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Topic: Miscellaneous items
Date/Time: 1/12/2007 1:02:11 PM
Title: Tribune responds to CJR editorial
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
Mr. Michael Hoyt
Executive Editor
Columbia Journalism Review
Journalism Building
2950 Broadway
Columbia University
New York, NY 10027

Dear Mr. Hoyt:

We at Tribune strongly disagree with the conclusions reached in the Columbia Journalism Review's recent editorial, "Time to Go, Why Tribune is like Rumsfeld." Your editorial is misinformed, misguided and a disservice to your readers, our company and our communities.

Most egregious is the assertion that "Tribune has great resources, but those resources aren't doing much public good." Nothing could be further from the truth.

Journalism is Tribune's foundation
Public service through great journalism is at the heart of Tribune's
mission, as it has been since the first copies of the Chicago Tribune were
printed on a hand press in 1847. Our investment in journalism is huge and the evidence is clear for all to see.

In each of our markets, Tribune puts more journalists on the streets to
report on public affairs than anyone else by a wide margin. We spend $400 million annually on our newspaper newsrooms and employ 3,700 journalists, both figures ranking near the top of the industry.

This extraordinary investment delivers public service in the form of
groundbreaking investigative journalism, comprehensive local news coverage, distinguished world and national reporting and a vast range of other information that is illuminating and useful in the daily lives of our
readers in print and online. In response, 8 million readers each weekday and nearly 12 million on Sunday turn to Tribune newspapers because they find great value and meaning in them.

Tribune journalists are vigilant guardians of the public welfare in every
one of our communities and daily publish reports that tangibly improve
conditions on the local front. Here is a very small sample from a very long list of public service journalism recently offered to our readers:

* The Los Angeles Times investigated a major healthcare provider's
mismanagement of a kidney transplant program in which lifesaving operations were unnecessarily delayed or denied. Authorities took action and people are receiving treatment elsewhere.
* The Chicago Tribune published a remarkable examination of the causes of teen driving deaths in Illinois, sponsored public forums, marshaled parents and lawmakers and spurred action on reforms to save young lives.
* The South Florida Sun-Sentinel was the first to expose the Federal
Emergency Management Administration's stunning incompetence in handling disaster recovery claims in the wake of Florida's devastating hurricanes and continues to break stories.
* Newsday, investigating the death of a passenger on the Long Island
Railroad, revealed how others were injured after falling into dangerously
wide gaps between the cars and platforms. The railroad failed to fix the
problem-until Newsday wrote about it.

* The Baltimore Sun's reporting on the downward spiral of a city
neighborhood identified solutions and prompted the city to buy 200 abandoned properties for redevelopment.

Public service also means providing a sophisticated view of events in the
world and nation at large, and Tribune's commitment here also is
exceptional.

In Washington, Tribune maintains one of the largest contingents of
journalists covering the federal government of any national media company. Just a year ago, we opened a new $10 million state-of-the-art media center that is home to more than 100 Tribune print, broadcast and internet journalists. But there is something else noteworthy about it. Tribune preserved the independence and unique identities of our Washington bureaus by "co-locating" them in the new center where they can work closer together but still customize reports for readers at home./CONTINUED

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