Wanted: Editor Who Can Mindlessly Hack the Budget

The worst thing to ever happen to the news business is 60 Minutes. The show turned a profit way back in the 1980s and from there it was on. News became about money as much as anything.

The most glaring example of how crazy things have gotten is The Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, LA Times and Newsday, among others. Yesterday, the Times fired its second editor in 15 months because the guy wouldn't slash the budget ruthlessly. He was willing to cut, but not enough. Certainly that's what you have to do in a declining industry like print journalism, but what happened to, You gotta spend money to make money?

I never thought I would be happy that Rupert Murdoch has control of The Wall Street Journal, but here we are. The guy knows how to make money in the print industry. I don't love his methods, but since The Journal already has such a built-in audience, I can't see him turning it into the NY Post. He may make it more conservative, but I also believe he will spend money so that it becomes the right wing's answer to The NY Times.