It was a tumulus past week in the media world, highlighted by the exit of Tribune Court Jester Randy Michaels and the possibly of the Parents Television Council going bust. Is that a cause for celebration, or what?
Winners
Robert Feder. His coverage of the saga at Tribune Tower was exceptional work – truly a wonderful job by Chicago’s best media columnist. (And if you want to see all of the articles Feder has written on this saga, click here.)
Tribune employees. Now that Lee Abrams and The Court Jester are gone, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert should fly to Chicago and hold a Rally to Restore Sanity Event at Tribune Tower.
Optimism. Think about it: With Ben Silverman, Jeff Zucker, Lee Abrams, and Randy Michaels all gone, let’s hope this ushers in a new era of responsible management in the media business.
Losers
Randy Michaels. A no-brainer.
New York City-area television viewers. Not Glee-ful here: The dispute between Fox and Cablevision leaving Big Apple viewers without Fox programming such as Glee and the National League Championship Series and now the World Series could have unfortunate complications down the road – especially for advertisers, who soon may be asking for make-goods.
Glee photo shoot. Surprise! Not handing it to the PTC this time (they’ll be soon gone anyway), but nuts to this lame-brained idea to have Glee cast members pose proactively in GQ, a magazine which has long ceased being relevant.
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John Kass. No, I didn’t forget (K)ass, who put down bloggers to make a point about the tainted culture at the Chicago Tribune. Kass can now go back down to his mommy’s basement and return to obscurity.