Speak up or hold your peace?

Posted on February 6, 2008 by Melissa Worden

Sam Zell, owner of the Tribune Company, dropped the F-Bomb at a staff meeting at the Orlando Sentinel when one of the paper’s photographers asked a question about the role of journalism in a struggling market and pushed back at his first response.

Ironically, this interaction came shortly after the much talked-about release of the new employee handbook, which states:

8. QUESTION AUTHORITY. In transforming Tribune, you are encouraged to ask your manager, supervisor, business unit head or anyone in Corporate, any question you have regarding the business. Question authority and push back if you do not like the answer. You will earn respect, and not get into trouble for asking tough questions. Remember, you are an employee owner. You have the right and obligation to ask questions.

and …

4.1. Working at Tribune means accepting a creative, quirky, intelligent, odd, humorous, diverse, opinionated and sometimes annoying atmosphere.

4.2. Working at Tribune means accepting that sometimes you might hear a word that you, personally, might not use. You might experience an attitude that you don’t share. You might hear a joke that you might not consider funny. That is because a loose, fun, non-linear atmosphere is important to the creative process.

4.3. This should be understood, should not be a surprise and is not considered harassment.

and ..

6.1. Have fun and treat each other with respect.

Now for the news of this blog post, reported by the LA Times (which is one of Zell’s papers):

In Orlando, Sentinel photographer Sara Fajardo asked Zell at the staff meeting for his views on “the role journalism plays in the community, because we’re not the Pennysaver, we’re a newspaper.”

Zell, standing at a podium, responded, “I want to make enough money so that I can afford you. You need to in effect help me by being a journalist that focuses on what our readers want that generates more revenue.”

Fajardo told Zell that “what readers want are puppy dogs,” presumably referring to soft feature stories. She added, “We also need to inform the community.”

Zell shot back: “I’m sorry but you’re giving me the classic, what I would call, journalistic arrogance by deciding that puppies don’t count. . . . What I’m interested in is how can we generate additional interest in our products and additional revenue so we can make our product better and better and hopefully we get to the point where our revenue is so significant that we can do puppies and Iraq.”

As he finished his remarks, he stepped back from the podium and muttered the obscenity.

Watch it yourself here:

I’m fascinated by the responses on orlandosentinel.com and chicagotribune.com that may include some journalists but are mostly reader reactions, which range from:

“I can appreciate that Zell was disrespected, and that he uses salty language, but it’s quite another thing to say “f you” to a person who works for you - that takes things to a whole new level. Especially if you are senior management. I’d expect more from Zell, and he does owe her an apology.”

to …

“He owns the company, if the photographer wants to give him a hard time, then I say fire her. It’s sad that you can’t even tell anyone off anymore without it being “news.” Start printing things that are worthwhile.”

and …

“As a “puppy dog”, I resent the arrogance of reporters who think they know better than the general public. Reporters should report the news, not make the news.”

and …

“Who decides what we need to know, you? Zell isn’t wrong because a paper needs to earn money. If it doesn’t it folds and then no one is telling anyone anything. Typical elitist garbage…”

One comment on Gawker.com explains that “puppies” comment:

“Thanks to instantaneous metrics on Web sites, the Sentinel found it struck gold last year with this story about an 18-ounce, 4-inch tall Chihuahua. That damn dog received the most page views of almost anything else last year. Once top editors in the newsroom saw the hits, the story got moved from B3 to A1. It was a cute brite maybe once, but there were several followups.”

There are two issues here:

>> Is it OK to speak to a coworker/boss/employee that way? And if not in general, are there exceptions, such as when that person seems rude? And should the boss be held to a higher standard? Or does he/she not have to play by the “rules”?

>> Is the photographer really arrogant for thinking that “puppies don’t count”? Should newspapers push the “brites” described above to generate revenue so that “hopefully we get to the point where our revenue is so significant that we can do puppies and Iraq”?

The Times reports that Zell will arrive in L.A. this week for meetings at their newsroom.

That should be interesting.

Comments

2 Responses to “Speak up or hold your peace?”

Lucas Grindley on February 7th, 2008 9:32 am

Folks who know me, also know I wouldn’t have cursed at the employee. But I would have made the same point, albeit in a more gentile tone.

I don’t think anyone is going to change Sam Zell, who uses this language and demeanor to constantly exude change. He personifies what he wants, which is people arguing about the future frankly, not just waiting for it to happen. He likes to show that he’s passionate because it might inspire others to become passionate. And he likes to body slam opinions he doesn’t agree with so everyone knows the old ways of thinking are out.

Some things are worth debating and are valid disagreements. But other things, such as what this employee was trying to say, are make-or-break points for the survival of the business. Either you’re on board now, or you should be fired. If you’re going to run a great business, it’s not worth time arguing with people who should be fired for their old ways of thinking. So instead make it clear they’re wrong, and give them the option to get on the bus. Or to get off.

As I said, some things are debatable. And some things are just wrong. Zell gets to decide, since he’s in charge.

I don’t know Sam Zell. But that’s my take on how he handles people.
Angela Grant on February 12th, 2008 3:03 pm

Ha! I guess he’s probably under a tremendous amount of pressure.