In one of his stops at a Tribune media property recently, Sam Zell said he could do what previous Tribune Co. management couldn't, negotiate as an equal with Rupert Murdoch. Citing the movement of a Fox-owned San Diego television station from an antenna in Tijuana to the U.S., Zell revealed that the Tribune Co. owner called Murdoch and asked for the station.

Zell has also discussed plans in the Tribune Co. in some markets to print the Wall Street Journal for News Corp. owned Dow Jones & Co. (The Chicago market copy of the Wall Street Journal is printed, starting in early evening, at the Naperville, Illinois plant. It is distributed in the city market by the Chicago Tribune Co. for home delivery and Andrew Distribution for single copy sale. In the suburbs, Andrew Distribution delivers the copies to Chicago Tribune delivery agents).

Crain's New York Business, in a report by Matthew Flamm says Murdoch has approached Zell about acquiring Newsday, the Long Island-based newspaper that also publishes the free tabloid amNew York. Zell, who told the Baltimore Sun staff that the continuing deterioration of the Company's financial position might require it to unload some properties, may be considering an asset swap, as it apparently did with the sale last month of property in Los Angeles and the purchase of land in Baltimore.

Murdoch, according to the report, has had a long-term interest in acquiring the suburban newspaper, which he would use in tandem with the New York Post. The Flamm story says Murdoch told analysts he attempted to create a Joint Operating Agreement with Newsday last year. Murdoch felt that a JOA would create "a very powerful combination for advertisers and turn the money-losing Post into a viable business."