Gawker
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journalismism
LA Times Already Planning to Sell Out Again
The fake front page story in Thursday's Los Angeles Times was a PR disaster; staffers are signing a petition calling it "embarrassing and demoralizing." Naturally, then, management is planning a sequel. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by ChillbearLatrigue: I just hope when the newspapers finally finish themselves off for good that they have enough dignity not to beg... 2 Responses | Other threads
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rod blagojevich
No Blago Influence, Says Chicago Tribune
Wiretap transcripts yesterday indicated that Tribune Company honcho Sam Zell might have subtly conveyed (wink-wink) that he might just have to restructure (wink wink) one or more bothersome Chicago Trib editorial writers out of their jobs in response to demands from Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who was delaying a deal to buy the Chicago Cubs from cash-strapped Zell. Insanely, it has emerged that the whole thing was Blago's evil wife's idea ("hold up that fucking Cubs shit. . . fuck them"), but also that it seems to have gone nowhere. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by IndianSlipper: Where in the HELL is a Trib box where I can get it for only 25 cents? more » | Other threads
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crime
Blagojevich Touched Us All
Usually the arrest of a corrupt Chicago politician would afford, at best, a paragraph of coverage here at Gawker. It's Dog-bites-man news. But Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is a magical figure, who is connected, directly and indirectly, with so many beloved Gawker characters. Steve Dressler put together this little illustration of Blago's Web of Deceit, and all those who've been caught in it. Join us for explanations, below. More »
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By PareeneComment by GirlyWhirl: Photoshop morph Ron Jeremy and Thomas Friedman together = Lee Abrams. 4 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Illinois Governor Arrested For Selling Obama Senate Seat
You want your Chicago-style politics? They don't come much more Chicago-style than this: Democratic Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was just arrested, along with his chief of staff, by FBI agents. How many corrupt things can one Governor do before a new ethics law takes effect at the beginning of next year? Blagojevich was apparently trying to set some sort of record. And Rezko's involved! And Tribune Co! Let's start with Rod's charming decision to sell the Senate seat vacated by squeaky clean president-elect Barack Obama! More »
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By PareeneComment by Aaron Altman: Dear Triborough: We take it the fuck back. Well, some of it. A teeny tiny bit. Like, Rod Blagojevich's hairpiece... 12 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
Pulitzer Prize Now a Menace to Web Publications, Too
A little late, no? The Pulitzer Prize, conventional journalism's most sought-after award, is opening its doors to Web publications, eleven years after Internet reporters first tried to submit their work.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Sproing: "It also requires a thoroughly snobbish definition of "public interest," which does not have much to do with what the... 2 Responses | Other threads
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tribune company
Tribune Co. On Verge Of Bankruptcy
Sam Zell's Tribune Company is exploring a bankruptcy filing, the Wall Street Journal and Times are reporting. Profits have fallen faster than the media conglomerate can sell off assets, leaving the company in likely violation of debt covenants and scrounging to pay nearly $1 billion in interest. Of course, nearly two-thirds of the company's $12 billion debt comes from Zell's leveraged buyout of the Tribune last December. The cranky old real estate mogul is like a guy who bought his house with a subprime mortgage: He thought he could refinance before interest rates kicked in, but now the price of his home is plummeting and he's getting desperate. More »
3,452
By Ryan TateComment by IndianSlipper: "The Cubs Will Be Fine, in Two-Thousand Nine" (Let me call my TShirt maker now, I'll be RICH!!!!) 7 Responses | Other threads
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associated press
Guns Drawn In AP Civil War
As recently as the mid-1980s, the newspapers that ostensibly own the Associated Press constituted 50 percent of its revenue. Over the past decade, with the explosion of syndicated news on wesbites and the proliferation of cable news channel, cashflows have come increasingly from new media customers, who tend to favor more soft news coverage on topics like entertainment and lifestyle. Smell like a recipe for disastrous internal strife? Funny, because that's exactly how it's turning out! It was one thing when the editor of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette likened AP's CEO to a Soviet apparatchik this past April. But now even the insane revolutionaries at Sam Zell's Tribune Company are staging a mutiny, moving to cancel the wire and saying AP is charging higher prices for less hard-news (think state and local) content: More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Weegee's bored: As an AP bureau chief I used to hang out with told me, "You can't spell 'cheap' without 'AP.' You... 1 Responses | Other threads
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google news
United Airlines news glitch fallout continues, with Google caught in a lie
Newspaper publisher Tribune is now saying that timing was what put a link to a four-year old United Airlines bankruptcy story on the website of one of its papers. From there, it was indexed by Google and made its way onto the Bloomberg business wire, triggering a partially automated market selloff which crashed United's stock price in only a few minutes. During a slow news period, a single visitor dropped by the Web site of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and clicked once on a link to the old story. This activity was enough to triggger its inclusion on the website's list of the day's most popular stories. The Googlebot, Google's Web indexer, dropped by minutes later and added the story to Google News. Tribune is saying that they've asked the Googlebot to stop crawling the company's online publications, which Google denies — maybe Google should check its new newspaper archives. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by CyndyA: No, Owen, I sure didn't. The Tribune is apparently full of gits who can't tell one Google bot from the... 1 Responses | Other threads
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bloomberg
Bloomberg's Latest Error Nukes United Airlines
As errors continue to mount at Bloomberg News, the question isn't just whose heads will roll, but from how high up on the org chart. The financial newswire avoided cratering Apple Inc stock with its premature Steve Jobs obituary last month because markets had been closed for half an hour by the time the false item was published. Bloomberg's incorrect report stating Sarah Palin had been arrested for drunk driving 22 years ago garnered little notice before it was corrected. But now Bloomberg has done some real damage. It incorrectly flashed a headline to terminals Monday stating United Airlines had filed for a second bankruptcy, sending shares to $3 from $12 and wiping out close to $1 billion in stock market valuation. After a halt in trading, the stock recovered to $11 by the end of the day. But the damage to both investors and to Bloomberg's reputation has been done. It hardly helps that the incorrect news bubbled up through a bizarre series of events: More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Aaron Altman: One more mistake and it's Bloomberg: Terminal. 3 Responses | Other threads
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los angeles times
Bloggers Scolded Against Using "Pissed Off"
Could the editors at the Los Angeles Times be any more useless? Their newspaper is going down in flames, with cash flow declines ranked worst among the deeply troubled Tribune Company newspapers. Their best hope for salvation is the Web, where the paper is desperately behind upstart competitors like Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood and the Huffington Post. Just last year the paper installed new publishing software that couldn't even handle hyperlinks. And yet newsroom "leaders" just spent 18 months in a fucking (ahem) committee debating what swears LATimes.com bloggers should be allowed to use, and when. The byzantine machinations involved some sort of appeal to a "ruling" of a special committee about some formal guidelines, and of course resulted in a tedious and useless memo that should make anyone who ever cared about the once-great newspaper want to slit his wrists. Its insufferable, self-indulgent stupidity lies after the jump. Oh, and it basically says no one can use "pissed off" because it's crude and might tarnish the LA Times's sterling image in the remaining months before the paper's now-all-but-inevitable collapse. More »
1,054
By Ryan TateComment by Hiphopopotamus: Ooooh! You mentioned Finke! Now she gets to write an article that another media source used her name! 1 Responses | Other threads
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pic of the day
In Denver When You're Dead
There are supposed to be 15,000 journalists covering the Democratic Convention in Denver, a good proportion at newspapers. But the time-pressed and laptop-lugging reporters have largely abandoned their own medium, print: the New York Observer's John Koblin snapped this neglected pile of newspapers yesterday afternoon at the stand of Sam Zell's beleaguered Tribune Company.
1,092
By Nick DentonComment by Scout 3.0: Keyboards don't leave ink stains on your fingers. 6 Responses | Other threads
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synergy
'amNY' Asks: Is This Show Too Awesome?
Look! Those Gossip Girl ads the whole world is talking about (or at least the part of the world that lives in New York and probably "curates" a "linklog" or something) made the front page of am New York, a free tabloid daily owned by Tribune Co. You know what's funny? Gossip Girl airs on the CW, the network most people still mistake for the one that failed after canceling Homeboys in Outer Space. Also the CW has something called a "ten-year affiliation agreement" with—wait for it!—Tribune Co! Which also owns the CW affiliate WPIX, right here in (am) New York. SYNERGY. [Maura] (Related: watch Mad Men! It's a show about men in suits who smoke or something.) -
journalismism
McDonald's Buying Off Local Newscasts
To pimp its sugary, 200-calorie iced coffees, fast food giant McDonald's offered to pay some local TV newscasts for product placement. And of course the newscasts went for it, since local TV journalism is where ethical standards go to die. Meredith Corporation is putting the drinks in front of anchors at the Fox affiliate in Las Vegas (pictured) and at two CBS affiliates elsewhere. Tribune Company has the coffee at its Fox affiliate in Seattle. Even national Fox News is playing ball, placing McDonald's product at the News Corporation-owned station in Chicago. Station operators offered the Times any number of excuses, but the best has to be from the news director at the Las Vegas affiliate: He argues the placement is ethically OK because it is restricted to the "lighter, news-and-lifestyle" portion of his morning news show. Sounds like the portion of the program that might normally be given over to, say, segments on weight loss, fitness or preventing kids from becoming obese. But these days, if the station wants to do any reports that might upset McDonald's, it is supposed to yank the lucrative cups: More » -
newspapers
Tribune Co. Overhaul Includes Blog Summaries
"Orlando is a proving ground for Sam Zell's effort to reinvent floundering Tribune Co., owner of a string of television stations and newspapers, including the Sentinel, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times." [WSJ]
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By Nick DentonComment by Triborough: Ooh, they have the internet on paper now. more » | Other threads
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media
The Art Of The Tasteful Sell Out
There was much consternation in the media world earlier this week when it emerged that Tribune's Los Angeles Times would take its Sunday magazine out of the hands of trained journalists and hand control over to the newspaper's sales staff. Editor Russ Stanton even insisted that the magazine's name be changed so readers didn't get the idea that it still had, you know, integrity. But journalists are as much to blame as the business side for the fact that their work increasingly sounds like catalog copy. Here's ink-stained wretch Rob Walker in his most recent "Consumed" column for New York Times Magazine: More »
1,306
By Ryan TateComment by strikethrough: I don't know what you are talking about since I don't read that trash. I get my news from SkyMall. more » | Other threads
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journalismism
Sam Zell Cleaning House
"Scott C. Smith is stepping down as publisher of The Chicago Tribune and president of Tribune Publishing as part of changes being made by Samuel Zell." [Times] -
journalismism
Sam Zell To Chainsaw Tribune Papers
Tribune CEO Sam Zell famously cursed one of his journalists earlier this year when asked whether refocusing the company would undermine serious journalism. He called such thinking "classic... journalistic arrogance." But now Zell is struggling to service $12.8 billion in debt amid a weak economy, and he's planning what sounds like mass layoffs and newsprint reductions to meet the challenge. The cuts would fall hardest on the journalists who produce the least output — just the sort of emphasis on quantity over quality once-supportive reporters and editors at the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Orlando Sentinel are likely to abhor: More »
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By Ryan TateComment by IndianSlipper: I'll buy the first 10 people laid off an Old Style at the Billy Goat today at lunch time. (2... more » | Other threads
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journalismism
Softball Chavez Interview From Leader Of U.S. Editors
At left is the top of an interview with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez filed by Charlotte Hall, Editor of the Orlando Sentinel and President of the American Society Of Newspaper Editors. Other editors who recently accompanied Hall to Venezuela, like Marty Baron of the Boston Globe and Margaret Sullivan of the Buffalo News, led their stories with unflattering facts about Chavez, like recently-autheticated evidence he sought to supply missiles to Colombian rebels, his country's skyrocketing homicide rate and a rebuke in a December national referendum. Hall, in contrast, introduced her story with a series of anecdotes supplied by Chavez himself, descriptions of his clothing and a button he used to summon coffee, plus the observation that he kissed female editors on their cheeks. This fluffy treatment, and Hall's sycophantic smiling in the accompanying photo, we hear, horrified some in the Sentinel newsroom, particularly among those who already regarded the editor as a "clueless" transplant from the tabloid Newsday.
More »
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By Ryan TateComment by brazenbull: The folks in Venezuela voted to not Allow Chavez another term. Now that is a mandate! He hasn't helped the... more » | Other threads
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lee abrams
Is This The Most Infuriating Newspaper Executive In America?
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."
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By Nick DentonComment by joshfriedlander: LoveHandles: I totally agree, but Gawker is in love with JA because she generates more hits than substantive topics. more » | Other threads
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rupert murdoch
Newsday Not Murdoch's Yet
Word emerged Tuesday on Rupert Murdoch's handshake deal to buy Newsday, and there was talk about Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman dropping out of the bidding for the Long Island tabloid. But the Times today said Zuckerman is expected to make a counteroffer next week, while Jared Kushner's Observer Media Group may submit a joint offer with Long Island television provider Cablevision, which had dropped out of the running. "People in both the News and Observer camps say they were shocked to learn of the handshake deal with Mr. Murdoch... because they had been assured by Tribune’s bankers that they had until next week to submit offers," said the Times. Perhaps Tribune chief Sam Zell, who like Zuckerman is a real estate mogul come to media later in life, understands instinctively that Newsday is best off in the hands of Murdoch, the deep-pocketed lifelong media mogul. Here's how Lloyd Grove compared Zuckerman to Murdoch as he was leaving the former's employ as a gossip columnist in 2006: More » -
dead trees
Newsday Is Hot Sheet
Since when is Newsday so hot? The paper consistently publishes the most boring front page of any of the Gotham tabloids, but the publication is clearly stirring the passions of corporate tycoons. Rupert Murdoch's interest emerged yesterday; now it's clear that the News Corp. CEO and Post owner must queue with other suitors interested in winning Newsday from money-hemorrhaging Tribune Company. Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman wants the paper for largely the same reason as Murdoch, which is to merge business-side offices and cut costs enough to drive the remaining, unaffiliated tabloid out of business. Long Island cable operator Cablevision Systems Corp. is bidding, perhaps so it can cross-sell ads from its cable system and local news channel into Newsday. It's not clear that the other two bidders are as serious as Murdoch, or can afford to be, but broker Citigroup is apparently planning a "soft auction." Newspaper analyst John Morton estimates Newsday could fetch $350 million to $400 million, down about half from its value five years ago. Kind of sad for what Morton described, in the Times' retelling, as "probably one of Tribune's more lucrative papers." [Times, WSJ] -
report
Rupert Murdoch Makes Run At Newsday
New York has long been an anomaly among American cities: the metropolitan area supports four competing daily newspapers, the New York Times, the Post, Daily News and, in Long Island, Newsday. Maybe not for much longer. Crains, the business newspaper, claims Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation may have approached the owners of Newsday, Sam Zell's Tribune Company, with a bid. That the Australian media mogul would make such a bid is less a sign of confidence in the newspaper industry, and more an indication of the decline in print advertising, which has put pressure on all newspaper groups. It's only since the latest horrific numbers came out that Newsday's erratic owner, Sam Zell, has indicated Tribune may be willing to sell. (The conglomerate lost $78m in the fourth quarter.)
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the reviews aren't in
Exclusive: 'Newsday' Movie Section Offed in St. Patrick's Day Massacre
Word floating around Defamer HQ has Newsday movie editor Pat Wiedenkeller and veteran critics Jan Stuart and Gene Seymour accepting buyouts that would end their tenures at the Tribune-owned tabloid effective March 28. The critics reportedly accepted their packages by a deadline last Friday; Wiedenkeller has been on the way out since earlier this month. It's no golden handshake, either, with one source telling Defamer the buyout deals topped out around 33 weeks salary, a fraction of remaining vacation days and less than a year of benefits. More » -
breaking
120 Jobs To Go At Sam Zell's Newsday
Sam Zell's national tour of Tribune Company offices has been charming: the old coot has blasted overpaid executives, bought morale-improving pool tables and sworn at journalists. But the entertaining show can't change one basic reality: Tribune's newspapers are flailing; Zell is an over-leveraged corporate raider who'll cut costs; and he'll end up just as hated as the company's former overlords. Case in point: Newsday, Tribune's New York flagship, is cutting 120 jobs. This memo just came across the company email. More »
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By Nick DentonComment by BlinkyMcChuck: This is bullshit. That paper is barely put out by anyone. more » | Other threads
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711
By Nick DentonComment by TheBigDoggy: He's also infuckingcontinent, but the Depends help. more » | Other threads
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mixed metaphors
Email: "Let's Go For Greatness," Sam Zell Tells Investors
"It's a great day," newly-minted CEO Sam Zell says in an email to his "fellow investor" on his first day heading up Tribune Company. Mixing his metaphors and going for grandiose, Zell anounces an era in which the Tribune saves not just your soul but our nation's as well. "We will take intelligent risks and reward innovation," he says. "We will tear down bureaucracy and reward entrepreneurial spirit. We will compete fiercely but with integrity." We will use anaphora! We will! We will! We will! Email after the jump. More »
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By MaggieComment by SheWalkedWithAZombie: @Furious_George: @Pope John Peeps II: I wish I could take umbrage at this and chastise you two for being sexist.... more » | Other threads
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earnings
Dead trees will weigh you down. The Tribune Company, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, New York's Newsday, and the Chicago Tribune, among others, reports third-quarter revenues dropped 4 percent to $1.28 billion from $1.33 billion. Meanwhile, the Tribune's Interactive division posted a 9 percent revenue bump to $65 million. Hmmm. $50 million drop overall, $5 million gain on the Web. On paper, that doesn't look good. [paidcontent.org] -
tribune company
Tribune Co. Looks Into Strategic Alliance With Keebler
The mess that the Tribune Company is trying to extract itself from in Los Angeles has a long-ish history, we learn from today's Wall Street Journal. Almost immediately after buying the Times Mirror Company in 2000 (former owners of the LAT, Newsday and the Baltimore Sun), Tribune found itself up shit's proverbial creek, and has been trying frantically to right things ever since. More » -
ron burkle
Ron Burkle Really Wants to Buy Something
Official Friend of Bill, Enemy of Jared, Models & Bottles Aficionado, Supermarket Magnate and Radar Teaser Ron Burkle (pictured, straight-teethedly, at right) has submitted a bid to buy the Tribune Company, according to a story in the Tribune-owned Los Angeles Times. According to the LAT, Burkle's in cahoots with "billionaire philanthropist" Eli Broad, who's known for—besides his billions and his philanthropy—buying a $2.5 million Roy Lichtenstein painting at auction in 1994 with his American Express card. Maybe the Tribune Co. takes Amex, too. More »
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Comment by Pandora Spocks: If I were him I'd buy a small independent publishing house and turn it into a powerhouse. For instance: printing... more » | Other threads
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media
Media Bubble: Mika Salmi Works at MTV
- Mika Salmi, the new head of MTV (Global Digital Media) will be an "enabler," helping MTV's various websites work better together. [NYP] More »
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media bubble
Media Bubble: Earnest Philadelphia Scammed By Big-City Toughs
• Who did the Newsday circ fraud hurt most? The City of Philadelphia, of course, which lost $310k on its Tribune Co. stock. Now it'll never be able to afford that nice place in Cobble Hill, and it might even be forced to move to — oh, wait. [Newsday] More »
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1-31 of 31 for "Tribune Company"
