Tribune Co. sale: Good news for journalism? Maybe …

Billionaire Sam Zell is buying the Tribune Co. Well, sort of. And it may be good news for journalism. Well, sort of.

The Tribune Co, run by a management charitably characterized as selfishly befuddled, owns the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Cubs as well as a slew of other newspapers and broadcast outlets.

Mr. Zell is rich. He’s No. 52 on the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans. He’s worth, says Forbes, $4.5 billion.

Mr. Zell has bid $8.2 billion for the Trib and its sibs. How can he do that if he’s only worth a measly four and a half large? Remember that Danny DeVito movie, “Other People’s Money”? He’s only putting up $315 million, not even 4 percent of the bid. How’s he doing that?

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