Tribune Co.

journalismism

Newspaper Exec On Really Old Computer: "We Unplugged It And Nothing Stopped!"

Well if it isn't one of those little anecdotes could be seen as a neat metaphor for the entire business of finding neat metaphors to explain large global topics! Tribune Company COO (and ex-Clear Channel CEO) Randy Michaels recently told the company's bondholders on a conference call that he'd been exploring the mostly-deserted corporate headquarters of Times Mirror, the newspaper group Tribune acquired in 2000, just "to see what we could unplug"…and realized his company was still maintaining Times Mirror's old 1998 mainframe! "Nothing goes into it. Nothing comes out of it. And then we unplugged it and nothing stopped." TOO EASY… More »

4:12 PM on Tue Aug 26 2008
By Moe
3,291 views, 25 comments

Latest by signine: We'll see who's laughing when someone needs to dig something up from the archives. more »

newsday

Sam Zell Keeps Up Pretense Of Straight Talk

What's there to say about Newsday? I don't know, I'm not from Long Island. People from Long Island are quite happy with all that beach access. But even with the ocean, writers from Newsday aren't so happy and have been hoping for a takeover, mostly because Sam Zell is an asshole, though occasionally a charming one. Anyway, because Sam Zell is so real , he finally admitted that he's trying to unload the paper. Memo from Newsday publisher Tim Knight via The Observer, after the jump.
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10:48 AM on Fri Apr 18 2008
By rebecca
396 views, 7 comments

Latest by mimigoliath: I'm also from Long Island, so I've worked in Melville (home of Newsday) and it is what hell looks like. more »

tribune co.

Looks Like Tribune Co. Has a Case of the Mondays

This weekend, L.A. Times writer Stephanie Simon, lived the Newsday dream and got Rupert Murdoch as a boss. The national reporter is leaving Sam Zell's fun factory Tribune Co. for the Wall Street Journal. Simon's decision is just one of the many depressing departures from the L.A. Times. After the jump, a few discouraging memos from her fellow ship-jumpers. [via LA Observed]
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12:45 PM on Mon Mar 31 2008
By rebecca
718 views, Comment

tribune co.

Hey, At Least They Got A T-Shirt

When Dennis FitzSimons left the Tribune Co. in December, he got a $41 million payout. Awesome for him, offensive for everyone else. And as a joke on fate's cruelty to work-a-day journalists, the Hartford Courant handed out t-shirts that said "My CEO walked off with $41 million and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!" Nothing says motivation like a shirt to wear to the gym. [Romenesko]

4:59 PM on Fri Mar 28 2008
By rebecca
504 views, 4 comments

Latest by Queen of the Passive Aggressives: This is like my last job. My boss got $8mil in a buy out and the A/P department got fired. more »

faustian bargains

In Melville, Everything's Going To Zell

What a world: Rupert Murdoch has become the lesser of two evils. Newsday reporters are hoping that he will buy the Long Island tabloid from Sam Zell, the Tribune owner who is looking to unload it. Really? Despite his delightful sense of humor, since Zell took over the Tribune Co., the Newsday staff has dubbed their Melville headquarters "Hellville." Ha. "Hell" rhymes with "Mel." I've been to Melville, and it's just like every other suburban town: more of a purgatory than a hell. [NYO]

11:09 AM on Wed Mar 26 2008
By rebecca
418 views, 7 comments

Latest by WhyAreYouWearingStripes: Actually Melville isn't as bad as say, Hicksville, Long Island. more »

funky grandpa

Lee Abrams Is Going To Transform The Internet

Lee Abrams, cool older guy/Tribune Co.'s innovation director is back with another edition of "We Can Take Back The News Cycle," a.k.a. the Tribune Co. internal memo. Among his suggestions: a spoof edition of the Chicago Red Eye for April Fools'. Denigrating a free daily is funny any time of year! He also has great analogies about the internet: "There's the Internet. That's space travel. No limits." And here I thought space travel might actually be fun. How about stats? "MOST VIEWED: I think this can be expanded for the stat hungry public. Most Viewed...good. How about for the week, month, year...how about comparing most viewed to National, International etc...Maybe breaking it out by most viewed by local area." Um, that's familiar. To quote my grandmother, quoting someone else, "We mock what we are to be." [via Romenesko]

5:14 PM on Tue Mar 25 2008
By rebecca
352 views, 7 comments

Latest by lawyergay: Mustache Rides: Five Pageviews more »

memos

Sam Zell Can Laugh At Self, State of Journalism

Tribune Co. owner and noted asshole Sam Zell's most charming feature might be his sense of humor. Forget about all the cutbacks at the L.A. Times and how he's trying to drop Newsday: He enjoyed the video a Chicago Tribune intern did for the rival Chicago Sun-Times mocking Zell for selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field. That's leadership! Memo after the jump via L.A. Observed.
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10:46 AM on Tue Mar 25 2008
By rebecca
764 views, 4 comments

Latest by MrInBetween: The Pied Piper of Doom is chortling his merry way right into the abyss. more »

dateline: chicago

Adorable Midwestern City Has Own Newspaper Feud

Everything I know about Chicago, I learned from This American Life. There was one episode where they said that bridges in Chicago smell like chocolate! (That may no longer the case.) Chicago, despite not being New York, still has its very own media intrigue. Their Sun-Times recently held a video contest to make fun of Sam Zell, who owns the rival Chicago Tribune, for selling the naming rights of Wrigley Field. The winning entry was made by a Tribune intern. Awkward! She'll donate her $1,000 prize to charity. Maybe she should consider the charity called Tribune Co., which earned $160 million less in the fourth quarter this year than it did last year during the same period. Attached, some second-city smack talk and her winning entry.
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5:37 PM on Thu Mar 20 2008
By rebecca
1,572 views, 41 comments

Latest by Mike_Jahn: @chgo921: Got it, thanks. I was trying to convey how strange it felt to see that much water, well over more »

funky grandpa

Radical New Tribune Co Exec: "NEWS & INFORMATION IS THE NEW ROCK N ROLL."

Who is Lee Abrams? Lee Abrams is the hippest 55 year-old you've never met. Lee Abrams is unafraid to use capitalization for emphasis. Lee Abrams believes in the power of inspirational quotes. Lee Abrams is a former XM executive who was recently named "innovation director" at Tribune Co. (who is coincidentally "a longtime friend of Sam Zell deputy Randy Michaels"). And if you work for the Tribune Co., you're in luck because you just got the coolest boss eva.
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5:25 PM on Thu Mar 13 2008
By rebecca
1,524 views, 8 comments

Latest by Ken Layne: This is the same Lee Abrams who put together the very terrific Bob Dylan weekly radio hour program on XM more »

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