Sam Zell's rules for Tribune

A new employee handbook from the Zell regime went out to all 20,000 Tribune "owners" today. It tries to distance the new Zellian Tribune from the old group, and begins with rule #1 is "use your best judgment" and rule #2 is "see rule #1." It goes on to lay out a bunch of principles of the new Tribune, called "a mix of corporate earnestness, surprising folksiness and common-sense rules" in Thursday's Washington Post. The whole thing is available in PDF form on a journalism class blog at Moorpark College, but here are some highlights:

There are many old rules and regulations and handbooks and manuals that will no longer be relevant to those working at the Tribune Company of today and the future. As we replace those, we consider this a fresh start. Use Rule #1 as your primary guideline for how we behave, and for every decision we make....

TRIBUNE COMPANY CORE VALUES

1. KEEP YOUR WORD. If we commit to a viewer or a vendor, a customer or competitor, we keep our word. Especially to each other. So use your best judgment when giving your word, because the expectation is that you will keep it....

4. COMPETE. Play to win. Market shares add to 100%. We can’t grow our share of revenue or audience unless someone else’s goes down.

5. PLAY FAIR. But remember that there is nothing unfair about taking advantage of a competitor’s weakness. It’s not unfair to scoop a competitor on a big story or closet them on a key account. Not playing to win is unfair to your teammates and to all of the company’s stakeholders....

8. QUESTION AUTHORITY. In transforming Tribune, you are encouraged to ask your manager, supervisor, business unit head or anyone in Corporate, any question you have regarding the business. Question authority and push back if you do not like the answer. You will earn respect, and not get into trouble for asking tough questions. Remember, you are an employee owner. You have the right and obligation to ask questions.

9. SERVE OUR LOCAL COMMUNITIES. We take our obligation to serve the public interest, need, and convenience seriously. While much of our programming and content is light entertainment, we are committed to serving our communities. When bad weather keeps most inside and away from their jobs, we have a particular obligation to go to work. Emergencies and disasters are times for “all hands on deck.” If this commitment is not in your DNA, Tribune Company may be the wrong place for you.

The company intends to actively discriminate based on job performance, ability and attitude....Discrimination based on gender, age, race, religion, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or any other characteristic not related to performance, ability or attitude, protected by federal or state law, or not protected (such as inability to tell a joke, the occasional poor wardrobe choice or bad hair day), is strictly prohibited.

Working at Tribune means accepting a creative, quirky, intelligent, odd, humorous, diverse, opinionated and sometimes annoying atmosphere. Working at Tribune means accepting that sometimes you might hear a word that you, personally, might not use. You might experience an attitude that you don’t share. You might hear a joke that you might not consider funny. That is because a loose, fun, non-linear atmosphere is important to the creative process. This should be understood, should not be a surprise and is not considered harassment. Harassment means being told that a raise, promotion or other benefit is dependent on you going on a date with your boss or some other similar activity.

Also: Earlier this month, Zell himself sought to inject a new culture into Tribune's corridors. But the most prevalent reaction I've detected is eye rolling (or worse) at Zell possibly poking at the revelation in the recent New Yorker profile that he had characterized Hillary Clinton with a word that probably rhymes with runt. Zell's email: