The anchorless newscast and other imagineering

Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels has a vision for his bankrupt newspaper and television empire, and it looks a lot like the empires of MediaNews Group and Gannett - meaning a constant focus on findings ways to cut staff (centralizing and shrinking copy and news desks, sharing stories to fill pages or on-air time) and a nearly erotic attachment to the idea of consolidation.

Here are some key quotes from an interview Michaels did with the Wall Street Journal:

"Stories [are] laid out in modules — standard sizes with collections of headlines, content, images [reducing the need for layout and copy editors]. If you pick up the Allentown [Pa.] Morning Call, the foreign news was written in Los Angeles and the national news was written in either Chicago or Washington. It's probably higher quality journalism than a local paper that size is going to be able to afford."

"We are about to launch a TV newscast in Houston that has no anchors, that has great pictures and great writing, but doesn't involve a set or a desk or anyone standing in the way of the picture. Now is it going to work? We're going to find out."


"On the TV side, this is an industry ready to consolidate. I believe my experience in helping people look rationally at opportunities to grow their business by intelligently consolidating regionally will be very helpful."