The Courant: In A Jam

Sam Zell gambled when he took on enormous debt to buy The Tribune Co., parent of The Hartford Courant and Fox 61 TV. When his debt bet flopped in December, those properties — particularly their employees and vendors — were left in the lurch. The Courant slashed its news staff by 25 percent over the summer, and Fox 61 began moving a few of its employees into The Courant’s building. When the station’s lease runs out later this year, look for it to complete the space consolidation. Meanwhile, The Journal-Register Co., said it planned to close two of its many sick newspapers, the Bristol Press and The Herald in New Britain by yearend. A handful of legislators floated the idea of arranging state aid to keep them afloat. Newspapers nationwide had perhaps their worst year ever in 2008, as traditional readers left in droves for more cutting edge stuff on the Web.