Zell Justifies Cuts to Tribune Co. Reporters

The drastic cuts happening at Tribune Co. papers are a necessary evil if the papers are to survive to face the future, new owner Sam Zell said in a conference call with Tribune Co. reporters.

“We’re looking at some of the worst advertising numbers in the history of the world,” Zell said dramatically (via the Baltimore Sun). Baltimore Sun Media Group, which publishes the Sun and other community papers, will eighty-six about 100 jobs through layoffs, voluntary buyouts and attrition, with the newsroom losing about 20 percent of its workforce.

Though Zell wouldn’t promise there were no more cuts in store, he did say that he was doing everything in his power to make the downsizing happen as quickly as possible. “We’re not interested in trial by torture, not interested in dying by a thousand cuts,” he said.

Other Tribune papers, including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Hartford Courant and the Orlando Sentinel, are also making significant cuts.

Tribune Co., since going private with Zell, is carrying billions of dollars in debt, and is taking measures to reduce it, such as selling New York newspaper Newsday to Cablevision Systems Corp. and making plans to sell the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field.

Zell said that, with the asset sales in place, the company has adequate liquidity to meet its debt obligations for 2008.