Sam Zell's Heroic Deconstruction of Iconic Newspapers
Chicago Editor Quits as Tribune Cuts Deeper
By Howard Kurtz Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, July 15, 2008; C01
The editor of the Chicago Tribune resigned yesterday, six days after its parent company ordered the paper to cut 14 percent of its newsroom staff and slash the number of news pages it publishes by the same percentage.
. . . Yesterday's news that the publisher of the Los Angeles Times has been forced out underscored the turmoil at Tribune Co., which has become perhaps the most visible symbol of an industry in financial distress. With declining revenues yielding a near-daily drumbeat of layoffs and buyouts at hundreds of papers, including the New York Times and Washington Post, executives have been leading a traumatic downsizing. And some are choosing -- or being forced -- to leave.
. . . Real estate financier Sam Zell, who took on considerable debt in buying the company for $8.2 billion in December, is selling off such iconic assets as the Tribune and Times headquarters …