I hate to tell you but the Chicago Reader is indeed for real and is not considered satire by the lunatic leftists that are helping to ensure both Chicago and Illinois are circling the fiscal drain.
You are completely correct “The Chicago Reader” is the city’s “alternative newspaper” and it has entered into some sort of working relationship with “The Chicago Sun-Times.”
Locally, the papers are known as “The Bleeder” and “The Slimes.”