Tribune Staff Hides in Les Nessman's Office

Chicago Tribune employees apparently have convinced themselves that a Columbia Journalism Review editorial calling for the Tribune to get out of the newspaper business because it isn't "doing much public good" does not apply to them. Cubune Watcher Patrick Sheehan tells us Tribune staffers have told him the CJR editorial only applies to "Tribune" and not to "The Tribune."

Patrick wonders if there's tape on the floor in the Tribune Tower where Tribune ends and The Tribune begins, because we can't help but think of Les Nessman, news anchor for WKRP in Cincinatti. According to Wikipedia: "Before approaching (Nessman's) desk, one has to 'knock' on the nonexistent door, attached to the nonexistent walls of the nonexistent office he feels he deserves; those who don't face his ineffectual wrath."

There are many reasons why the wall between Tribune and The Tribune is a fictitious wall, not the least of which involves the Tribune stock in the benefits package that The Tribune reporters receive in return for their souls. In today's Tribune, columnist Phil Rogers confesses to checking his stock prices while sitting in the press box during games. Just what you want in a sportswriter.

There's also that question of "public good." If Tribune isn't doing much public good, doesn't it necessarily follow that The Tribune isn't either? After all, were Tribune to do some public good it would have to do so through institutions it owns, like The Tribune, that interact with the public.

And then there's this: when Tribune fired LA Times editor Dean Baquet, they replaced him with Chicago Tribune managing editor James O'Shea. Notice: Tribune sends Chicago Tribune editor to Los Angeles as an agent for the suppression of journalism.

That's not all. When Tribune fired LA Times publisher Jeffrey Johnson, they replaced him with former Chicago Tribune publisher David Hiller. Tribune sends Chicago Tribune publisher to Los Angeles as an agent for the suppression of journalism.

Ken Reich, a retired 39-year LA Times reporter who blogs on this catastrophe, doesn't see any wall between O'Shea, Hiller, and Tribune CEO Dennis Fitzsimmons. He refers to the three of them as the "axis of stupidity." If there's obviously no wall in Los Angeles, do you really expect us to believe there's a wall in Chicago? I guess so.

So let's just make this perfectly clear: if you walk from one end of the axis of stupidity to the other, you'd better knock on the invisible door in the invisible wall that's somewhere in between.