When a couple of colleagues and I wrote a book several years ago about the mistake newspaper companies made when they sold stock to the public and listed it on stock exchanges (Taking Stock: Journalism and the Publicly Traded Newspaper Company; Iowa State University Press), we pointedly did not recommend that the companies rectify the error by going private. “We did not,” we wrote, “because private ownership does not necessarily assure a commitment to quality journalism.” Sam Zell, the real-estate tycoon turned media mogul who took the Tribune company private, is proving us prescient.

Zell’s latest plan to rescue his troubled investment in Tribune newspapers sounds like something a widget company bean-counter might dream up. Wall Street analysts recently were told by Zell and his chief operating officer how they counted column inches of news produced by each reporter and each paper and concluded the company can rid itself of 500 pages of news a week and all sorts of costly journalists. Left out of the presentation was how much the company could save by selling for scrap the presses at its 12 papers.

Why Zell even talked to the analysts was not explained. One of the advantages of being a private company is that you are relieved of having to curry favor with nosy Wall Street analysts who follow your every move. Perhaps Zell wanted to impress them with his grasp of the newspaper business and his boldness. If so, he chose a knowledgeable group not likely to be impressed. Analysts who follow the ins and outs of newspapers are savvy enough to understand that some journalists are more productive than others, but not all stories they produce are created equal.

Column inches are a poor measure of a journalist’s worth to a news organization. Besides, counting column inches tells nothing about the hours that may have been needed to straighten out rapidly-written but ungrammatical, incomprehensible and erroneous reporting.

Zell’s misadventure with the analysts is reminiscent of the story about the CPA brought in to examine a symphony orchestra. The accountant noticed how some musicians were idle at times while others did most of the work. Worse, he found that many played the same notes. Obviously, some institutions, orchestras and newspapers among them, don’t lend themselves to numbers games.

A decade or so ago the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal learned that when it ordered reporters to produce 13 stories during a 40-hour week and specified, to the minute, how much time to take. The Journal abandoned its assembly-line approach to journalism after being widely ridiculed.

Perhaps Zell figured to impress his lenders by bringing a more businesslike approach to newspaper management. More than likely his goofy scheme will make them wonder about what kind of people they gave their money to.

The people of Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Orlando and the other communities where Zell’s papers publish are not so stupid they will fail to notice the missing 500 pages of news Zell wants clipped from his dozen newspapers weekly. They will notice and quit buying, just as his advertisers will notice that something is missing – eyeballs for their ads. [See this Harold Meyerson column on Zell as wrecking ball.]

Sam Zell may be a genius at putting together business deals; he is said to be especially adept at minimizing taxes. But a tax-averse deal maker does not necessarily know the first thing about what makes newsrooms tick, let alone about why journalists and the information they report are vital for democracy.

It would be nice if Zell’s plan to gut his papers were met with resistance from the nation’s journalism organizations. I’m not expecting it. After all, the American Society of Newspaper Editors said not a word in support of its members who had the courage to balk at cuts ordered by earlier Tribune management. ASNE could now well stand for America’s Silent Newspaper Editors.