The Deal from Hell: How Moguls and Wall Street Plundered Great American Newspapers

by O'Shea, James

• ISBN13: 9781610391894
• ISBN10: 1610391896
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-08-28
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

In 2000, after the Tribune Company acquired Times Mirror Corporation, it comprised the most powerful collection of newspapers in the world. How then did Tribune nosedive into bankruptcy and public scandal? In The Deal From Hell, veteran Tribuneand Los Angeles Timeseditor James O'Shea takes us behind the scenes of the decisions that led to disaster in boardrooms and newsrooms from coast to coast, based on access to key players, court testimony, and sworn depositions. The Deal From Hellis a riveting narrative that chronicles how news industry executives and editors--convinced they were acting in the best interests of their publications--made a series of flawed decisions that endangered journalistic credibility and drove the newspapers, already confronting a perfect storm of political, technological, economic, and social turmoil, to the brink of extinction.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction: The Merger	p. 1
Beginnings: Des Moines	p. 15
Across the Street	p. 27
Otis Chandler's Legacy	p. 43
Twilight	p. 55
The New Order	p. 69
The Cereal Killer	p. 85
His Seat on the Dais	p. 105
Inside the Merger	p. 123
Making News	p. 135
A Changing Landscape	p. 149
Market-Driven Journalism	p. 163
Buy the Numbers	p. 181
Count Kern	p. 201
Civil War	p. 219
Up Against a Saint and a Dead Man	p. 231
Before the Fall	p. 253
The Penguin Parable	p. 269
Closing the Deal	p. 293
Zell Hell	p. 309
Epilogue	p. 333
Acknowledgments	p. 351
Notes	p. 353
Index	p. 381
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.