Tribune Company | The New York Observer

Report: Los Angeles Times Stopping Payment for Freelancers

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:04:15 -0500

More bad news from the West Coast this morning comes from LA Observed's Kevin Roderick: payments to Los Angeles Times freelancers has been stopped.

Mr. Roderick writes:

If the Los Angeles Times owes you money, you might have to wait a long time. Publisher Eddy Hartenstein told the staff yesterday that the Chapter 11 filing freezes pending payments to freelancers, but said the paper will ask the Delaware judge to allow the commitments...

Report: T-shirts Will Save Ailing Media Companies

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:25:34 -0500

Who needs fancy Chief Innovation Officers (or their imaginary sons)? Wired's Clive Thompson just might've come up with the solution to all of the big media companies' problems. As Mr. McGuire counseled young Benjamin Bradock in The Graduate, we have just one word—are you listening—for the Tribune Company, The New York Times Company, CNN, and everyone else: "T-shirts."

Mr. Thompson's begins Tech Biz column recounting how the creators of Red vs. Blue, the...

Notions From Lee Abrams, Jr.

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:28:20 -0500

The New York Observer's Man in Beijing, Tom Scocca, has a few thoughts on yesterday's announcement that Sam Zell's Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection.

Here he is, channeling the Tribune Company's Chief Innovation Officer, Lee Abrams:

CRUSHING POVERTY is not only a GREAT MOTIVATOR, but it is also the FASTEST- GROWING DEMOGRAPHIC in our rapidly changing marketplace.

Newspapers have always been the best HOBO BLANKETS, and we have UNPARALLELED OPPORTUNITY to LIVE the product...

Sam Zell's Tribune Company Files For Bankruptcy

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:34:19 -0500

Sam Zell's Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy today in a Delaware court.

Sam Zell said in a memo to Tribune employees that "factors beyond our control have created a perfect storm—a precipitous decline in revenue and a tough economy coupled with a credit crisis that makes it extremely difficult to support our debt."

In the memo, he also wrote:

Most importantly, I want to stress that we will continue to operate our business...

Is Sam Zell Right? Stacks of Untouched Newspapers in Tribune's Convention Tent

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:54:44 -0400

It's an incredible thing: Hit the submit button, and after several hours of elaborate and costly printing and distribution, your content is before the reader! At about 4:30 yesterday afternoon, if you wanted a copy of the morning papers in the Tribune section of Media Pavilion 2 there were still plenty of choices. The reporters sitting in here are filing material out to The Baltimore Sun, The Hartford Courant, The Sun-Sentinel, The L.A. Times,...

Release: Chicago Tribune Names Hirt Managing Editor

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:13:52 -0400

Jim Romenesko has posted a press release from the Chicago Tribune announcing the promotion of Jane Hirt to managing editor. Ms. Hirt had been the editor of RedEye, the Tribune's young, hip [sic] paper, not to be mistaken with Fox News' young, hip [sic] late night show where bloggers are stars. (In fact, the Tribune Company tried to get Fox News to change the show's name in 2007.)

Ms. Hirt was named to...

Sam Zell, Now in Delicious Cake Form

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:10:36 -0400

Jim Romenesko posted the above photograph of a Sam Zell-themed cake served up by employees at the Tribune Company's Hartford Courant. As Mr. Romenesko wrote, "A Courant staffer couldn't resist poking Zell's eyes out—on the cake, of course."

Mmmm. Revenge has never tasted so ... bitter.

...

Black and White, Red All Over: Is 2008 the Worst Year in Modern Newspaper History?

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:08:19 -0400

On Wednesday morning at 11 a.m., Arthur Sulzberger and Janet Robinson will be managing a conference call that, from the looks of it, won't be much fun. They'll be reporting The New York Times Company's second-quarter earnings. Last time they did one of quarterly earnings calls, The Times reported big losses; there was a plan to cut 100 newsroom jobs, some through straight-up layoffs rather than superannuation and...

Hard Zell: L.A. Times Press Department Changes the Subject

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:17:16 -0400

150 reporters, editors and designers at The Los Angeles Times are packing their boxes and heading home for good this week, but out of the paper's press department that's not the big news at all!

Last night, John Conroy, one of their spokesmen, sent reporters an email about a new blog the newspaper's Web site, latimes.com, is launching.

"Thought you might want to know about 'Hero Complex,' a really cool blog we’re launching," he writes. "It’ll...

Zell of a Pitch: 'We're Gonna Give it to 'Em'

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:40:27 -0400

This morning on CNBC's Squawk Box, Carl Quintanilla interviewed Tribune owner Sam Zell about everything from the housing market to the elections to the Chicago Cubs. (This comes via Jim Romenesko.)

When the subject turned to the advertising market, Mr. Zell asked, "What ad market?" Mr. Quintanilla clarified that he meant newspaper advertisers, which prompted the outspoken Mr. Zell to bark, "I'm trying to find one of 'em!"

Here's how Mr. Zell...

Is the Zell Way Not So Bad?

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:25:18 -0400

That's what Richard Perez-Pena asks in this morning's Times, and he hears a mixed response.

A former executive at Gannett, Allen Neuharth, says that Zell is just doing what he has to do. In order to prevent newspapers to go the way of the steel industry in the 1980s, preemptive steps have to be made.

“Most readers of newspapers really only consume a small fraction of what the newspaper produces,” he...

L.A.Times Foreign Editor Resigns

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:16:51 -0400

Los Angeles Times foreign editor Marjorie Miller has quit the paper.

In the second sentence of the memo announcing the news, editor Russ Stanton tries to make clear that it has nothing to do with anything. “She requested such a move a year ago …” it begins.

So don’t worry, there’s no panic here!

Less than a week ago, L.A. Times opinion page editor Jim Newton—who was up for the job of chief editor before Mr....

Zell Declares Tribune Papers will Undergo Newspaper Redesigns, Web Site Redesigns, Business Model Redesigns!

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:07:41 -0400

"What has become clear as we have gotten intimately familiar with the business is that the model for newspapers no longer works," said Sam Zell in a memo he just sent out to Tribune staffers.

So everything is getting trashed and reworked! There are going to be redesigned newspapers, redesigned Web sites, redesigned business structures.

First up is the Orlando Sentinel, which is being redesigned according to what Zell described as, uh, a "new customer-centric design."...

At Big Time 100 Bash, Rupert Murdoch Plays it Cool

Fri, 09 May 2008 07:08:48 -0400

Rupert Murdoch was standing in a deep corner of the Rose Hall at about 7:30 p.m. last night to toast his fellow influencers: It was the Time 100 celebration, an event that drums up publicity for the magazine's decreasingly influential list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

The day before, Mr. Murdoch had promised investors and reporters listening in on a News Corp. investors' call that he'd prevail in his purchase of...

Zell Sends Out Company E-mail, Says 'Specific Inquiries' for Newsday

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 11:35:48 -0400

Sam Zell sent out a company-wide email last night, and reemphasized, in slightly different words, that there are people interested in Newsday. While speaking about the "disposition front," he says there have been "specific inquiries" about Newsday. Here's the entire memo:

Lender Call Recap

As you probably know, Randy, Chandler and I held a call today with our company's lenders. We were not obligated to hold the call, but since we aren't reporting first quarter results...

Sam Zell: Newspapers' Sluggishness Putting Plan to Preserve Tribune in 'Question'

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:25:47 -0400

The Tribune Company conference call is still going on. In introductory remarks, Sam Zell told investors that when he bought Tribune there was originally a “goal to preserve everything together.” Presumably he means all the newspapers, Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs, and the broadcasting properties. But the “significant erosion” of advertising money and revenue drops in the newspaper industry, he said, has “certainly put that plan into some question. And we’re forced...

Bidding War Over Newsday?

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:17:01 -0400

Ante up!

Now suddenly everyone is interested in Newsday. The New York Times is reporting that a Manhattan media blockbuster trio is "in discussions" to buy the Melville-based newspaper: Rupert Murdoch, James Dolan and Mort Zuckerman. Sam Zell decides who's the winner.

It sets up a satisfying auction between Mr. Murdoch (Post-owner) and Mr. Zuckerman (Daily News-owner) and Mr. Dolan, who owns MSG, the Knicks, Rangers and Cablevision.

The newspaper analyst John Morton told the Times...

Waiting For Sam: Zell Hovering as Newsday Shakes

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:03:48 -0500

It’s been a jittery two weeks in Melville.

Over the next week, Newsday reporters and editors are expecting an announcement about job cuts. Even veterans of the Vlad the Impaler year of 1995, in which Times Mirror ordered the elimination of 800 jobs from a payroll of 3,200, contemplate the coming week with dread.

“To be honest with you, it’s really grim here,” said James Bernstein, a business reporter and...

John Montorio, Print Apologist, 'Shocked' at L.A. Times Firing

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:29:57 -0500

On Friday afternoon, in one of Russ Stanton's first acts as executive editor of The Los Angeles Times, he walked into the office of one of the paper's managing editors and fired him.

"I was shocked," said the editor, John Montorio, in an interview with The Observer. "It was really quite brief and to the point. There was no emotionalism, no hostility and bitterness. It was seriously better than that—no yelling, screaming, crying."

Mr. Montorio, managing...

Russ Stanton Named Editor of L.A. Times

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:04:46 -0500

The Los Angeles Times has a new editor, according to a press release that just went out.

"The Los Angeles Times Media Group (LATMG) today unveiled significant changes to its organization and leadership team, including the announcement that Russ Stanton has been named Los Angeles Times Editor," the release reads in part. And this from publisher David Hiller: “Russ Stanton combines great personal leadership, communication skills, the highest journalistic standards and...

Sam Zell to L.A. Times: Watch Porn at Your Desk, But Don't Piss All Over the Office!

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:22:55 -0500

Tribune chief Sam Zell had a meeting with the staff of The Los Angeles Times today that was so wildly entertaining it puts to shame the one he held at Newsday two weeks ago. Among other things discussed— his willingness to take a 50-cent salary!—he blasted outgoing editor Jim O'Shea, according to a newsroom source present.

Mr. Zell said this morning that Mr. O'Shea "pissed all over the company where he worked for over 30...

Whose Bastard Sun: If The Wire Is Wrong, Why Is Baltimore's Paper So Bad?

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:56:18 -0500

If David Simon is Captain Ahab, then call me Ishmael. Mr. Simon, the newspaper-reporter-turned-television-producer, stands accused of unhealthy obsession because he is using the current season of The Wire to revisit his old workplace, The Baltimore Sun.

In the HBO program, in profiles and interviews, and in an Esquire essay, Mr. Simon has revived an old feud with the paper's former editor and managing editor, John Carroll and William Marimow. Mr. Simon has described a...

Report: Tomorrow's Tribune Deal on Shaky Footing

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:41:07 -0400

Tomorrow shareholders in the Tribune Company meet to approve an $8.2 billion deal to sell the company--publishers of The Los Angeles Times, Newsday and The Chicago Tribune--to billionaire real-estate developer Sam Zell.

Or do they? The New York Times this morning examines whether the precipitous slump in the newspaper industry (even since the Zell deal was announced in April) might be enough to kill the deal.

The deal promised $34 a share for a stock that had been selling around $30....

Billionaire Sam Zell Wins Tribune Co.

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 05:25:24 -0400

Billionaire real estate mogul Sam Zell swooped late into the bidding for Tribune Co., and has now beat out the unlikely pairing of Ron Burkle and Eli Broad, according to today's press release. It looks like the Wall Street Journal got the story first, breaking it online, with the Tribune itself, and others close behind. And since it broke before 6 a.m. on the west coast, we'll let's the Los Angeles Times James Rainey off...

Dean Baquet: [em]L.A. Times[/em] Morale in the Tank[/em]

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 07:52:54 -0400

The New Yorker's Ken Auletta began this morning's all-star media panel, held at the W Hotel in midtown, with a question for McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt. Would he have fired Dean Baquet from the Los Angeles Times? "I doubt it," he responded, "but I have no idea." Laughter ensued, not simply because of the query, legitimate in light of Baquet's fallout with L.A. Times parent, the Tribune Company. It had more to do with Mr. Baquet,...

Housing Woes Cut Into Newspapers

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 11:30:00 -0500

The slowing housing market nationwide (not necessarily in New York City) has been blamed for a lot of things; now, add this one to the list, according to Advertising Age: The newspaper industry's housing bubble is about to burst. For all publishers' myriad problems, real-estate advertising has been a source of uninterrupted growth since the mid-1990s, as a combination of low interest rates and baby-boomer disposable income led to an unprecedented housing boom... But the end was...

Media Mensch '06

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Oh, what a year for newspapers! They’re dying! They’re keeling. They’re ghosts! They’re di-no-saurs! They’re mice! Eeeek!

And that’s just from the publishers. This is the first business in the history of capitalism where the owners are trying to terrify themselves out of business. Newspapers. Ohhh … the kids don’t read ’em. Ohhh … the Internet. Ohhh … shit. So in a year of panic in the newspaper business, the crisis of...

Media Mensch ’06

Sun, 24 Dec 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Oh, what a year for newspapers! They’re dying! They’re keeling. They’re ghosts! They’re di-no-saurs! They’re mice! Eeeek! And that’s just from the publishers. This is the first business in the history of capitalism where the owners are trying to terrify themselves out of business. Newspapers. Ohhh … the kids don’t read ’em. Ohhh … the Internet. Ohhh … shit. So in a year of panic in the newspaper business, the crisis of the press...

Elsewhere: Frontrunning Rudy

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 11:44:07 -0500

Ben introduces us to Joe Bruno's nemesis. Bruno owes these unions some Christmas cards. Michael Barone says it's time to start calling Rudy a "frontrunner." (Via Andrew Sullivan.) The Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats have been giving some money away. Hey, 'tis the season! Gawker hit the New York Press Club's holiday party. Bob Gates: low-talker. Mike Tomasky takes Jim Baker down a peg. (Caution: long.) Durham DA drops rape charges against Duke lax players on the Friday afternoon before Christmas, when...

The Afternoon Wrap: Monday!

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 11:13:09 -0500

Mr. YSL! [Teller] Yves Saint Laurent's 75-acre estate, an 1874 doozy off the Normandy Coast, has been reduced from $25.6 million to $19.9. (Why? "It was too much.") We hope his old Fifth Avenue pad does a little bit better. (It can be fashionably yours for a mere $7.75 million.) [Forbes] Realtor-Mocking Blog Post of the Month: A couple of weeks ago, the Freakonomics geniuses noticed the National Association of Realtors' ego-bruised response to a...

The Round-Up: Friday

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 02:45:00 -0500

Icahn, Macklowe suprise SL Green with Reckson bid. [Crain's] Two condo conversions, including 20 Pine, get financing. [GlobeSt] Judge tosses out Craigslist discrimination suit. [Chicago Tribune] Judge dismisses lawsuit against new Yankee Stadium. [NY Times] Corzine: Can Jersey afford property tax cuts? [NY Times] The U.S. department store makes a comeback. [NY Times] Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square sells for $362 million. [NY Post] Trump nears approval for Soho condo-hotel. [Daily News] New Jamaica Bay homes going for millions. [Daily...

It's Chi-town, Dean

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 19:00:00 -0500

Dean Baquet’s insurgency at the Los Angeles Times lasted less than eight weeks.

Around 3 p.m. local time on Nov. 7, the editor of the illustrious but anxious West Coast paper stepped out of his office and climbed up on a newsroom desk to address the staff. It was a reprise of his appearance on Sept. 21, his 50th birthday, when a cake party turned into an outpouring of hope and catharsis...

Dean Baquet's Goodbye to 'LAT'

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 11:59:31 -0500

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Los Angeles Times editor Dean Baquet has been forced out by the Tribune Company. Seven minutes after the story was posted on LAObserved, Mr. Baquet sent the following email to the staff: -----Original Message----- From: Baquet, Dean Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 1:42 PM To: yyeditall Subject: By now you've seen the Wall Street Journal story on L.A. Observed that I'll be...

Serene Dean Baquet Has a Birthday Cake In L.A. Times Newsroom

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 20:00:00 -0400

On Sept. 21, Los Angeles Times editor Dean Baquet turned 50 years old. When he stepped out into the newsroom that afternoon, following the daily page-one meeting, he was greeted with a birthday cake and a prolonged, loud ovation. The crowd numbered more than a hundred. Two hundred? It sprawled uncountably out of view, around an angle of the newsroom: columnists and top editors and copy editors all mingling, upbeat and merry. The L.A....

Deadline U.S.A. '06: Old Baltimore Sun Gasps and Leaps

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 20:00:00 -0400

“I think for The Sun, and for most papers our size, that the mission is to be the definitive source of state, regional and local news,” Timothy Franklin said.

Mr. Franklin has been editor of The Baltimore Sun for two and a half years. He was sitting at a conference table in his office the morning of Aug. 11, facing the newsroom through the glass wall, discussing the state of the paper. ...

Deadline U.S.A. ’06: Old Baltimore Sun Gasps and Leaps

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 20:00:00 -0400

“I think for The Sun, and for most papers our size, that the mission is to be the definitive source of state, regional and local news,” Timothy Franklin said. Mr. Franklin has been editor of The Baltimore Sun for two and a half years. He was sitting at a conference table in his office the morning of Aug. 11, facing the newsroom through the glass wall, discussing the state of the paper. The conversation...

Channel 11: No Fuckin' Problem!

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 14:14:00 -0400

Arthur Chi'en, the victim of Opie and Anthony's demonstration that they can get someone besides themselves fired, will be returning to New York television news. Two months after a follower of the shock jocks goaded Chi'en into saying "What the fuck is your problem?" while a live camera was still (whoop!) rolling--leading his weak-kneed employers at Channel 2 to ax him--Channel 11 is bringing the reporter back. The offical announcement follows: NEW YORK, August 17,...

Press Falls for Lie About Clinton, Enron

Sun, 03 Mar 2002 19:00:00 -0500

In a democratic society, successful propaganda generally relies on two elements: the fabrication of a useful, plausible, specific lie, and the deployment of visible professionals who are willing to repeat it until it's believed. Like any other salesman, the resourceful propagandist must also be prepared to get lucky.

Fearful about the potential political impact of Enron, members of the Republican propaganda corps quickly realized they should argue that both parties were equally corrupted by the...

Anatomy of a Derby Winner

Sun, 20 May 2001 20:00:00 -0400

Two days after Monarchos, the horse he bred, won the Kentucky Derby with apparently marvelous ease, Jim Squires was talking about one thing that everyone else was talking about-the speed of the track-and another thing that no one else was talking about: how this horse is built. He was dealing with "conformation," or equine engineering-how do the bones, tendons and ligaments of the horse form dynamic angles to produce not only the horse's looks,...

Lyonel Feininger's Leap, Caricaturist to Cubist

Sun, 21 Jan 2001 19:00:00 -0500

The American-born painter and printmaker Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956) had a career unlike that of any other American artist of his generation–the first generation of American modernists that included Alfred Maurer (born 1868), John Marin (born 1870) and Marsden Hartley (born 1877), all of whom Feininger outlived. Feininger was himself born in New York into a German-American musical family, and it was to study music (violin and composition) that he went off to Germany at...

He Sees Dead People: Bush's Lethal Travesties

Sun, 18 Jun 2000 20:00:00 -0400

Grim new evidence of the death penalty's unjust application has emerged in an exhaustively reported two-part series published June 11 and 12 in the Chicago Tribune , which concluded that since 1995, Texas authorities have "executed dozens of Death Row inmates whose cases were compromised by unreliable evidence, disbarred or suspended defense attorneys, meager defense efforts during sentencing and dubious psychiatric testimony."

Yet this fresh proof that many defendants who end up on the Lone...

What the Merger of Tribune and Times Mirror Means for Newsday's Future in the City

Sun, 19 Mar 2000 19:00:00 -0500

Now that they are no longer working for the Times Mirror Company, some Newsday reporters are hoping that New York Newsday , shut down in 1995, will be revived. At a staff meeting on March 13, just after the announcement that the Tribune Comany had purchased Times Mirror, the topic of a move to the big city was raised during a question-and-answer session, and Newsday publisher Raymond Jansen did not exactly rule it out....