New year, new owners

New ownership of three major news organizations — Tribune, Thomson-Reuters and Dow Jones — will "significantly impact the news and informations business" according to this commentary from The Century Foundation. It advises all three mega-companies that "the journalists who work for you, the people who produce the content your companies were founded to supply, will respond much better to inspirational and creative leadership than to intimidation and diminished resources."

Yeah, but that's not all: A voice in the workplace and the ESOP would give all those hard-working folks — you know, the ones that give Tribune its real value — a better greater of ownership and security.

In all the interviews and speeches he has given and all the profiles about him, Zell has emphasized his commitment to excellence in everything he does. But his strategy for the business so far has been cast in financial terms rather than journalistic output ... For the moment, Zell seems more focused on a business turnaround at Tribune than on a reinvention of its journalism.
[snip]
The big question is whether Zell can succeed in his business goals without making sure the properties he controls—the newspapers, mainly—are preeminent in their territories. The Los Angeles Times, in particular, has been battered for the past decade by various forms of dissension at the corporate level and in its proud newsroom. The Baltimore Sun is another major trouble spot.

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