Randy Michaels
Hard Zell: L.A. Times Press Department Changes the Subject
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 be chock full of insider scoop from the world of comic books, sci fi, genre film/TV and all other heroic pursuits.
Right. Forgive us for initially thinking that "Hero Complex" was referring to Sam Zell and interim-publisher Randy Michaels. read more »
Tribune Says It Will 'Eliminate' Reporters Without Harming the Content
They've got to be quaking in Los Angeles and Chicago.
The Times reported today that Sam Zell said yesterday on a first quarter conference call that they need significantly fewer bodies to make Tribune into a successful company. Tribune business people, led by CEO Randy Michaels, counted column inches produced by each reporter and realized that, hell, they don't need so many people! From the Times report: read more »
Zell Declares Tribune Papers will Undergo Newspaper Redesigns, Web Site Redesigns, Business Model Redesigns!
"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. read more »
