COLD TYPE: A Baltimore Media Blog

By JOAN JACOBSON

 A spark of hope for the newspaper industry arrived today in the form of a Chicago Tribune story that quoted unnamed sources who said the U.S. Bankruptcy Court overseeing the Tribune Corporation’s reorganization may transfer control of the company from Chicago billionaire Sam “the Gravedancer” Zell to a group of investors and banks that hold more than $8 billion in debt.

 At the moment, this possibility raises more questions than it answers. In Baltimore, the obvious question is:  would the investors be more willing than Zell has been to peel off the Sun to local buyers, such as former Baltimore County Executive Ted Venetoulis and Abell Foundation President Bob Embry?

 
 But the Tribune article notes it is possible that the investors would take over the papers, but keep Zell at the helm. That certainly would turn one old cliché on its head – ‘Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know.’

 In Zell’s case, any other devil would be an improvement.