Thursday, March 13, 2008
News / News Bites Sam Zell thinks this guy is brilliant . . .
Posted by Michael Miner on Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 1:27 PM
What is a journalist? A journalist is someone reduced to tears by gibberish passing as thought, especially from the desk of someone who's got control of your future. Don't cry, but here's a memo from Lee Abrams, the newly appointed "innovation officer" of the Tribune Company: "News and Information is the NEW Rock n Roll."
He soon asserts: "On a very personal level, it is important to me that I help Tribune fight 'junk culture'. Smart re-invention that enlightens. Websites can be Disneyland for the mind; TV stations (especially news) can put the Kent Brockman cliché to rest and create a visual experience that intoxicates with brilliance and freshness; And Newspapers! We owe it to our culture to make sure they thrive...We can make America smarter. Not more elite . . . just smarter."
Reading this in context doesn't help, but here's the entire memo.
And here's more: "Average sucks. Best to be brilliantly good, or SO bad, it's engaging. It's that evil zone of average that American Media is stuck in. WE MUST not accept average. Fight it! It's gotten to be accepted that average is fine. No it's not . . . it sucks! Theater of the Mind. We have to play there. We gotta deliver the magic . . ."
AFTERWORD: For a thoughtful contrarian view of Abrams from the Reader's Whet Moser, click here.
Showing 1-10 of 10
You weren't kidding. Reading it in context really doesn't help.
"News and Information is the NEW Rock n Roll." This is true to the degree that most young people listen to hip hop rather than rock n roll. -- SCAM
More and more I'm disappointed that "death is not an option."
Sounds like he's bringing the Red Streak back... (that was the name of that Red Eye challenger, right?)
Man, someone needs to bring Red Streak back. Truth be told it was way better than RedEye.
Lee needs to get in touch with a good editor, or face auto-deletion of his future emails. Tribune is bringing in a lot of people with histories of past innovation. Unfortunately, past success in other enterprises doesn't guarantee the near-term survival of this company. Can these new leaders quickly and cohesively come together to translate their various visions into financially viable solutions? Can these leaders counter-act the inevitable ongoing loss of creative talent now occuring at their facilities? Tribune is a deeply troubled and disorganized conglomerate in a declining industry. Changing an entire corporate culture in effective ways takes more than grandstanding and fear mongering from those in charge. Lee's "Disneyland for the mind" (and other visions) are nice and pleasant to contemplate, in utopian sorts of ways, but how do they translate into actionable items that can affect the bottom line NOW. With the short timelines coming up to meet their various debt payments, in an economy on the brink of recession, they have a very daunting task ahead in getting beyond the current (and seemingly never-ending) pontification and speach making stages, and on to producing results that can save this company.
Tribune can forget about delivering the magic if it can't deliver a halfway interesting newspaper or web site, which it hasn't done in my 20 years of living in Chicago.
He reminds me of the sleazy ad executive from the Canadian TV show "Slings and Arrows" who keeps quoting Nixon and insists "the truth is the new lie."
Could it be that these new Trib "visionaries" are trying so hard to be the antithesis of what's passed for Tribune leadership and corporate culture that they've swung wildly in the opposite direction? Buttoned-down and bland didn't necessarily need to be replaced by profane and crazy.
profane and crazy is what they know ...
Latest in The Blog
-
11/21 — Free Alexa Woodward Show at Reckless Records
Free Alexa Woodward in-store on Saturday
- Nov 19, 2009
-
Select Media Festival tonight
The eighth Select Media Festival opens tonight with short videos at Heaven Gallery.
- Nov 19, 2009
-
Free Saturday Night Bus Rides for Drunks
Free Saturday night bus rides on the north side.
- Nov 19, 2009
- More»
Author Archives
-
Steve Timble Leaves Reader
- Oct 29, 2009
-
"There is, as of today, only one bidder" — Halbreich
- Sep 29, 2009
-
The Mezuzah Case — A Victory for Judge Diane Wood
- Nov 13, 2009
- More»
Comments (10) RSS