Zell to cut pages, staff from Tribune papers (WSJ, NYT)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Tribune Co. Chairman Sam Zell detailed planned changes to the company's newspaper division yesterday which include a reduction in the number of pages and staffers at its daily papers.

Zell said that Tribune has collected data on the productivity of every journalist at its papers and plans to use that data to "right-size" the staff size to correspond with smaller newspapers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

No numbers or timing were provided regarding staff reductions but decisions will be left up to publishers of the individual papers.

Tribune�s COO Randy Michaels said that, after measuring journalists� output, �when you get into the individuals, you find out that you can eliminate a fair number of people while eliminating not very much content.� He added that he understood that some reporting jobs naturally produce less output than others.

Tribune plans in coming weeks to begin trimming the page counts at its newspapers to ensure that the amount of space devoted to news is roughly in line with the amount of space devoted to advertising, Zell said on a conference call with lenders.

The move could see about 500 pages, or 12.5% cut from the weekly page total of Tribune's newspapers, excluding classifieds and other ad sections, said the WSJ.

The changes indicate Zell is making good on his promises to overhaul Tribune which he took control of in an $8.2 billion buyout in December.

The changes will result in "substantial savings," Michaels said on the conference call. Michaels also said of the changes, �This is going to happen quickly.�

Zell added, �I promise you he�s underestimating the level of aggressiveness with which we are attacking this whole challenge.�

James O�Shea, who was fired recently as editor of The Los Angeles Times for refusing to cut his newsroom staff, told The New York Times that Michaels�s statements showed a misunderstanding of how newspapers work.

�The problem is the papers aren�t producing ad revenue, and diminishing the journalism isn�t going to solve that,� he said. He said it was wrong to think that a paper could cut staff without reducing output and quality.

The redesign will start with the Orlando Sentinel this month and later extend to the Los Angeles Times and other Tribune titles like the Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun.