A memo from Tribune Co. (financially distressed owner of Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, among others) chief innovation officer Lee Abrams is being widely quoted, reports Publishers Lunch, the daily e-newsletter produced by Publishersmarketplace.com. This snippet, buried fairly deep in his rambling memo, speaks to his view on book pages in newspapers:

“Heard a conversation about how Book reporting doesn’t generate revenue and may have to go away. WAIT! Maybe Book reviews and coverage are one of those things that don’t generate revenue right now, BUT–are trademarks for newspapers and elicit high passion from readers. At XM, (Abrams has a background in radio) we had Opera channels. Low listenership … HIGH passion … AND–it was one of those things that even if people didn’t listen or even like Opera, it was one of those things you had to have for completeness. Maybe Book sections in newspapers are just dated. Not the idea…but the look and feel. Maybe they’re modeled after a book store in 1967 whereas we’re in the Borders, Amazon, B&N era. Maybe they are too scholarly. Maybe they avoid genres like Christian books, Celebrity books and Popular novels, opting instead for reviews of the Philippine Socialist Movement in the 1800’s. The point here is maybe Book sections need to be as dramatically re-thought as Borders re-thought retail. Not dumbing down–but getting in sync with the 21st Century mainstream book reader.”
Well, to scholarly types, that probably sounds a lot like dumbing down. But newspapers, save the editorial and op-ed pages, are hardly the bastions of ivory-towered academia (and op-eds can be pretty sophomoric, too, which might be insulting the sophomoric).
Tribune Chairman and Chief executive Sam Zell, widely reviled by some (see for yourself), hired Abram to shake the rust off his struggling empire.

To read Tell Zell, CLICK HERE.

To read LAobserved, CLICK HERE.