Print Journalists' "Whine Clubs"?

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Following the lead of  "cadillac" newspapers The New York Times and The Wall St. Journal, Gannett's flagship daily USA Today has established a Wine Club.

Members will receive a 10 percent discount on purchases from the Club, which will be run by My Wines Direct. Members may purchase six bottles quarterly for $69.99, with shipping an additional $11.99. Along with the wines, members receive tasting notes, information about the region and varietal and recipes for suggested food pairings. 

To set itself apart from the Times and Journal clubs, USA Today will involve reader tasting panels who will assist in selecting wines.  One might expect for brand identity reasons that the USA Today-selected bottles would contain less wine than its Times and Journal counterparts.

Print journalism has reached a new low--Merlot.

UPDATE: [No Need to] Guess Who's Coming to the White House?

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In a reversal of its previous position, the White House issued a press release on September 4th announcing that it will publish the names contained on visitors' logs to the White House on its Web site (www.whitehouse.gov).

Each month, records of visitors to the White House over the previous 90 to 120 days will be published.  Names will still be excluded from disclosure  for national security reasons or if the names are of a "necessarily confidential nature," such as a visiting prospective Supreme Court nominee. A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which had filed litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia under the Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] (5 U.S.C. sec. 552) seeking the release of visitor logs, has agreed to withdraw its suit (See "TUOL" 6/16/09, 7/23/09), which resulted in CREW being thanked by the White House in the press release for its "participation" in the development of the revised White House policy that previously upheld the position of the Bush Administration that visitor logs were presidential papers not subject to disclosure under the FOIA.

UPDATE: Clemens Whiffs in Texas Libel Case

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Judge Keith P. Ellison of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has sent 46-year-old former pitching ace Roger Clemens to the showers, throwing out the remainder of the seven-time Cy Young award-winner's defamation lawsuit against former trainer Brian McNamee (William Roger Clemens v. Brian McNamee, Case No. 4:08-cv00471).

Judge Ellison previously had dismissed the lion's share of Clemens' libel case, finding that McNamee's alleged statements were not libelous per se and that McNamee's remarks to the Mitchell Commission investigating steroid use in Major League Baseball were beyond the court's jurisdiction (See "TUOL" 7/2/09, 8/13/09).

Clemens' and McNamee's titanic struggle is now confined to federal court in Brooklyn where McNamee sued Clemens for defamation.

An Aggregate Apology from The Hartford Courant

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Tribune Co.-owned The Hartford Courant has published a letter of apology from CEO, President and Publisher Richard J. Graziano for engaging in news aggregating practices that the Courant conceded amounted to plagiarism.

"We have determined that over the last several weeks the Courant plagiarized the work of some of our competitors," Graziano wrote. "This was not our intent, but it is in fact what happened. We are taking corrective action to prevent it from happening again. We have also disciplined the individuals involved." The letter did not detail what the remedial measures are.

The Courant aggregated news from across Connecticut, but failed to attribute the origin of some of the content that it posted, prompting a letter of complaint of misappropriation from Managing Editor Chris Powell of the Manchester Journal Inquirer. Michael Miner, who writes The Blog for www.chicagoreader.com, alleges that the Courant posted stories from other Connecticut newspapers on its Web site, some of which found their way into the print edition of the Courant under the byline of a Courant reporter. In a press release, The Society of Professional Journalists minced no words in characterizing the Courant's conduct as "theft."

The Courant  is Connecticut's largest daily newspaper. The paper has been publishing since 1764.

Military Court Marshals No Support for Reporter's Privilege

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In a case of first impression, a military appeals court rejected First Amendment and common law arguments, holding that military courts do not recognize reporter's privilege.

The decision by the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals in U.S. v. Frank D. Wuterich (NMCCA 200800183) reversed a military judge's ruling concerning the defendant staff sergeant, whom the government alleges was involved in the 2005 killing  of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq. The judge had quashed a subpoena to CBS's 60 Minutes for outtakes from the program's interview with Sgt. Wuterich.

The appeals court concluded: "the facts presented in this case do not support the recognition of a reporter's privilege under the Military Rules of Evidence, and that the military judge, therefore, erred as a matter of law in quashing the Government's subpoena."

Reporter's privilege is the notion that journalists have at least a limited right to withhold information gathered from news sources promised confidentiality, if asked to reveal it by a court. In Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S.665 (1972), a majority of the Supreme Court found a limited constitutional reporter's privilege exists in certain instances, though not if the information sought is relevant, essential to a case and unavailable from other sources.

Paris' "Hot" Lawsuit: A Legal Hallmark?

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Whether celebrity heiress Paris Hilton's lawsuit succeeds is in the cards--Hallmark Cards, that is.

Hilton sued the Kansas City, Missouri-based greeting cards maker in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 2007(Case No. 2:07-cv-05818) alleging misappropriation of publicity (i.e., invasion of privacy),false designation under the Lanham Act, and infringement of a federally registered trademark. Hallmark, in turn, filed an anti-SLAPP motion against Hilton, arguing her suit was frivolous and violated the company's First Amendment free speech right.


The row involves a greeting card that superimposes Hilton's head onto a cartoon body of a waitress serving food to a male customer, warning: "Don't touch that, it's hot." The customer responds: "What's hot?," eliciting HIlton's hilarious rejoinder: "That's hot!." Inside, the card reads: "Have a smokin' hot birthday."

Hilton registered the phrase "That's hot!" with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. She frequently uttered the expression on her fish-out-of-water reality series "The Simple Life," that featured Hilton and her former "BFF" Nicole Ritchie as privileged "princesses" engaged in rustic or working-class settings, such as feeding livestock.

Hilton claimed the Hallmark card employing her catchphrase was lifted from the exciting episode of her series entitled "Paris' First Day as a Waitress" in which she toiled for the Sonic Burger fast-food eatery. The district court tossed Hilton's trademark infringement claim, but rejected Hallmark's anti-SLAPP motion.

This week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit weighed in (Hilton v. Hallmark Cards. Docket No. 08-55443). The appellate court upheld the dismissal of the anti-SLAPP motion and was unpersuaded by Hallmark's transformative use defense, remanding the case to the district court where Hilton may proceed on her privacy/publicity claim.  Hallmark is considering appealing the ruling to the full bench of the Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court.

The appellate court decision, in rejecting the anti-SLAPP motion, said that although Hilton's claim does not merit judgment in her favor as a matter of law, "she has at least some probability of prevailing on the merits before a trier of fact."

In the wake of this litigation, don't expect any greeting card company to take a flyer on a line of "Thinking of You" cards featuring images from the heiress' iconic Internet sex tape.

DePaul J-Students Take to the Tweets

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"Digital Editing: From Breaking News to Tweets," "Reporting for Converged Newsrooms," "Backpack Reporting," "Niche Journalism."  This is not your father's journalism school education.

J-Students at DePaul University's College of Communication, Chicago's second-largest dispenser of degrees in communications, hopes to ride the wave of digital journalism in the changing field.  Craig Kanalley, digital intern at The Chicago Tribune, a DePaul alum,  is teaching DePaul j-students a college-level journalism course devoted entirely to Twitter and its applications. The course will tie into Kanalley's Web site, www.breakingtweets.com, which has had more than 500,000 page views since it launched in January 2009.

Lovers of irony will be disappointed to learn that enrollment is not limited to 140.

AP Survey Confirms: Newspapers Really Do Eat Their Young

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The results of a 13-question survey of newspaper editors conducted by the Associated Press Managing Editors confirm that  recession-fueled massive editorial layoffs in the newspaper industry claim young reporters among the highest casualties.

AP Business Writer Michael Liedtke reports that most of the 95 editors who participated in the survey witnessed a 10 percent reduction of journalists in their newsrooms during the past year. Whereas buyouts and attrition  frequently affect older, higher paid reporters,when  factoring in layoffs in which unions dictate a "last in, first out" view toward reductions in employment, it's reporters in the 18 to 35 age bracket who suffer the most.

The loss of tech-savvy younger reporters further hamstrings newspapers that are struggling with developing a model that will save the industry and attract young readers who currently derive their news from the Internet, Twitter, and other high-tech outlets.

Playboy Sheds Circulation: Top Half of 2009 a Bust for Periodicals

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TV Guide lost 10 percent of its readers, and Playboy was close behind, shedding 9.2 percent of its circulation in the first six months of 2009, compared to first-half figures a year ago, leading the bruised magazine industry, which overall experienced a 1.2 percent decline in circulation, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC).

ABC reported that for the first half of 2009, grocery store and newsstand sales of magazines plunged from 41.4 million copies in 2008 to 36.3 million copies in 2009, a 12 percent decrease. Combined circulation for 521 consumer magazines went from 343.7 million copies sold in the first half of 2008 to 339.6 million for the comparable period in 2009, according to the ABC.  Meanwhile, ad sales declined by 21 percent at major domestic periodicals in the first half of 2009.

If this keeps up,  newsstand hawkers, the principal suppliers of information to fictional private eyes since Hollywood started making talkies, will become extinct.

Marvel Fans 'Thor' About Disney Takeover

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Bambi, Dumbo, Wolverine? Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Incredible Hulk?

Media observers are still coming to grips with The Walt Disney Co.'s decision to pony up $4 billion to acquire Marvel Entertainment and gauging the impact the megadeal is expected to have on Hollywood, theme parks, video games, comic books and the like.  Disney stock dropped 3 percent to roughly $26 a share, while Marvel stock soared  25 percent to $48.37 a share yesterday on the announcement of the purchase. The stock and cash deal reportedly was valued at $50 a share, a 29 percent premium.

Marvel is the premier comics publisher, holding both a retail dollar share and unit market share edge over rival DC Comics. By acquiring Marvel, Disney is now allied with Sony Pictures Entertainment (Spider-Man), 20th Century Fox (X-Men) and Paramount Pictures (Iron Man), which continue to churn out and distribute films featuring characters from the Marvel stable. The transaction is also a boon for Disney's theme parks and cable channels.

The respective parents of Mickey Mouse and Captain America have not always seen eye to eye. In 2004, Marvel sued Disney  in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging $16 million in damages stemming from Disney's takeover of the Fox Family Channel and conversion to ABC Family. When the acquisition  occurred, Fox Family Channel was airing an animated series starring Marvel characters, prompting Marvel to argue that Fox could not transfer the copyright license of the Marvel creations to Disney.

That was then. Today, entertainment honchos in both camps are singing: "It's a Small (but) Marvel-ous World After All." Marvel's mostly male fan base, however, is already having nightmares about an Incredible Hulk & Hannah Montana music video.

Bankruptcy for Financially Squeezed Orange County Register Looms

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Irvine, Calif.-based Freedom Communications, which owns eight television stations and 31 daily newspapers, including The Orange County Register, is expected to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, handing control over to lenders who hold approximately $770 million in debt.

The Register has an average daily circulation of 230,877 and Sunday sales of roughly 300,000 for the six months ending March 31, 2009, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.  The Hoiles family has been majority owners of Freedom Communications for more than 70 years.

Freedom suspended its dividend a year ago and in June 2009, announced an across-the-board 5 percent salary reduction for employees.

Ex-Med Head Scores $10m Libel Verdict Against St. Petersburg Times

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A six-member Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court jury has socked the Times Publishing Co., parent of The St. Petersburg Times, with a $10 million libel judgment in a case brought by Dr. Harold Kennedy, former chief of medicine at Bay Pines VA Medical Center.

Following a five-day trial, the four-women, two-man jury awarded Dr. Kennedy $5.1 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages based on three articles that appeared in The St. Petersburg Times in December 2003, written by staff writer Paul de la Garza, who died at age 44 of a heart attack in 2006. The court excluded  de la Garza's reporter's notes as evidence for the defense.

The offending articles involved Dr. Kennedy's re-assignment from chief of medicine to his cardiology subspecialty. Dr. Kennedy presently resides in St. Louis and consults for the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, according to his attorney.

The newspaper plans to appeal the verdict.

What Would Brokaw Say?

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NBC, the network of Huntley & Brinkley, John Chancellor, and Tom Brokaw, has hired Jenna Hager as a part-time correspondent on the "Today" show.

Before marrying Henry Hagar on her parents' Texas ranch in May 2008, the 27-year-old "Today" newshound was better-known as Jenna Bush, daughter of President George W. Bush, whose news media background involved getting busted as a teen for using a fake id to purchase alcohol.

Besides her "Today" correspondent duties, Hager will continue to work as a teacher in the Baltimore school system.  She will not cover politics, but will report on issues such as education, according to "Today" honchos, and will work out of NBC News' Washington bureau. 

Hagar initially appeared on "Today" two years ago to promote her book, "Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope," about an HIV-infected single mother. She has written two books, matching the number her father has read. Landing her first television job on "Today" in NBC News' Washington bureau is a good opportunity for Hagar were she to decide to pursue a broadcasting career in a higher-profile major tv market down the line.

Gannett's Journal News Bad for Business (Reporters)

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Included among the latest round of 50 layoffs at Gannett's Journal News in Westchester County, N.Y. is the entire business editorial staff.

In the face of sagging ad revenues, the once 14-member business reporting staff was wiped out. Experiencing the recession is even tougher than covering it.

'The View' From the Gutter

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Rod & Patti Blagojevich will appear on Barbara Walters' gabfest, "The View" on Sept. 9.

It's a return appearance for the 52-year-old impeached former governor of  Illinois, who was on the show last January. He is promoting his book, "The Governor."  Patti B. recently was a contestant on the NBC reality show, "I'm a Celebrity--Get Me Out of Here."

Blagojevich is under indictment following his arrest by FBI agents in December 2008, on corruption charges ranging from purportedly accepting campaign contributions in return for official actions and allegedly offering for personal financial gain the appointment to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama when he was elected president. The Illiniois Senate voted 59-0 to impeach Blagojevich on Jan. 30, 2009.

Patti and Rod are making a joint appearance on The View, and Rod, if convicted,  may soon be making an appearance in the Joint. ABC, which airs "The View," is owned by the Walt Disney Co., which may explain this "Goofy" booking decision.

Viewers eagerly await the "hair-off "challenge  between panelist Whoopi Goldberg and the former governor.

Surge in Enrollment in Journalism Schools--Huh?

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According to the editors of the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), student enrollment in journalism schools is skyrocketing at the same time the profession is hemorrhaging jobs.

Columbia U.'s  Graduate School of Journalism saw a 38 percent boost in applications for its class of 2010, the CJR article notes. Likewise, U. of  Maryland experienced a 25 percent increase in applications to its journalism program, Stanford, 20 percent, and NYU, 6 percent. Meanwhile, 5,000 journalism jobs were lost in 2008, according to the Pew Research Center.

CJR's editors are just as puzzled as this blogger about the underlying reasons for the burgeoning ranks of j-students. The fear at "TUOL" is that the surge is attributable to the evolving definition of "journalist," so that j-students are hoping to emulate the celebrity and wealth of Erin Andrews and Arianna Huffington, rather than signing up to acquire the shoe-leather sagacity of Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill or Walter Cronkite.

J-school grads and enrollees are invited to explain to "TUOL" why they booked a cabin on the sinking ship known as the U.S.S. Journalism.

Shout Out to Salon

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Despite its "I told you so tone," "TUOL" recommends reading Gene Lyons' "The media can't handle the truth" in Salon (http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/08/27/lyons/). Column takes mainstream press to task for gullibility in its "shock" over political untruths from the Bush Administration, such as Homestead Security honcho Tom Ridge's recent revelations concerning pressure from Vice President Cheney and others to ratchet up the terrorism alert levels on his pantone protection chart for politically motivated reasons. Lyons heaps praise on skeptical bloggers--such as himself--who doubted Colin Powell's WMD pitch to the U.N., Condi Rice's "no warning about 9/11" claim, and on and on.

Lyons' condemnation of the play-it-safe herd mentality of the Washington press corps and punditry pales in comparison to Upton Sinclair, author of  the muckraking expose about the press, The Brass Check (1919), and quoted by Lyons. Sinclair said: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

Judge Sheds Light on Fed Reserve Bailout Practices

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Chief Judge Loretta Preska of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has ruled in favor of Bloomberg News' Freedom of Information Act(FOIA)  request to the Federal Reserve Board, ordering the Fed  to turn over bailout-related documents that name the recipient financial institutions and set forth the assets of, and  the collateral offered  by, the firms that received the government loans.

In her 47-page decision in Bloomberg LP v.  Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Case No. 08-cv-9595), Judge Preska ordered the Fed to search for additional documents at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which administers the lion's share of the bailout loan programs, and to produce records previously identified to Bloomberg by the Fed within five days. Judge Preska rejected the government position that compliance with the FOIA would harm shareholders and competitively disadvantage the identified financial institutions, writing: "the risk of looking weak to shareholders is an inherent risk of market participation."

The Washington, D.C.-based defendant is a key player in setting monetary policy and regulates certain banks. The Federal Reserve System embraces 12 regional banks, including the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Bloomberg filed its FOIA request in May 2008, to learn more about the destinations of the emergency $2 trillion in taxpayer-funded loans doled out by the Federal Reserve Board.

No word on whether the government will appeal her ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Liberal Lion's Senate Reign Ends After 46 Years

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Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the third-longest serving U.S. Senator in the nation's history, died Tuesday night of brain cancer. He was 77.

Loved and respected by his colleagues, to the public, he was both the most revered and most reviled member of the Senate. Whatever one's viewpoint, without question, Sen. Kennedy delivered for his constituents.

This blogger covered Kennedy's N.H. presidential primary challenge of President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and remember Kennedy's concession speech at his headquarters in a former Manchester department store. Although his remarks were inspirational to his supporters, one could almost sense the personal relief he felt while delivering it.

Rest in Peace.  February 22, 1932--August 26, 2009.

Boudoir Queen to Love: 'See You in Courtney'

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On her Website, www.courtneylove.com, 45-year-old Courtney Love, lead singer of the alternative rock band Hole and widow of Nirvana rock icon Kurt Cobain, describes herself as an amalgam of musician, actress, songwriter, activist, celebrity, provocateur. Add to that list: libel defendant.

Dawn Simorangkir, an Austin, Tex.-based fashion designer who operates the "Boudoir Queen" line of clothing, sued Love in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging defamation, false light invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract and tortious interference with economic advantage(Dawn Simorangkir a/k/a Dawn Younger-Smith a/k/a Boudoir Queen v. Courtney Michelle Love and Does 1-25 inclusive, Case No. BC41059).

Love has the distinction of being the first celebrity to be sued for defamation over her alleged Tweets. Simorangkir claims her reputation was impugned by Love on the singer's Twitter account, MySpace blog, and on the plaintiff's feedback page at www.etsy.com. Love has filed a motion to strike the lawsuit under California's anti-SLAPP law.

The plaintiff alleges Love failed to pay her for custom designed clothing, which Love disputes. As the dispute grew more acrimonious, the plaintiff alleged that Love fired off a series of libelous statements, such as purportedly calling her a drug addict, prostitute, and a "nasty, lying hosebag thief," and allegedly Tweeting: "oi vey, don't f*** with my wardrobe or you will end up in a circle of corched eath hunted til your dead."

Well, presumably, it was a first draft.

Of course, the plaintiff must prove not only that these comments are attributable to Love, but also that they are false and caused harm to her reputation, which requires that others believed the statements at issue. Were the Boudoir Queen to prevail, any judgment would doubtless put Courtney in a real Hole.

Cramer Backs Beck: Sponsors Will Return

Expect this item to reduce embattled Fox TV personality Glenn Beck to tears--CNBC Mad Money host Jim Cramer thinks Beck is a "nice guy" and predicts that the mass exodus of advertisers who considered Beck radioactive after he called President Obama a racist (see "TUOL" post 8/24/09) will end and the sponsors will return to the fold.

Of course, Cramer, a 54-year-old former hedge fund manager and co-founder of TheStreet.com, also predicted that global investment banker Bear Stearns (R.I.P.) would weather the economic downturn ("Don't move your money from Bear"). In March, Cramer was eviscerated by Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who blamed Cramer for doling out ersatz financial advice to viewers and missing the boat on the malfeasance being committed by Wall St. denizens. Cramer made his "nice guy" assessment of Beck, recalling how he was a listener, and once appeared on the 45-year-old Beck's talk radio show in Philadelphia.

Beck and Cramer in the same cramped radio studio is hard to envision. Beck and Cramer and 12 others of their ilk shoulder-to-shoulder in a Volkswagen Beetle in the center ring at Ringling Bros.--that's easier to imagine.

Pentagon Press Screening: In Bed to Embed?

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At the Pentagon's direction, PR mavens The Rendon Group are examining the backgrounds of journalists seeking credentials to embed with U.S. forces in Afghanistan, evaluating the reporters' work as "positive," "negative," or "neutral" to the military's objectives.

Stars & Stripes reports that the Pentagon employed similar vetting practices regarding journalists in the Iraq conflict. The Washington, D.C.-based Rendon Group , beneficiaries of a $1.5 million Dept. of Defense "news analysis and media assessment" contract, helped to create the Iraqi National Congress. Military officials insist journalists will not be denied credentials based on the Rendon-compiled profiles, and contend that the process is being performed so that the military can know something about the reporters with whom they are working.

EFF Seeks to Protect ID of Blogging Development Opponents

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and local counsel want to quash subpoenas that would identify anonymous bloggers who are critical of a Chicago development project.

In Fix Wilson Yard, Inc. et al v. City of Chicago et al. (Docket No. 2008-CH-45023), the EFF wants a Cook County Illinois Circuit Judge to toss six subpoenas to Google aimed at Websites including www.uptownupdate.com and www.buenaparkneighbors.org, sought by defendant firms linked to Chicago developer Peter Holsten. The subpoenas want the identities of anonymous online critics of the Wilson Yard project and its chief sponsor, Alderman Helen Shiller.

The EFF contends that identifying the online critcs has no bearing on the litigation, which involves land-use ordinances, and abridges the First Amendment rights of the anonymous opponents of the project.

Mainstream Media Given 'Digit' by Local Advertisers

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According to a report in Inside Radio, BIA/Kelsey's Local Commerce Monitor revealed that 77 percent of local businesses employ some form of digital marketing, compared to only 69 percent for mainstream media.

The latest Kelsey report marks the first time that digital media has outstripped its radio, television, and print counterparts. The study found four of every ten advertising and promotional dollars being steered to digital media, twice last year's figures. Overall, local advertisers in the past year decreased promotion and advertising by 24 percent to $2.1 billion, from $2.7 billion.

Defecting Advertisers Give Glenn Beck Something to Cry About

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Fox Tv talkmeister Glenn Beck, who on a July 28 Fox telecast branded President Barack Obama a racist with a "deep-seated hatred for White people," has purportedly been abandoned by 33 sponsors, who asked Fox that their ads not appear on his program.

According to Nielsen Media Research, Beck's program attracts an average audience of 2.4 million. Sprint, CVS Caremark, Walmart and Clorox Co. are among the companies that distanced themselves from Beck's program. Clorox, maker of bleach and household cleaners, contends it has abandoned advertising on political talk shows of all stripes, a blow to Beck, whose viewers are "whiter than white."

Trib Gets Cash, Cubs Get Ricketts

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The Tribune Co. may still be mired in bankruptcy, but at least it has unloaded a "curse."

The parent company of The Chicago Tribune has sold the Chicago Cubs, the lovable denizens of Wrigley Field who last won a World Series in 1908, for a reported $845 million, while retaining a 5 percent ownership interest. Pending approval by Major League Baseball and a federal bankruptcy judge, the Cubbies' new owner is the billionaire Ricketts family, who founded what is now the TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. online brokerage firm.

Included in the sale is a 25 percent interest in Comcast Sportsnet Chicago and the ivy-covered Wrigley Field on Chicago's North Side. The Tribune Co., currently owned by billionaire real estate mogul Samuel Zell, paid $20.5 million for the Cubs when they purchased the franchise from the Wrigley family in 1981, but the media conglomerate, which owns The Los Angeles Times and The Hartford Courant, among other newspapers and television stations, is gummed up by a debt load of more than $13 billion.

A component of the sale involves the Cubs voluntarily entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy as a means of separating itself from the debts of the Tribune Co. It remains to be seen whether the new ownership will be able to exorcise the curse placed on the Cubs by the owner of a goat that was denied entry to Wrigley Field years ago.