Tribune Co. is a once-proud media company that's been bankrupted by an arrogant billionaire and a gang of former radio executives whose only skill is writing comical memos. Their new plan to save Tribune: TV news with no pesky humans.

Randy McMichaels, the former radio exec Tribune CEO who's successfully steered the company into its current decrepit state tells the WSJ some of his bright ideas for salvation, like "renting out part of Tribune's headquarters for the filming of a 'Transformers' movie for more than $200,000." But that is only the beginning of the financial innovation to which Tribune is being subjected!

We are about to launch a TV newscast in Houston that has no anchors, that has great pictures and great writing, but doesn't involve a set or a desk or anyone standing in the way of the picture. Now is it going to work? We're going to find out.

Haha yes, you are going to find out, indeed. If you enjoy feeling horribly depressed about the future of the media, you may refer to this Houston Chronicle story for details about the "new format called NewsFix, which discards on-camera anchors and reporters and focuses on natural sound and video to tell stories." It was the "brainchild of [Chief Tribune Bong Engineer and Spaceman] Lee Abrams," surprisingly! Of course, Lee has previously stated his belief that "Wanna reach more 30-40? Well, start ATTACKING WITH ANTI A.D.D. NOTICABILITY." So you can't say you didn't see this coming.

[Pic via]