TRIBUNE CO. FILES BANKRUPTCY

The Tribune Company, parent of the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Tribune, eight other daily papers and 23 television stations, today filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy papers. It's little posts like this from little bloggers like me that have contributed to the demise of newspaper circulation. Ecologists should cheer this news. Unlike newspapers, web sites to not kill trees, consume no fossil fuels to process the paper, transport the paper from the mill to the printing plant, print the papers at the plant, deliver the papers to the readers, and then recycle the papers. Bloggers leave miniscule carbon footprints. Media conglomerate Tribune Co., smothered by $13 billion in debt and a drop-off in advertising, on Monday became the first major newspaper publisher to seek bankruptcy protection since the Internet sent the industry into a tailspin. Most of the company's debt comes from the complex transaction in which the company was taken private, with employee ownership, by real estate mogul Sam Zell last year. Although Tribune's next major debt payment isn't due until June, the company has been in danger of missing financial targets set by its lenders. More from ABC7 Chicago with video...