New York Times Bankruptcy?

[Gord]

Which major newspaper will see the light and get on the fair and balanced bandwagon, and actually increase its circulation?

None of them. They don't think they are the problem. They think it is a stupid public that won't read their drivel.

 

[Navy1960]

“I want a guy to run for President who doesn’t have a fucking — I’m sorry, a ranch.” Chirs Matthews on the Don Imus Show

"It's part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama's speech. My, I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don't have that too often." Chris Matthews when talking to Brian Williams about Barack Obama

“Cheney, of course, who always wants to kill” Chris Matthews on Don Imus

"I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work" Chris Matthews on morning Joe


“Every man who parrots the cry of ’stand by the President’ without adding the proviso ’so far as he serves the Republic’ takes an attitude as essentially unmanly as that of any Stuart royalist who championed the doctrine that the King could do no wrong. No self-respecting and intelligent free man could take such an attitude.” - Theodore Roosevelt

When someone who presents himself to the public with the background that Mr. Matthews does as a former staffer to Tip O'Neal the once very powerful Democrat who ran the house for years as a media expert on political matters and acts to the contrary one need only look at what his views are to understand the nature of his statements. While I don't take issue with Mr. Matthews right to express his views no matter what they are, what I do take issue with is this environment that somehow presents him as an unbiased figure and more so those that see him that way. Mr. Matthews is not unique in the media these days , more so he is the norm and when people are used to this unprofessional behavior by media types then that is where the expectations are.

 

[sealybobo]

Give it up with the Democrat talking points. Bush did not steal Florida - the media recounts showed that Bush won. Bush didn't lie about anything. He relyed on Clinton's CIA appointments and was given some faulty intelligence - remember it's a "slam-dunk" Mr. president? And I don't believe you when you claim Bush was your president. You are an extreme partisan liberal - I need to know no more.

Obama was just lucky with the economy. And if the media had done their job and scrutinized Obama half as much as they did Sarah Palin's family life Obama would have lost in a landslide.

Give it up with the Republican talking points.

 

[sealybobo]

Despite Obama having the media in his hip pocket, despite having history on his side where a two term president is usually replaced by the other party, despite having a strong edge in campaign funds after he lied about taking public funds and then accepted laundered foreign and untraceable credit card funds, and despite having a weak Republican opponent, despite all of these things he was still behind in the polls until the credit crisis cracked. If the economic problem had not surfaced for another month it was McCain with momentum coming out of the conventions and it would be president-elect McCain right now. Obama won because he is a liar and corrupt, the media covered up his sleezy past, and good luck - nothing more.

Enough with the Republican talking points dude.

 

[Gord]

Give it up with the Republican talking points.

I'm sorry. I realize the truth is hurting you terribly - I feel your pain. I'll stop now.

(See? I have a liberal touchy-feely side...)

 

[sealybobo]

I'm sorry. I realize the truth is hurting you terribly - I feel your pain. I'll stop now.

(See? I have a liberal touchy-feely side...)

Rev Wright, Bill Ayers & Rezko now run the government that taxes you.

 

[Gord]

Rev Wright, Bill Ayers & Rezko now run the government that taxes you.

Sorry - I don't have an extreme liberal decoder ring so I don't understnd your strange humor. But I'm sure somebody other than you finds it mildly humorous - let me know if you find someone...

 

[sealybobo]

Sorry - I don't have an extreme liberal decoder ring so I don't understnd your strange humor. But I'm sure somebody other than you finds it mildly humorous - let me know if you find someone...

The Governor of Illinois.

Boy, you guys were right about Chicago politics. Corrupt!!!

PS. Why didn't the liberal media talk up the Keating 5 scandal?

 

[Care4all]

ALL newpapers are going down.

You people are not aware of that?

I can assure you the newspaper industry is.

What future business model could save them?

I realize the net is taking their business away, but this could be because they give the news for free on the net....perhaps they can entice more advertisers to their internet sites? Perhaps they branch off in more of an internet company....?

I don't see them giving up that easily....(that's giving up all of their power)...someone has to have some sort of future business model that would work for them?

care

 

[Gord]

The Governor of Illinois.

Boy, you guys were right about Chicago politics. Corrupt!!!

PS. Why didn't the liberal media talk up the Keating 5 scandal?

Because there is no there there.

 

[dilloduck]

What future business model could save them?

I realize the net is taking their business away, but this could be because they give the news for free on the net....perhaps they can entice more advertisers to their internet sites? Perhaps they branch off in more of an internet company....?

I don't see them giving up that easily....(that's giving up all of their power)...someone has to have some sort of future business model that would work for them?

care

How about a business model that has them doing there job acurately seeking out reporting the news instead of resorting yellow journalism ?

 

[Care4all]

How about a business model that has them doing there job acurately seeking out reporting the news instead of resorting yellow journalism ?

Well, maybe we will go full circle, and back to the smaller newspapers that do their own investigative reporting again? Who knows?

 

[sealybobo]

What future business model could save them?

I realize the net is taking their business away, but this could be because they give the news for free on the net....perhaps they can entice more advertisers to their internet sites? Perhaps they branch off in more of an internet company....?

I don't see them giving up that easily....(that's giving up all of their power)...someone has to have some sort of future business model that would work for them?

care

Screw the Newspaper industry. Here in Detroit, the Detroit News/Freepress broke their unions in the 90's.

And they are all consolidating power.

IMO, it's all part of the plan. Now Rupert Murdoc, or someone like him, can buy up the failing newspapers for cheap and he'll have no competition.

And with these companies bleeding money, who is going to complain about a monopoly? We are too worried about the lost jobs.

But the banks did the same thing. The ones going bankrupt paid their CEO's millions. Now they don't have any money so a bigger bank can buy them for cheap.

Why isn't anyone talking about the Tribune?

Workers Pay for Debacle at Tribune


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/bu...html?ref=media

>

Mr. Zell literally mortgaged the future of Tribune’s employees to pursue what one analyst, Jack Newman, at the time called “a childhood fantasy.”

Mr. Zell financed much of his deal’s $13 billion of debt by borrowing against part of the future of his employees’ pension plan and taking a huge tax advantage. Tribune employees ended up with equity, and now they will probably be left with very little.

As Mr. Newman, an analyst at CreditSights, explained at the time: “If there is a problem with the company, most of the risk is on the employees, as Zell will not own Tribune shares.” He continued: “The cash will come from the sweat equity of the employees of Tribune.”

It is unclear how much Zell will lose, but one thing is clear: when creditors get in line, he gets to stand ahead of the employees.

it is worth remembering all the people who mismanaged the company beforehand and helped orchestrate this ill-fated deal — and made a lot of money in the process. They include members of the Tribune board, the company’s management and the bankers who walked away with millions of dollars for financing and advising on a transaction that many of them knew, or should have known, could end in ruin. (sound familiar? sub prime lenders)

It was Tribune’s board that sold the company to Mr. Zell — and allowed him to use the employee’s pension plan to do so. Despite early resistance, Dennis J. FitzSimons, then the company’s chief executive, backed the plan. He was paid about $17.7 million in severance and other payments. The sale also bought all the shares he owned — $23.8 million worth. The day he left, he said in a note to employees that “completing this ‘going private’ transaction is a great outcome for our shareholders, employees and customers.”

Tribune’s board was advised by a group of bankers from Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, which walked off with $35.8 million and $37 million, respectively. But those banks played both sides of the deal: they also lent Mr. Zell the money to buy the company. For that, they shared an additional $47 million pot of fees with several other banks, according to Thomson Reuters. And then there was Morgan Stanley, which wrote a “fairness opinion” blessing the deal, for which it was paid a $7.5 million fee (plus an additional $2.5 million advisory fee).

On top of that, a firm called the Valuation Research Corporation wrote a “solvency opinion” suggesting that Tribune could meet its debt covenants. Thomson Reuters, which tracks fees, estimates V.R.C. was paid $1 million for that opinion. V.R.C. was so enamored with its role that it put out a press release.

(ARE WE ALL SUCKERS? DO WE NOT SEE THE PATERN HERE?)

But what about those employees? They had no seat at the table when the company’s own board let Mr. Zell use part of its future pension plan in exchange for $34 a share.

Mr. Newman, the analyst who predicted the trouble, said in an interview on Monday, “The employees were put in a very bad situation.” He added that while boards are typically only responsible to their shareholders, this situation may be different. “There has to be a balance,” he said, “to create sustainability for all the stakeholders.”

Dan Neil, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Los Angeles Times, led a lawsuit with other Tribune employees against Mr. Zell and Tribune this fall. The suit contended “through both the structure of his takeover and his subsequent conduct, Zell and his accessories have diminished the value of the employee-owned company to benefit himself and his fellow board members.”

If the employees win, they will become Tribune creditors — and stand in line with all other creditors in bankruptcy court.

 

[WillowTree]

Screw the Newspaper industry. Here in Detroit, the Detroit News/Freepress broke their unions in the 90's.

And they are all consolidating power.

IMO, it's all part of the plan. Now Rupert Murdoc, or someone like him, can buy up the failing newspapers for cheap and he'll have no competition.

And with these companies bleeding money, who is going to complain about a monopoly? We are too worried about the lost jobs.

But the banks did the same thing. The ones going bankrupt paid their CEO's millions. Now they don't have any money so a bigger bank can buy them for cheap.

Why isn't anyone talking about the Tribune?

Workers Pay for Debacle at Tribune


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/bu...html?ref=media

>

Mr. Zell literally mortgaged the future of Tribune’s employees to pursue what one analyst, Jack Newman, at the time called “a childhood fantasy.”

Mr. Zell financed much of his deal’s $13 billion of debt by borrowing against part of the future of his employees’ pension plan and taking a huge tax advantage. Tribune employees ended up with equity, and now they will probably be left with very little.

As Mr. Newman, an analyst at CreditSights, explained at the time: “If there is a problem with the company, most of the risk is on the employees, as Zell will not own Tribune shares.” He continued: “The cash will come from the sweat equity of the employees of Tribune.”

It is unclear how much Zell will lose, but one thing is clear: when creditors get in line, he gets to stand ahead of the employees.

it is worth remembering all the people who mismanaged the company beforehand and helped orchestrate this ill-fated deal — and made a lot of money in the process. They include members of the Tribune board, the company’s management and the bankers who walked away with millions of dollars for financing and advising on a transaction that many of them knew, or should have known, could end in ruin. (sound familiar? sub prime lenders)

It was Tribune’s board that sold the company to Mr. Zell — and allowed him to use the employee’s pension plan to do so. Despite early resistance, Dennis J. FitzSimons, then the company’s chief executive, backed the plan. He was paid about $17.7 million in severance and other payments. The sale also bought all the shares he owned — $23.8 million worth. The day he left, he said in a note to employees that “completing this ‘going private’ transaction is a great outcome for our shareholders, employees and customers.”

Tribune’s board was advised by a group of bankers from Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, which walked off with $35.8 million and $37 million, respectively. But those banks played both sides of the deal: they also lent Mr. Zell the money to buy the company. For that, they shared an additional $47 million pot of fees with several other banks, according to Thomson Reuters. And then there was Morgan Stanley, which wrote a “fairness opinion” blessing the deal, for which it was paid a $7.5 million fee (plus an additional $2.5 million advisory fee).

On top of that, a firm called the Valuation Research Corporation wrote a “solvency opinion” suggesting that Tribune could meet its debt covenants. Thomson Reuters, which tracks fees, estimates V.R.C. was paid $1 million for that opinion. V.R.C. was so enamored with its role that it put out a press release.

(ARE WE ALL SUCKERS? DO WE NOT SEE THE PATERN HERE?)

But what about those employees? They had no seat at the table when the company’s own board let Mr. Zell use part of its future pension plan in exchange for $34 a share.

Mr. Newman, the analyst who predicted the trouble, said in an interview on Monday, “The employees were put in a very bad situation.” He added that while boards are typically only responsible to their shareholders, this situation may be different. “There has to be a balance,” he said, “to create sustainability for all the stakeholders.”

Dan Neil, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Los Angeles Times, led a lawsuit with other Tribune employees against Mr. Zell and Tribune this fall. The suit contended “through both the structure of his takeover and his subsequent conduct, Zell and his accessories have diminished the value of the employee-owned company to benefit himself and his fellow board members.”

If the employees win, they will become Tribune creditors — and stand in line with all other creditors in bankruptcy court.

you are in Detroit? At work? And on the computer all day? And you want a bailout????

 

[dilloduck]

Screw the Newspaper industry. Here in Detroit, the Detroit News/Freepress broke their unions in the 90's.

And they are all consolidating power.

IMO, it's all part of the plan. Now Rupert Murdoc, or someone like him, can buy up the failing newspapers for cheap and he'll have no competition.

And with these companies bleeding money, who is going to complain about a monopoly? We are too worried about the lost jobs.

But the banks did the same thing. The ones going bankrupt paid their CEO's millions. Now they don't have any money so a bigger bank can buy them for cheap.

Why isn't anyone talking about the Tribune?

Workers Pay for Debacle at Tribune


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/bu...html?ref=media

>

Mr. Zell literally mortgaged the future of Tribune’s employees to pursue what one analyst, Jack Newman, at the time called “a childhood fantasy.”

Mr. Zell financed much of his deal’s $13 billion of debt by borrowing against part of the future of his employees’ pension plan and taking a huge tax advantage. Tribune employees ended up with equity, and now they will probably be left with very little.

As Mr. Newman, an analyst at CreditSights, explained at the time: “If there is a problem with the company, most of the risk is on the employees, as Zell will not own Tribune shares.” He continued: “The cash will come from the sweat equity of the employees of Tribune.”

It is unclear how much Zell will lose, but one thing is clear: when creditors get in line, he gets to stand ahead of the employees.

it is worth remembering all the people who mismanaged the company beforehand and helped orchestrate this ill-fated deal — and made a lot of money in the process. They include members of the Tribune board, the company’s management and the bankers who walked away with millions of dollars for financing and advising on a transaction that many of them knew, or should have known, could end in ruin. (sound familiar? sub prime lenders)

It was Tribune’s board that sold the company to Mr. Zell — and allowed him to use the employee’s pension plan to do so. Despite early resistance, Dennis J. FitzSimons, then the company’s chief executive, backed the plan. He was paid about $17.7 million in severance and other payments. The sale also bought all the shares he owned — $23.8 million worth. The day he left, he said in a note to employees that “completing this ‘going private’ transaction is a great outcome for our shareholders, employees and customers.”

Tribune’s board was advised by a group of bankers from Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, which walked off with $35.8 million and $37 million, respectively. But those banks played both sides of the deal: they also lent Mr. Zell the money to buy the company. For that, they shared an additional $47 million pot of fees with several other banks, according to Thomson Reuters. And then there was Morgan Stanley, which wrote a “fairness opinion” blessing the deal, for which it was paid a $7.5 million fee (plus an additional $2.5 million advisory fee).

On top of that, a firm called the Valuation Research Corporation wrote a “solvency opinion” suggesting that Tribune could meet its debt covenants. Thomson Reuters, which tracks fees, estimates V.R.C. was paid $1 million for that opinion. V.R.C. was so enamored with its role that it put out a press release.

(ARE WE ALL SUCKERS? DO WE NOT SEE THE PATERN HERE?)

But what about those employees? They had no seat at the table when the company’s own board let Mr. Zell use part of its future pension plan in exchange for $34 a share.

Mr. Newman, the analyst who predicted the trouble, said in an interview on Monday, “The employees were put in a very bad situation.” He added that while boards are typically only responsible to their shareholders, this situation may be different. “There has to be a balance,” he said, “to create sustainability for all the stakeholders.”

Dan Neil, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Los Angeles Times, led a lawsuit with other Tribune employees against Mr. Zell and Tribune this fall. The suit contended “through both the structure of his takeover and his subsequent conduct, Zell and his accessories have diminished the value of the employee-owned company to benefit himself and his fellow board members.”

If the employees win, they will become Tribune creditors — and stand in line with all other creditors in bankruptcy court.

ah yes---Mr. Zell. Another great Jewish business man. You gotta hand it to them--they can really rake in the bucks.

 

[glockmail]

Well, maybe we will go full circle, and back to the smaller newspapers that do their own investigative reporting again? Who knows?

Fat chance at that. Our local is owned by Gannett, and I'd bet half the "local" articles are written in a corporate office somewhere else.

 

[sealybobo]

ah yes---Mr. Zell. Another great Jewish business man. You gotta hand it to them--they can really rake in the bucks.

I guess he used to be considered a genious buying up failing companies and turning them around. But he really dropped the ball on this one, huh?

But many rich people made a lot of money on this transaction.

In the end, it'll be the employees/taxpayers that get screwed.

Socialize the losses and privative the profits.

Don't have government interfer, until the company goes belly up and then they should step in to honor the employees pensions? Screw that! How about interfer before it gets that bad?

 

[Care4all]

Fat chance at that. Our local is owned by Gannett, and I'd bet half the "local" articles are written in a corporate office somewhere else.

HOLY CRAP

It's worse than i had thought......!!!!!!!!!

 

[sealybobo]

When can we give them the REAL Jim Jones Kool-Aid? I would certainly improve things!

Former MSNBC producer Jeff Cohen said he was ordered to always have at least two conservatives on the Donahue show whenever one liberal appeared, "and three conservatives to Michael Moore." Apparently the Moore Rule at MSNBC now also extends to Amy Goodman - a few days after Cohen said this on my radio program, I watched MSNBC's Chris Matthews position Goodman against three conservatives, and then dismiss her before the show ended so the remaining three could make their final points.

Hundreds of hours a day of right-wing programming pour out of radio stations nationwide, and conservative extremists are the most common "guests" and "experts" on network news and weekend political TV shows.

The possibility that the election of 2002 was also stolen - particularly in Georgia, where Max Cleland lost his seat to Saxby Chambliss, gave Republicans control of the Senate - has never been seriously investigated by any major media.

And when a consortium of news organizations recounted the Florida 2000 vote and it was found that Al Gore actually won the entire state - and thus the presidency - no matter what standard was used to count the ballots, the corporate news organizations of America buried the story (although the New York Times and Washington Post at least did report it on 09/12/01).

Alberto Gonzales, attorney general at the time, called the Geneva Conventions "quaint"; our Secretary of Defense stands accused of ordering torture; our President and Vice President knowingly lie to us in order to lead an election-year preemptive war; and Congress passes national security bills without reading them - eerily like the German Parliament passed the Enabling Acts after the Reichstag was burned.

ThomHartmann.com - The Myth of National Victimhood - All Wrapped and Delivered for Christmas

And where was the liberal media the entire time?

Chris Matthews may be pretending to be a liberal now, or maybe he was pretending to be a conservative back when I used to watch him. I never saw it. So he said Obama sends shivers up his leg? Whatever. You too can jump on the bandwaggon if you want.

 

[Tech_Esq]

Former MSNBC producer Jeff Cohen said he was ordered to always have at least two conservatives on the Donahue show whenever one liberal appeared, "and three conservatives to Michael Moore." Apparently the Moore Rule at MSNBC now also extends to Amy Goodman - a few days after Cohen said this on my radio program, I watched MSNBC's Chris Matthews position Goodman against three conservatives, and then dismiss her before the show ended so the remaining three could make their final points.

Hundreds of hours a day of right-wing programming pour out of radio stations nationwide, and conservative extremists are the most common "guests" and "experts" on network news and weekend political TV shows.

The possibility that the election of 2002 was also stolen - particularly in Georgia, where Max Cleland lost his seat to Saxby Chambliss, gave Republicans control of the Senate - has never been seriously investigated by any major media.

And when a consortium of news organizations recounted the Florida 2000 vote and it was found that Al Gore actually won the entire state - and thus the presidency - no matter what standard was used to count the ballots, the corporate news organizations of America buried the story (although the New York Times and Washington Post at least did report it on 09/12/01).

Alberto Gonzales, attorney general at the time, called the Geneva Conventions "quaint"; our Secretary of Defense stands accused of ordering torture; our President and Vice President knowingly lie to us in order to lead an election-year preemptive war; and Congress passes national security bills without reading them - eerily like the German Parliament passed the Enabling Acts after the Reichstag was burned.

ThomHartmann.com - The Myth of National Victimhood - All Wrapped and Delivered for Christmas

And where was the liberal media the entire time?

Chris Matthews may be pretending to be a liberal now, or maybe he was pretending to be a conservative back when I used to watch him. I never saw it. So he said Obama sends shivers up his leg? Whatever. You too can jump on the bandwaggon if you want.

Bullshit