Tisha B’av at the Tribune

With all the layoffs hitting newspapers across the country, Manya Brachear of the Chicago Tribune, which announced Friday it will fire another 14 percent of its newsstaff, asks what the holy day can teach us about life’s painful transitions. Tisa B’av, an annual fast day, commemorates the destruction of the First and Second temples in […]

With all the layoffs hitting newspapers across the country, Manya Brachear of the Chicago Tribune, which announced Friday it will fire another 14 percent of its newsstaff, asks what the holy day can teach us about life’s painful transitions.

Tisa B’av, an annual fast day, commemorates the destruction of the First and Second temples in Jerusalem, and is known as “the saddest day in Jewish history.”

Manya says:


“Perhaps Tisha B’Av could help put the tumultuous transformation at the Tribune in perspective for employees and readers. So I asked the proverbial rabbis of our reinvention – Tribune Chief Operating Officer Randy Michaels and Tribune Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams to share their thoughts. Here’s what they said verbatim-typos and all. Chairman and CEO Sam Zell declined to answer the same questions.

Q: A lot of reporters here view the innovations as “tearing down the Temple,” albeit an ersatz one. Is that, in a sense, what is taking place? Is that necessarily sad?

RM: To everything there is a season. All products peak, and go in to a decline phase. The only way to reverse the decline is to reintroduce the product with new attributes or to new markets. We are not keepers of the temple. We are not running a museum. We are running a business in a time of increased competition and economic hardship. We must change and adapt. There is no Torah for us; we can change the rules as our business environment changes. Do not confuse emotion and commerce, or business and religion.

LA: THE SAD THING IS TREATING A TROUBLED BUSINESS WITH SUCH REVERENCE TO THE POINT IT PREVENTS PROGRESS. MAYBE THE TEMPLE NEEDS TO BE TORN DOWN AND REBUILT TO FUNCTION PROPERLY IN THIS CENTURY.”

Read the whole thing here.

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