Your Weekly Tribune Co. Upheaval Roundup
Ann Marie Lipinski, who went from summer intern to editor of the Chicago Tribune, is stepping down. Why? She won't really say! Except that "this position is not the fit it once was." Which is to say, not the position it was from 2001 until crazy billionaire Sam Zell bought the Tribune Company in 2007? Maybe? "Her…
Street Talk
Hopeless Optimism
"Tribune will be an oasis of creativity," says Lee Abrams, Innovation Director of the Tribune Co., the only person who believes journalism has a future. [via I Want Media]
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.…
Stop Defaming Sam Zell's Trailer Park Company!
Sam Zell, the crazy old man who bought some newspapers recently, is a champion of free speech, which is why he swears so much. So it's odd that he is suing some lady for defamation, right? Especially because the lady is not associated with us, and we have called him all sorts of things! Oh, the lady is Dianne Jacob,…
This Van Mural Will Save Journalism
The future of newspapers? It's like a trippy mural on the side of a VW bus in a bad movie about the '60s. But with a couple more buzzwords and nonsensical statements of purpose! The LA Times, stiff suffering from every single problem a daily newspaper can suffer from, even under new, Sam Zell-approved management,…
You have got to get on Sam Zell's Christmas Card list
"Both real estate moguls, [Tribune Co. head Sam] Zell and [U Michigan atheletic director Bill] Martin got to know each other as competitors. Each year, Zell sends out small statues - each about a foot tall - that play songs the Chicago businessman wrote himself. Martin insisted on showing them off. For example, one is…
Sam Zell: Still Shouting
Sam Zell is a crazy old man who bought Tribune Company a little while back. Since then, he's laid hundreds off, hired a bunch of nutty radio people, and done a LOT OF SHOUTING. It's refreshing! He says whatever's on his mind! He's irascible! No-nonsense! A breath of fresh air, telling it like it is! And we're fucking…
Little Mogul Wants Little L.I. Daily
Tribune Co owner Sam Zell is looking to unload Long Island tab Newsday, because Newsday is the saddest paper in his mostly sad stable. So far, rumors have flown that New York Post and Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch is interested, but the Journal reports today that junior real-estate magnate Jared Kushner "is…
Today's Most Tolerable April Fool's Pranks
Above, the official front page of Sam Zell's media concern, Tribune Company, renamed, today, ZellCoMediaEnterprise. Their false front page amused us the most primarily for its thinly-concealed tone of pessimism&mcash;check out the Tribune DEBToMETER! Also: funny pictures of dogs. Bucking the internet cat trend! After…
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…
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!"…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
In His Own Words, Sam Zell Is Kind Of An Asshole
Sam Zell is the charismatic CEO of the Tribune Company. Charismatic in a way only journalists would appreciate, which means he's always cursing about something. It's amazing how a quick "fuck you" has kept his staff charmed. But after yesterday's Newsday cuts, Sam Zell's "Fuck Yous" are more than straight talk—he's…
