Chicago Tribune promotes newsroom veteran
The Chicago Tribune has promoted newsroom veteran Phil Jurik to managing editor, the latest change to the newspaper’s masthead. Jurik, 62, an editor at the Tribune since 2008, most recently served as co-news director with Rochell Sleets, who left the newspaper this month to become managing editor at Newsday.
“It’s clear to me that Phil has the respect and trust of our newsroom,” Mitch Pugh, executive editor of the Tribune, said in an email.
“He has been instrumental in leading the Tribune through challenging days, and I am confident he is the right person to help lead us into our future.”
Jurik has held a variety of roles at the Tribune, rising through the ranks as deputy metro editor, suburban editor and metro editor.
In 2021, he was named co-news director, a newly created position where he oversaw reporting on criminal justice, local politics and government accountability, among other topics. While Jurik and Sleets managed the breadth of newsroom coverage in partnership, his promotion fills a role that has essentially been vacant since the departure of Christine Taylor as managing editor in October 2021.
“I think this is kind of a time for a reset,” Jurik said. “My goal is going to be to maximize all of our great talent to put everyone in a position to succeed. I think readers have proven they will reward hard-hitting objective work.”
Jurik previously worked at the Daily Southtown for 12 years and started his journalism career at the Kansas
City Star. A Northern Illinois graduate, Jurik has a master’s degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield, then known as Sangamon State. A Chicago native, Jurik splits time between the city and Walworth County, Wisconsin.