Tribune Flunky Proves Just How Stupid The Axis of Stupidity Is

The axis of stupidity, the executives at the Tribune Co., have sent out a flunky to challenge the Columbia Journalism Review editorial advising Tribune to get out of the newspaper business.

The letter to CJR from Gerould Kern, who signs himself vice president/editorial insists on something that will strike any knowledgable observer as ridiculous -- that Tribune newspapers in their present cost cutting mode, are performing outstanding public service. I wonder if, like L.A. Times publisher David Hiller, Kern too is a crony of Bill Clinton persecutor Ken Starr.

Kern's is a lengthy letter, but every sentence of it is drivil.

Meanwhile, a Merrill Lynch analyst, Lauren Rich Fine, says she does not believe Tribune Co. will sell its assets. Merrill Lynch is the company that nearly bankrupted Orange County with its poor advice, and Fine's analysis is more of the same. She bases her conclusion on the assumption none of the bids due Jan. 17 will be satisfactory.

With the bids this coming week, I'm confident a sale process will be initiated. Tribune will certainly sell some assets, because the company right now is a royal fuck up, managed by inept jerks, its stock price low, its debts huge, its shareholders dissatisfied, its thinking processes bankrupt. We can only pray that among the assets that will be sold is the Los Angeles Times, which has suffered as much or more from the company ineptitude as any of its assets.

Have faith. A better day is coming, regardless of idiotic letters or Wall Street gurus who have been responsible for driving many companies into the ground.