You Get What You Pay For

Starting Monday, RedEye, the Chicago Tribune's retarded younger sibling, will be officially free, as opposed to unofficially free for 80 percent of its readers and 25 cents a copy for the suckers who were willing to pay for it.

Here's what general manager Brad Moore said in the press release (issued, White House-style, at 5 p.m. on Friday evening):

Since our launch in October 2002, RedEye has operated under a hybrid free/paid model with the majority of our distribution being free. As we continued to monitor the business it became clear that converting to a free model would make RedEye most accessible -- putting copies into more readers' hands. Increasing readership means more value for our advertisers and more revenue growth.

Here's what founding general manager John O'Loughlin said in 2003:

If we didn't think we'd get a quarter for it, we wouldn't have done it.

We really wish they hadn't.