This is great news if you are a fan of Robert Feder, the highly esteemed media writer in Chicago. And I guess since I’m a contributor to the Tribune, writing a sports media column, it finally makes us sort of teammates after all these years.

Welcome aboard, Sir Robert.

Robert Channick in the Tribune has the details:

Longtime Chicago media columnist Robert Feder is launching a standalone media blog next month through a partnership with the Chicago Tribune. 

The editorially independent Web site, RobertFeder.com, will be owned by Feder, but licensed and marketed by the Chicago Tribune Media Group, an agreement based on generating online traffic and advertising revenue. Terms were not disclosed. 

“It really is an experiment in setting up a site like that and somebody who is an expert in a field and can generate his own audience,” said Bill Adee, senior vice president of digital development and operations at the Chicago Tribune. “Rob is going to be responsible for what he writes, we’ll have our advertising on there, but editorially speaking, he’ll do whatever he wants.”

And..

“I see this as a great opportunity to cover Chicago media in all its forms, expanding on the work I’ve been doing since I started at the Sun-Times in 1980 and later adapted to digital platforms at Vocalo and Time Out Chicago,” Feder said. “This new venture with the Tribune guarantees that my blog will be editorially independent.”

The Chicago Tribune Media Group includes the Chicago Tribune, RedEye, Chicago Magazine, Hoy and TribLocal, among other media properties.  While Feder’s site will be promoted on chicagotribune.com, there are no plans to share content with the newspaper – in print or online, according to Adee.

“We’ll have ways of promoting his blog on our site, but there’s no expectation that his work would have to appear in the newspaper, ” Adee said.