of severe storms barreled through Chicago and the surrounding area on Monday. The National Weather Service confirmed at least five tornadoes touching down, including an EF-1 tornado on the city’s Near West Side. An EF-1 has three-second gusts of 86 to 110 mph, according to the NWS.

Tornadoes were also confirmed near Channahon, Oswego and Bridgeview as well as in Crown Point, Indiana. The weather service continues to investigate reports of more than 25 possible tornadoes, so the number of confirmed tornadoes could rise during the week.

The weather service also determined the Chicago area experienced a derecho, a massive type of wind storm with fast-moving rain showers. At the derecho’s peak, more than 220,000 ComEd customers were without power.

In the absence of a print paper, the Sun-Times dropped its paywall for the Tuesday e-paper. The Tribune offered its full eNewspapers online, in addition to digital additions of its sister papers.

While many papers offer free digital access to print subscribers, Edmonds said reading an online version of the paper isn’t always a reader’s preferred medium. In many cases, print subscribers don’t even choose to set up digital accounts.

“There's still some people who are looking to the newspaper as their first stop for information,” Edmonds said.

Print readers may prefer the “beautiful still pictures” or the narrative storytelling commonly found in newspapers, he said. But in the wake of big events like Monday’s derecho, readers may head online for specific information such as weather-induced closures or how to get to work.

The share of newspaper advertising revenue coming from digital advertising is steadily climbing, according to the Pew Research Center. And Tuesday will likely not have a significant impact on Chicago-area media, Edmonds says.

“I do think that could be an impact on advertising — especially daily paper, things are not thick with advertising anymore,” he said. “So, some impact, but I don't think that's a big factor.”