There are three clubs with designs on the Tribune Company: Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners and Apollo Management; Thomas H. Lee Partners and the Texas Pacific Group; and the Carlyle Group and Bain Capital. The notion of private equity executives running some premiere names in American journalism is intriguing. For many, this seems like a looming disaster. If you laden these companies with debt and demand new financial efficiencies, it seems that the core journalism will suffer, fewer editorial employees, fewer bureaus, etc. Then again perhaps the private equity guys have a vision that is all new and can preserve the public function of these properties. It will be very interesting.

For more on this:
- Here's a New York Times article