The Tribune Co.'s new CEO Randy Michaels is "rethinking" the media conglomerate's business, according to a July 26 interview with The Wall Street Journal. For instance:
WSJ: You've centralized the production of foreign and national news across your papers to save money and manpower. What have you done and why?
Mr. Michaels: Stories [are] laid out in modules—standard sizes with collections of headlines, content, images [reducing the need for layout and copy editors]. …
WSJ: How are you keeping employees motivated?
Mr. Michaels: We recognize people who've had great ideas. A fellow in Florida figured out a way to save us a couple of million dollars [in] the way we buy newsprint. We gave him a $25,000 check, took his picture, sent it around. There were some people who groused about that, but there were a lot more people who sent us ideas.
WSJ: Are companies spending money on advertising again?
Mr. Michaels: We're seeing a substantial rebound in certain sectors. Auto [advertising] is back to a large extent, particularly in broadcast, but I don't believe auto sales are matching ad spend. If that doesn't change it could be a different situation. BP is spending a lot of money [on ads]. There apparently is a bright side to polluting the planet.
Rethinking? He's not even thinking in the first place.
Oh, for the old days, when newspapers were run by newspapermen.