Steve Rhodes has extensive experience leading and creating innovative digital news organizations. He has a master's degree focused on newsroom management and has held leadership roles at several prominent publications. Currently, he is the editor and founder of The Beachwood Reporter, an online news site covering Chicago politics and culture.

1. Steve Rhodes____________________________________________
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Read Before Burning: This resume is expansive because it tells a compelling story:
I’ve consistently led, excelled and created change throughout my career. I’ve also
continually engaged with the larger issues facing the industry.
Objective: To put my leadership, creativity, vision, knowledge, ethical clarity, and
editing, reporting and writing skills to use in a forward-looking, fun, mission-driven
digital news organization.
Education:
Northwestern University:
• Self-designed, pioneering M.A. in newsroom management combining coursework
from the Medill School of Journalism, the Kellogg Graduate School of
Business, and the School of Communication. June 1993. Nicely
complemented my on-campus work at the Newspaper Management Center,
as noted below.
• Master's Certificate in Telecommunications Science, Management and Policy.
June 1993. That’s what “online” used to be called.
University of Minnesota:
• B.A. in Journalism. December 1989. A proud graduate of journalism school,
which provided the foundation in history, law and ethics that every journalist
needs, alongside coursework in political and investigative reporting that well-
supplemented my work at The Minnesota Daily.
Employment:
10/05 to current The Beachwood Media Company
Editor, Publisher, Founder
The editorial force behind The Beachwood Reporter, the world’s
wittiest Chicago-centric online news and culture review (and the longest running
new media property in the city; now well past its peak and in “suspended
animation” due to costly tech and design issues; I know the site is broken). Featured
in the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ publication The American Editor in
“Tips From Eight Of The Best” – link removed due to deadness. Managed a
volunteer staff of up to two dozen. Wrote a popular and unique daily home-page

2. column that was a mix of incisive media criticism and political/news commentary
that was often funny, sometimes scathing and always true. Conceived of innovative
features. Frequently appeared on TV, radio, media and political panels, and in
college classrooms. Did killer podcasts. See also examples of posts such as “Rahm’s
Rules” and “McCain vs. McRib.”
Also during this time:
• 07/20 to 10/20 Census Field Supervisor
Effectively trained and managed a short-term team of 25 by
quickly inspiring loyalty and productivity through building culture, engaging in
transparency, improvising solutions together with humor and compassion, and
taking disciplinary action when necessary firmly, fairly and clearly.
• 03/08 to 12/09 Division Street
Wrote, reported and curated a witty and incisive daily blog
about “Chicago politics and its discontents” for NBC Chicago. The work was then
expanded and moved to a relaunched NBCChicago website.
10/99 to 10/05 Chicago magazine
Senior Editor
Primarily responsible for the magazine's coverage of politics,
media, and business — the “Clout Beat” — from untangling the downfall of a
proposed politically-connected casino to provocative pieces such as “The Case
Against Daley,” which was adapted into a chapter for The Mayors: The Chicago
Political Tradition. Also created the popular online weekly media column Press Box
(samples here.) See also: “And Now, A Few Words On Behalf Of The Worst Writer
In Chicago,” “Ode To An Eyesore,” and “Why Chicago’s Spineless City Council Just
Can’t Say No.”
11/94 to 10/99 Newsweek
Special Correspondent
A regular contributor to the nation, business, lifestyle and
society sections, from the economics of Michael Jordan’s contract to bisexuality
(which put me in the Congressional Record!); Chicago’s public schools strategy to its
new art museum; tobacco marketing to Fargo’s unemployment rate. Sent on the
road to follow Sammy Sosa’s 1998 home run chase; part of the Unabomber and
Versace killer reporting teams.

3. 6/93 to 11/94 Chicago Tribune
Reporting resident
Spent 18 months as a staff writer, habitually landing on the
front page with stories revealing political corruption, murders attributable,
separately, to a failed domestic abuse and child welfare system, and in a change of
pace from gritty urban reporting, features on the planet’s largest Twinkie factory,
the enduring appeal of Chuck Taylor Hi-Tops, and a wildly popular minor league
baseball team in St. Paul, Minn. Also spent time as the rewrite man, and was a lead
political writer on Election Night ‘94.
1993 to 1995 Pure Magazine
Features Editor
Pure, a hip city start-up magazine, was described by Magazine
Week as “the best thing out of Chicago since deep dish pizza.” Newsweek, Details,
Factsheet Five and the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain also noticed. I helped create
Pure’s voice, generated story ideas, recruited writers and edited stories.
1992 to 1993 Newspaper Management Center
Staff Assistant
Research projects included work on local news and Generation X
for both NMC (later the Readership Institute) and Knight-Ridder. Knight-Ridder’s
“Local News Ideabook” became an ongoing project, while “Managing
Twentysomethings” was originally researched for a class and then presented to the
Chicago Tribune at a panel session for senior executives. Also researched and
helped author The Newsroom Brain: A Working Guide to Journalism Decisions; co-
authored the case study “Managing Diversity” and a sat through innumerable mid-
level and senior executive-level seminars.
1991 to 1992 The Courier
(Waterloo, Iowa)
Police Reporter
Made inroads with previously ignored minority communities,
uncovered paramedics who falsified training documents for annual recertification,
and fought to reorganize police coverage, resulting in public inspection of police
reports for the first time in the paper's history.

4. 1989 to 1991 The Ledger
(Lakeland, Fla.)
Police Reporter, Sunday Writer
Uncovered a wildly unconstitutional sheriff's office drug sting
that started with Pablo Escobar and ended with deputies intentionally causing
traffic accidents and perjuring themselves about it later, among other reporting
achievements. Re-prioritized police beat to deepen institutional and policy coverage.
Summer 1989 The New Haven Register
(New Haven, Conn.)
Reporting intern
Took part in the first interview of a former Pentagon hand
subpoenaed in the Operation Ill Wind military contracting scandal; led the
questioning of then-state Attorney General Joe Lieberman, campaigning for the
U.S. Senate, that led to him saying America should bomb Libya regardless of
whether Khadafy was found to be responsible for the bombing of a German disco;
and covered the municipal doings of a town called Shelton in the Naugatuck Valley.
1986 to 1989 The Minnesota Daily
Managing Editor, Assistant Managing Editor, Reporter
As M.E., led a 50-plus member staff to the best year in the
history of the nation's best college newspaper. The toll of our investigations,
including resignations, firings, early retirements and a conviction: two presidents,
three vice presidents, one athletic director, one director of minority affairs, and one
physical plant director. Our athletic department investigation, and court victory for
the release of an NCAA report, was featured in Editor & Publisher. And we turned
a profit for the first time in three years in part due to my work with the business
manager. Also edited two annual humor editions.
Freelance Credits:
Inside Sports, Variety, Newsweek Japan, Illinois Issues, Illinois Legal Times,
Delta’s Sky magazine, Newsday, The Baltimore Sun, USA Weekend, the Saint Paul
Pioneer Press, Columbia Journalism Review, Vegetarian Times, the Religion News
Service, Digital Cities Chicago, UPI, No Depression, Crain’s Chicago Business, City
& State, The Chicago Bureau/The Youth Project, and the Goal magazine hockey
program.
Editing: Unlock Congress
The Chicago Principles on Post-Conflict Justice

5. Awards:
2011: Stopped applying for awards because I by and large don’t
believe in them for a number of reasons.
2010 The Beachwood Reporter named city’s best “blog” by the Chicago
Headline Club, the local SPJ chapter.
2009 SPJ national award for best investigative reporting by
independent online media for a joint project with Columbia
College about city council committees meeting without quorums,
minutes, and other quasi-required elements.
2008 IRE award for investigative reporting for a joint project with
Columbia College about city council perks and hiring.
2004 National Magazine Award For General Excellence to Chicago
magazine for issues including “The Sad Saga of Bob Greene.”
2004 City and Regional Magazine Association Silver Medal for
Reporting: “Anatomy of a Crash.”
2003 Peter Lisagor Award (Chicago Headline Club) Award For In-
Depth Reporting: “Anatomy of a Crash.”
2001 Peter Lisagor (Chicago Headline Club) Award For Reporting:
“The Day Clout Struck Out.”
2001 Judge, American Planning Association Journalism Awards
1996 Outstanding Achievement Award to the reporting team of
Newsweek’s bisexuality cover story, Lesbian and Gay
Journalists Association
1988 Best College Daily, Society of Professional Journalists
Best Spot News, Daily Extra, SPJ
Leadership Award, University of Minnesota
1986 Minneapolis Star and Tribune Scholarship
1985 Scottish Rite Journalism Scholarship

6. 1983 Bloomington Scholarship
Panelist Appearances:
2012: Columbia College Creative Nonfiction Week: Election
Night Coverage That Rocks!
2011: Leading the Media Revolution: Screening of the
documentary Mashed Media followed by a roundtable
featuring the film’s subjects, including yours truly.
2010: McCormick Fall Fellows Forum/Beachwood Reporter Case
Study
2010: Bleeping Golden: Insiders’ Stories Of Covering The Blago
Trial
2010: Young Leaders Public Interest Seminar: Media
2010: Community Media Workshop: The Business Of Media
2010: CMO Expo Publishers’ Panel
2009: Community Media Workshop: Opinions In The News
2009: Loyola University: Do Newspapers Still Matter?
2009: The MIT Enterprise Forum of Chicago: Innovation and
the 2008 Presidential Campaign
2009: Chicago Media Future Conference: How To Make Money
Selling The News
2008: International Newspaper Marketing Association Strategic
Marketing & Innovation Summit: What Is The Online
Business Model For Newspapers?
2007: Moderator, University of Chicago panel: Reporting on
Human Rights
2006: Community Media Workshop: Emerging Online News
Outlets
2005: HOW Design Conference: Blogging

7. 2002: Columbia College Creative Nonfiction Week: The Craft of
the Columnist
Media Citations/Appearances:
The American Editor, AP, Chicago Public Radio, Chicago Tonight, Chicago Week in
Review, Fox Chicago Sunday, the Guardian, NBC Chicago, The NewYork Times,
WGN-TV, WGN-AM, CLTV’s Politics Tonight, the Washington Post, CNN’s Reliable
Sources, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain’s Chicago Business, the
Christian Science Monitor, CBS Chicago, Chicago Reader, The O’Reilly Factor, The
Rachel Maddow Show, On The Media, Newsweek Radio, Untouchable: Mobster Cop,
and the upcoming Deadly Associates.
Classroom:
Guest speaker for numerous classes at Northwestern University, Columbia College,
Loyola University, DePaul University and the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Miscellaneous:
Entry in CJR’s Guide To Online News Startups (2011)
Q & A with ChicagoTalks (2008)