At Flagging Tribune, Tales of a Bankrupt Culture

[groovedaddy]

In January 2008, soon after the venerable Tribune Company was sold for $8.2 billion, Randy Michaels, a new top executive, ran into several other senior colleagues at the InterContinental Hotel next to the Tribune Tower in Chicago.

Mr. Michaels, a former radio executive and disc jockey, had been handpicked by Sam Zell, a billionaire who was the new controlling shareholder, to run much of the media company’s vast collection of properties, including The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, WGN America and The Chicago Cubs.

After Mr. Michaels arrived, according to two people at the bar that night, he sat down and said, “watch this,” and offered the waitress $100 to show him her breasts. The group sat dumbfounded.

“Here was this guy, who was responsible for all these people, getting drunk in front of senior people and saying this to a waitress who many of us knew,” said one of the Tribune executives present, who declined to be identified because he had left the company and did not want to be quoted criticizing a former employer. “I have never seen anything like it.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/business/media/06tribune.html?th&emc=th

[pretzel4gore]

1. lies lies and more lies

fact: in WW2 the ruling class was onside with nazis- and hated USSR (the revolution)...they wanted to continue war against USSR after they were forced in '39 to fight fascism, but by '45 THE TROOPS in allied militarys were sympathetic to USSR, to Stalin! SO...the media then demonised Stalin, and they thretened USSR with nuke war and forced USSR to stay in occuppy east europe and thus caused the 'cold war' which WEST WANTED and USSR did not want!
The USSR paid for the cold war by being forced to spend all money on its defense. It fell in 1990. treagan got credited; you got robbed.
Fact. If media cannot even explain who responsible for IRON CURTAIN/cold war (ie Churchill/Truman) then they will say moon landing was a vast hoax, and we believe it.700 billion bailout save economy....lol! And the guys running the media know it's ALL a big conjob...so they drink and get stoned

[pscot]

2. there isn't enough water in de Nile

to launder Uncle Joe's reputation. How do you whitewash mass murder and repression on a colossal scale?