*Zell lays out his plans

So much for Chicago. Tribune's new chairman and CEO seems convinced that the idea of centralizing operations under one roof was pretty much a bust. He told the Chicago Tribune that the new approach under his regime will be delegating authority and holding people responsible within all the various business units. That means LAT publisher David Hiller will report directly to Zell.

"Right now," Zell said, "somebody decided that we should put advertising on the front page. What I'd like to do is say to David Hiller, 'You've got bottom line responsibility.' If advertising on the front page gets you there, that's fine. If you think advertising on the front page is wrong for LA and you're gonna get revenue some other way, that's fine. But as long as it's top down, you can't hold anybody accountable. And if you hold people accountable, you produce results -- for the people and the company."

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"This is not a career change for me," Zell said, noting that he will remain as head of his investment firm, Equity Group Investments, and doesn't plan to hold the Tribune CEO title indefinitely. "But this is a very important transaction of extraordinary relevance ... I spent six months trying to understand how this company runs, and as I watched and got more educated, it became clearer to me that (chief executive) is the role I needed to play. You call it CEO and I'll call it owner."

*More Zell: Inevitably, the topic of selling the Times came up, an unlikely prospect for quite a while because it supplies so much of the company's cash flow. And in trying to pay off that mammoth debt, cash flow is a big deal.

So if Hollywood media mogul David Geffen stepped forward once again with an attractive offer for the Los Angeles Times? "I would have a conversation with anybody, any time about anything." Are any of those conversations taking place? "We're having no conversations with anybody today and we don't plan to make any immediate dispositions."

As for the news operations, Zell is unlikely to take the hands-on approach of Rupert Murdoch, who has some very definite ideas about changing the WSJ. But the new Tribune CEO is clearly starting to think about how news should be delivered.

He did say that the current rage for "local, local" news coverage by metropolitan dailies isn't the only road to success. National and international news are in demand, too, and Tribune papers should deliver it. But the news game, in Zell's mind, boils down to revenue, fairness and "the recognition that the reader is our customer, not someone we lecture to." He insisted, "as I've said only 18,000 times," that he has no intention of getting involved in editorial. But for perhaps the first time he qualified that message a bit.

That "is not my objective and not my area of expertise as long as the editorial policies are relevant and truthful," Zell said. "I won't stand for my newspapers publishing stuff that isn't true or is, in effect, an editorial on the front page. I mean, you read the New York Times sometimes and if you close your eyes you're not sure if you're reading the front page or the editorial page." Asked what he would do if he had a similar reaction to a Tribune paper, Zell said, "I have no idea what I would do. If it was blatant, I would be very upset."