Update On Tribune Sale

The LATimes reports today on the progress of the sale of its parent company. (And the LAT is a brat that really, really hates its parent ... for good reasons.)

After months of planning, two of Southern California's wealthiest men flew to Chicago on Saturday and made their case for buying a large and potentially controlling stake in Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times, KTLA-TV Channel 5, the Chicago Cubs and other newspapers and TV stations.

Eli Broad and Ron Burkle spent the day in a conference room with a special committee of Tribune directors, who have been assigned to sell, break up or otherwise remake the fortunes of the company, which has struggled after losing customers and advertisers to the Internet.

The special committee also must review an offer by The Times' founding family, which has proposed spinning off the TV stations and joining partners to buy Tribune's 11 daily newspapers. That offer, by California's Chandler family, could open the door to another Los Angeles potentate, entertainment mogul David Geffen, who has made a $2-billion offer for The Times alone.

Company insiders said they expected Tribune's review of the alternatives to continue for weeks.

Did you catch that bit about struggling "after losing customers and advertisers to the Internet?" No mention of all the readers and advertisers it has lost because of its vicious ("Gropinator") ultra-liberal editorial policy that oozes off its editorial page and permiates its news columns?

Like all brats, the LAT refuses to accept blame for its sorry condition. Sure, the Internet is bruising newspapers, but what's killing the LAT is its editors' and reporters' steadfast refusal to put out a decent paper.

Related Tags: Los Angeles Times, Tribune Company, Media, MSM