Media Links

Tribune focus returns to Zell - Chicago Tribune
Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, whose proposal to take Tribune Co. private fell out of favor last week, has regained the attention of the independent directors reviewing strategic options for the media giant, sources close to the situation said Wednesday.Tribune's special committee met via conference call Wednesday night to review Zell's proposal, which these sources believe was altered to change the mix of debt and equity.It was one of a series of such meetings that one source said is expected to lead up to a full board meeting on March 30, when the company is scheduled to make a decision about its future after six months of deliberation. The outcome of the meeting, if any, was unclear.

Catherine Seipp, 49; critic took on Times - Los Angeles Times
Catherine Seipp, a writer and media critic who became known in the 1990s for her pointed coverage of the Los Angeles Times in Buzz magazine, has died. She was 49.Seipp, a nonsmoker who was diagnosed with lung cancer five years ago, died Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, her family announced.

Boston Globe cuts newsroom by 6% - CNN Money.com
The Boston Globe's newsroom will shrink by 6 percent after 24 journalists, including two Pulitzer Prize winners, agreed to voluntary buyouts, New England's largest-circulation newspaper said Wednesday. Citing pressure on circulation and advertising revenue from the Internet and other competition, the Globe said the buyouts helped it to avoid layoffs "in the face of some of the harshest conditions for newspapers and other mass media in years."

Gray Days for Newspapers - TheStreet.com
For those investors arguing that the traditional newspaper industry has no future on Wall Street in the digital age, February reports provided more ammunition. Major newspaper publishers reported sharp revenue declines across the board for the month. Classified ads, the industry's cash cow, took a beating as economic conditions worsened where newspapers are particularly vulnerable.

Dark Days for Unions - Columbia Journalism Review
The three-year pact with the former Knight Ridder papers’ new local owners, Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, contained numerous concessions. It expanded a two-tier wage system, curtailed sick pay, poked holes in seniority, and provided inadequate money for spiraling health-insurance costs, let alone raises. After one last payout, it froze pensions without offering any future contribution to employee 401(k) plans. The company did agree to help pursue a merger with a multi-employer pension plan, an effort to preserve the pension system so important to the union’s aging membership.