RedEye

The RedEye is a daily publication put out by the Chicago Tribune geared toward 18 to 34-year-olds. RedEye (not to be confused with Red Eye, or Red-Eye, or other popular international websites and business sharing the same name) was created due in part to the loss of readership among young people of the Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers. Tribune Company began publishing the RedEye in an effort to pull readers back into readership and eventually migrate them into the big edition (Tribune).

When RedEye appeared, it was in direct competition with another paper Red Streak, which the Tribune's Chicago competitor the Sun Times began publishing at the same time. Initially, both papers were handed out for free by "hawkers" on street corners, usually with one vendor from each paper directly next to each other. After about 6 months of the free papers, both companies placed vending boxes throughout the city with the papers thereafter costing 25 cents.

At the end of 2005, the Sun Times discontinued Red Streak. According to Sun Times published John Cruickshank, Red Streak was only launched "to stop [the Tribune] from gaining a foothold in the paid tabloid market...". Its only purpose was to undermine RedEyes attempt at drawing commuters, customers which have historically belonged to the Sun Times.

At the beginning of 2006, RedEye became a free paper once again, with vending boxes being unlocked and coin slots covered over.

In February 2007, after NewsCorp launched a late-night talk television program on Fox News entitled Red Eye, the Tribune Company filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit.

Recently, Chicago native and rapper Twista has signed on to do a column for RedEye called "Twista's Turn", where he shares his thoughts and answers readers' questions.