Tribune Co. to exit bankruptcy Dec. 31

Sourced, but here's story ...

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20121228/NEWS06/121229863/tribune-co-to-exit-bankruptcy-dec-31

 

Will be interesting to see how the selling of its newspapers plays out. Seems they would almost have to be sold in a package.

Right now there is a centralized desk in Chicago that does the design and editing for two smaller papers (Hartford and Newport News) and provides tons of full-, half- and quarter-page modules to all the papers.

The smaller papers all have skeleton copy desk and design desks, because the Chicago modules fill so much of their space.

If a paper --- say, Allentown --- is sold, it will have to beef up its design and copy desks because it won't have access to Tribune stuff anymore. And what becomes of the centralized desk in Chicago if all the other papers are sold, and there is no need for their modules anymore?

 

Rumors running rampant that David Cordish, the owner of Maryland Live casino, might be interested in The Sun.

 

At the risk of thread jacking do these central design centers actually save money in practice? My experience in business is that when we have tried to centralize it leads to duplication at HQ and in the field. For example, when payroll is centralized back to HQ the old payroll person in the field stays as a liaison with the HQ payroll processing.

 

Not sure about HR and payroll, but editorial saves money.

Once upon a time you had 6 people doing 6 baseball agate pages at 6 Tribune papers.

Now 1 person in Chicago does it, and the 6 smaller papers use that page.

Baseball playoffs, NFL sunday, NCAA Tournament, . . . each condensed into one page, done in Chicago, used by the smaller papers. No need for designers or copy editors for any of it. All pages templated, all box scores the same length. A 16-13, 14-inning NL box score takes the same space as a 1-0 AL box score. And there is sharing among the 6 smaller papers. Orlando and Fort Lauderdale share many locally-produced pages. Templated design, copy edited by 1 paper (instead of 2).

Of course, you'll get coverage of a Central Florida golf tournament in a South Florida paper. And coverage of the big ATP-WTA tennis event in South Florida is squeezed to a half page (because Orlando can't justify giving it more than that). But them's the breaks --- they're saving money!

 

The Tribune papers appear to be ready to spend for talent again, especially the smaller ones.

 

Ready to spend for talent = laying off Berardino?

 

With all due respect, to say the Tribune papers appear ready to spend for talent -- or anything else -- reveals an utter unfamiliarity with what is happening at Tribune.

The company has been in bankruptcy for years. Now that it is about to come out of bankruptcy, the new owners have made clear they intend to sell the papers. As one group? In small groups? As individual papers? Who would the buyer(s) be? What would their motivation be? What would their operating philosophy be? What is their media industry background, if any?

Answers to all those questions: None. No one can say what "the Tribune papers" might do when there might not even be a "Tribune papers" entity within months.

 

I figure the sold-off papers would still have the modules done in Chicago. I think the papers technically are paying the Tribune to do the work (money in one pocket going into the other pocket).

 

I hear you Screwball. And I admit, I'm speaking from the outside looking in. After reading your post, I talked with a couple of friends at Tribune locations that are in a hiring mode. They echoed the sentiments that you posted. Thanks for getting me straight.