Each time Sam Zell's Tribune Company lays off journalists, puts a title on the block and bemoans the economics of news publishing, his ebullient new innovation czar ups the change rhetoric. Lee Abrams' latest memo, after a visit to Zell's Los Angeles Times, takes incoherent optimism to the level of prose poetry. "BE the city...in 2008. Look forward. Combine Passion with character and muscle. Operate with a sense of swagger that YOU are the city...on today's terms. ...and getting in sync with the speed of 2008 with fast, medium and deep options... and STIMULATING THE EYE."
Is This The Most Infuriating Newspaper Executive In America?
1:28 PM on Tue May 6 2008
By Nick Denton
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23 comments










Comments
Smarmy guy with George Washington hair, that's all I have to say about that. Yuck.
Ron Jeremy is a newspaper exec now?
This quote works just as well if you replace "city" with "donut."
Sounds like the Yogen Fruz pitch.
@bytememehard: He must have a fatter, older brother! We all win.
In Sam Zell's defense, he's in real estate. He's probably not familiar with this kind of corporate Successories crapola. Or that this stuff, if it ever was effective, stopped being so in about 1988.
Die, "innovation czar."
@hhpeterson13: Grayer, maybe. But fatter? You haven't seen Ron lately [www.avclub.com]
Glen Frey, we hardly knew ye:
You belong to the city
You belong to the night
Livin' in a river of darkness
Beneath the neon lights
You were born in the city
Concrete under your feet
It's in your blood, it's in your moves
You're a man of the street
Zell is betting his media fortunes on the soon-to-be launched Hedgehog Times.
Prose like that can only be cured by a punch to the turkey neck.
We're all gonna be rich I tell ya. Wave of the future!
I want to be innovation czar when I grow up.
@LoveHandles: Then you'll need to start cultivating your use of the phrase "gut check" rapidement.
This was actually his "Pepper...and Salt" submission from yesterday.
@Knucklehead Babylon: Yes, yes. But what about swagger? Is swagger not important?
And yet he is right about the LAT design issues and they have a monster amount of content online that is nearly impossible to find. Nick, you don't let us change the Gawker Logo everyday? Uh, put that one in the suggestion box.
Everytime I spend some time on the LAT website I think I have just discovered a new online news source. Calendar Live being the skitzoid winner in that regard.
I commend you for writing about something meaningful.
Even if no one is reading it!
Julia Allison and Sam Zell!
Julia Allison and Sam Zell!
Julia Allison and Sam Zell!
@joshfriedlander: I'd say that Sam Zell is more interesting and news worthy (to the media followers) than pitiful Julia Allison.
STIMULATING THE EYE is one of my favorite yo-yo moves.
So, let me get this straight: In 2008 I'm supposed to be both muscley and passionate but with character, walk with my balls swaggering around, have sex that's both fast and deep (but with emotions set on medium) and most importantly be STIMULATING TO THE EYE.
Ok, got it.
LoveHandles: I totally agree, but Gawker is in love with JA because she generates more hits than substantive topics.
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