On the heels of Sam Zell's April Fools' Day joke last week comes a press release we can't figure out. We just received an email from a Tribune Company address with a subject line "Press Release: Tribune Co. Names President of Interactive." Innocuous enough for sure.

Imagine our surprise when we opened the attached pdf and the title of the release was "Surely you can't be serious? Marc Chase — President of Tribune Interactive!" Further down, it reads "Tribune Broadcasting's Randy Michaels' past finally caught up with him when Marc Chase obviously blackmailed his way into a position he is not remotely qualified to hold. Insiders are irate. Chase is a fraud." Awesome.

There's even Chase's fake resume, which includes positions as eBay President of Buying Crap and Executive Vice President of Finding Crap Anywhere at Google.

Anyone know what the deal is? Email us.

After the jump, the full release in all its glory.

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... for three lucky people.

April 1 is the deadline to apply for the J-school's second annual investigative reporting competition.

Three winners will receive a three-year long fellowship in investigative reporting, complete with office space, phones, basic expenses and funds for travel. Oh, and a wage of $45,000, more than enough to keep them afloat until they get a job with Pro Publica.

Full details after the jump

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Our favorite social chronicler and the editor of Quest magazine, David Patrick Columbia -- a man of strong political opinions -- is sick of all the hypocrisy surrounding the questions that the press corps are presently asking the new Governor regarding his private sexual life. From NYSocialDiary:

''I bought a new TV. It arrived yesterday. I turned it on just to look at the picture. Someone was interviewing the new Governor of New York, David Paterson. They were asking him about his extra-marital affairs. When, how many, etc.? Really.

''I couldn't help wondering why then shouldn't the questioners be asked about their affairs? I mean, fair's fair, let's hear it from them: How many, when? Oh come now, don't tell me you never ...

''Why then shouldn't we all tell. Tell everyone publicly how many times we've 'fooled around' or kept a mistress or had a lover, and cheated and lied; and who, where, when, what, why?''

Immediately thereafter, DPC launches into an historical lesson about, of all people, J. Pierpont Morgan and John D. Rockefeller I. Both men contributed greatly to American life, Columbia argues, but in today's toxic media environment they most probably would have eschewed operating in the public sphere. Something to think about, perhaps, is how many would-be great men and women are being turned off of the idea of public service because of the intimate knowledge the press has only recently started to demand of its leaders.

(image via festivalofthinkers)

New York was strongly represented among The Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Awards Winners that were announced today. Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker of The New York Times received the $25,000 Ursula and Gilbert Farfel prize for their series ''A Toxic Pipeline.'' The Wall Street Journal won the William Brewster Styles award ($10,000) for its series ''Debt Bomb,'' on the housing crisis.

And Dean David M. Rubin of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University won the Charles E. Scripps award ($10,000) for Journalism Administrator of the year.

The cash awards will be presented April 18 during a dinner at the National Press Club.

(image via Shawn Baldwin for the New York Times)

David Simon, the creator and executive producer of HBO's The Wire fends off criticism from journalists on his portrayal of their profession. Simon, a former police reporter for The Baltimore Sun, appeared on NPR to talk about his magnificent chronicle of the inner city on decline. ''Journalism is a little bit self-absorbed and onanistic,'' he told Fresh Air's Terry Gross. Simon said that journalists generally loved the show when he painted a cynical picture of the police detectives and teachers, but when it came to the newspapers ...

HBO's The Wire concludes this Sunday. Listen to the interview on NPR here.

(image via slate)

In the wake of Senator John McCain's early morning press conference denying a New York Times story on an improper relationship with a lobbyist, the question arises: Could this help him win conservative votes? ''The two most hated figures to conservatives are The New York Times and Hillary Clinton,'' said Charles W. Dunn, dean of Regent University's Robertson School of Government and the editor of The Future of Conservatism: Conflict and Consensus in the Post-Reagan Era on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show. ''If The New York Times does a follow-up story and names the two sources, then McCain will have a problem ... If The New York Times doesn't name the two anonymous sources, this story will have a short shelf life.''

(image via foxnews)

Respected educator Diane Ravitch has resigned from the editorial board of Education Next because she believes an article in the Spring 2008 issue effectively endorses New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg for President. Ravitch, an historian of education, is a frequent critic of Bloomberg's education policy. Reports Elizabeth Green from The Sun:

''Ms. Ravitch, a professor at New York University who has followed the changes in the New York City schools under Mr. Bloomberg closely and has been a vocal critic, told The New York Sun that she resigned from the board of Education Next after reading the article. 'How can a magazine with an editorial board endorse a candidate for president when no one on the editorial board was consulted?' she said.

''She said she was also protesting inaccuracies in the story, which she said is 'based on ideology, not evidence.' Math scores have risen, she said, but only among fourth-graders. A respected national test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, last year concluded that New York City eighth-graders had made no significant progress on math and English since Mr. Bloomberg took control of the schools.''

Last November, Ravitch got into a contretemps with Kathryn S. Wylde on the Op-Ed pages of The New York Post.

The venerable Associated Press is presently going through a rough patch. The new Associated Press 'Member Choice' pricing plan, which takes place in about a year, has, in recent weeks, drawn protest from newspaper editors around the country. The new cost structure, which was announced in October, drew fire from six Ohio newspaper editors that signed a protest letter on December 21, 2007. Two weeks later, on January 8, 2008 editors Bill Marimow of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Martin Baron of the Globe, and, among others, Susan Goldberg of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland sent a letter in support of the Ohio editors protesting the new a la carte payment plan.

Super Duper Tuesday was not a banner day for the Associated Press. At 11:03 pm EST on Tuesday night, the AP declared Hillary Clinton the winner of the Missouri primary. The AP then revesersed itself on calling the state for the New York Senator at 12:32 a.m. Finally, the state was called in favor of Barack Obama at 2:48 a.m. From the AP:

''The Associated Press was reviewing election results and its internal procedures Wednesday to determine why the news agency had mistakenly declared Hillary Rodham Clinton winner of the Missouri Democratic primary, but said competitive haste wasn't behind the call.

''... The AP's erroneous call was based on the actual vote count and analysis of historical and geographic voting patterns -- not on an exit poll.

'''There were lots of smart people, experienced people involved in making this call and there was no rush on it at all,' said Kathleen Carroll, the news cooperative's executive editor. 'We need to understand what was missed in there and how it was missed and learn from it.'''

On February 4, Editor and Publisher broke the story that The New York Daily News canceled its AP service a year ago in protest of their policy that members must give two years notice of plans to drop the service.

(image via itraffic-ctrl.com)

Some influential newspaper editors, already embattled by the ad recession and competition from online news sources, are protesting the new Associated Press 'Member Choice' pricing plan. On December 21, 2007, six Ohio newspaper editors signed a protest letter. A January 8, 2008 letter received broader support including the signatures of editors Bill Marimow of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Martin Baron of the Globe, and, among others, Susan Goldberg of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland. From EditorandPublisher:

''The new 'Member Choice' plan, which essentially expands the availability of breaking news content, but puts other stories on an a la carte basis, will be implemented in 2009. AP contends that the new structure will save member newspapers some $6 million.

''... But the new rate plan has not received positive reactions from numerous editors, including two groups that recently wrote protest letters to AP officials about the fee structure that was first announced in October.

''The most recent editors' letter, sent Jan. 2, 2008, was from a group of eight newsroom leaders at major newspapers, ranging from The Boston Globe to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Addressed to AP President Tom Curley and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll, it took issue with the AP rates and the recent new structure plan.

'''The failure of Associated Press to cut its rates is especially mystifying given that AP itself seems to be expanding, most recently adding to its already robust, admirably strong foreign coverage, even as its newspaper members undergo rigorous and continuous belt-tightening,' the letter states, in part. 'Editors would have welcomed consultation, in the traditional spirit of partnership between AP and member newspapers, on whether foreign coverage was more important to them than a rate cut.'''

Under the new 'Members Choice' structure, AP member newspapers would have additional news categories on an a la carte payment basis.

(image via itraffic-ctrl.com)

Former Los Angeles Times editor Jim O'Shea, who was fired last week in a battle over budget cuts, appeared on Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last week he railed against the prevailing winds of change in the economics of the newspaper business as overall revenues decrease due to new online competition for ads as well as competition for readers.

From the Reliable Sources transcript:

''KURTZ: Now, you were the Tribune loyalist who was sent out to patch things up after Dean Baquet's firing. You were the company man. You've worked for the Tribune Company since the late 1970s. What happened?

''O'SHEA: Well, I don't -- you know, I do think -- think there comes a point in every person's career and life where you really decide, OK, where I do I take a stand? What is enough?

''And I just came to that point. And I am -- I've been with the Tribune a long time. And believe me, I've cut a lot of budgets. And I'm not some, you know, starry-eyed Pollyanna running around thinking the industry doesn't have trouble. I just think we need to change our approach.

''I think we need to invest in journalism. Let's try that for once. Let's see what happens when you invest in a paper and you make it better, and people then -- advertisers and readers come to you instead of fleeing you.''

(image via slate)