Realignment Of Sun-Times Executives

CHICAGO (AP) — The Sun-Times Media Group Inc. announced another shake-up in its top management.

Thomas L. Kram succeeds David C. Martin as senior vice president for finance and chief financial officer. Martin, who had held the financial post on an interim basis, was named senior vice president for business development.

The appointments take effect immediately, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

Kram, 49, will report to Jeremy L. Halbreich, the company's newly appointed chairman of the board and interim chief executive officer. Martin, 52, will report to Rick Surkamer, president and chief operating officer.

The announcement comes one week after John Barron, who was named Chicago Sun-Times publisher in February, assumed the same role for financially struggling company's Pioneer Press division.

Wednesday's announcement was the latest in a series of leadership shake-ups. In recent weeks, the company announced Sun-Times Managing Editor Donald Hayner would become editor-in-chief, replacing Michael Cooke, who left to become editor of the Toronto Star.

Halbreich, the former president and general manager of the Dallas Morning News, recently replaced former chief executive officer and chairman Cyrus Freidheim, who resigned.

Sun-Times Media Group owns the Chicago Sun-Times and dozens of suburban newspapers and Web sites in the Chicago area. The company has made recent cuts due to declining advertising revenue, including February's closure of 12 weekly newspapers, and has asked union employees to take cuts in compensation.