As news guru Ken Doctor notes in a Nieman blog post, the LA Times and Chicago Tribune are set to come on the block in 2013. Meanwhile, there are reliable rumors that the venerable Financial Times and part of The Economist will be shopped early next year too.

While news of the sales have been around for a while, they are made more interesting by Doctor’s prediction that regulators could relax cross-ownership rules that limit how many TV and newspaper properties a media titan can own in the same market. Here’s the key upshot from Doctor:

Today, though, most of the reporting power, much of the brand power, and the political power still resides in big companies and their leadership. We may well get our strongest display of that early in 2013: In Washington, the FCC cross-ownership debate may move to center stage in January.

It’s a pretty safe bet that the coming newspaper sales are beyond the reach of people not named Buffett, Bloomberg or Murdoch. More interesting will be five years from now — to see if the titles are still around and if, by then, companies like Twitter, Google or Facebook have media mogul aspirations of their own.

(Image by Everett Collection via Shutterstock)

[UPDATE: The news became official Thursday morning:

“I am thrilled,” says ex-NBC Universal chief and next #CNN president Jeff Zucker. on.cnn.com/Ya29uK

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) November 29, 2012

The choice of Zucker, whose impending hiring was first reported today by the LA Times and then by the NY Times, to lead CNN seems at first blush to be a strange choice by parent company Time Warner.

Although he presided over the long-running success of the Today show, Zucker has been away from the news business for a decade and away from NBC for two years. At a time when TV is being disrupted by new platforms and social media, Zucker very much fits the mold of an old-line TV executive — such as his new boss at Time Warner, Jeff Bewkes, who has repeatedly downplayed the threat of so-called cord-cutters to the business.

This doesn’t mean Zucker will not succeed. It just means he will have to navigate waves of disruptive technology while also finding an identity for CNN.

The network has floundered in recent years and can only pull in an audience for brief spurts during a major news event like a war or presidential election. In the meantime, rivals like Fox and MSNBC have carved out a role as partisan squawk boxes for liberals or conservatives. Here’s some Twitter reaction:

My Old Boss is my New Boss RT @brianstelter Jeff Zucker new president of CNN Worldwide, people close to him & CNN say nyti.ms/WXBxf4

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 28, 2012

CNN overall has its most profitable year, despite disaster of its US flagship nyti.ms/U1ywTZ I love CNNi & CNN.com

— Rosental(@Rosental) November 28, 2012

“They don’t want to be Fox and they don’t want to be MSNBC. Fine. But neither nor is not an identity.” –@jayrosen_nyunyti.ms/Tl6PWU

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 28, 2012

(Image by Katherine Welles via Shutterstock)

First, some background: Reuters and the LA Times on Friday cited two senior News Corp executives to say that Tribune Corporation will soon exit bankruptcy and that CEO Rupert Murdoch is in “preliminary talks” to acquire its two flagship properties, the Times and the Chicago Tribune. News Corp today said this was “wholly inaccurate.”

Despite the denial,the reports are consistent with earlier credible reports that “Mr. Murdoch has long eyed titles such as the Los Angeles” ties. There is also Murdoch’s recent travel schedule:

In Windy City, Chicago.What a truly great metropolis.Great challenges, but great people.

— Rupert Murdoch(@rupertmurdoch) October 18, 2012

Putting aside the “will he or won’t he” question, there is the more basic question of whether such a deal would make business sense. Frankly, it’s hard to see how it does.

News Corp, recall, is in the process of spinning off its publishing assets from the cable and entertainment empire that brings in most of its cash. The company has yet to disclose the degree that it will capitalize the new publishing company but it’s safe to assume that the future corporation’s newspaper budgets will be scrutinized like never before. The challenge seems especially daunting given that the new company’s biggest asset will be Australian newspapers — which are still squeezing out strong earnings from print ads but otherwise seem on borrowed time.

If Murdoch plans to add flagship papers in Chicago and Los Angeles, he will have to come up with a quick plan to monetize them. While News Corp’s Wall Street Journal has been a model for paywall success, a lot of this success derives from its role as a business brand. If the LA Times and Chicago Tribune brands are to survive in the long run, they will likely need additional revenue streams beyond advertising and subscriptions.

It’s possible that Murdoch could use a flagship news presence in America’s three biggest cities to find new efficiencies of scale — a task that would be easier if regulators loosen restrictions to permit direct partnerships with the cities’ Fox affiliates.

All of this is speculative, of course, until Murdoch reveals his true intentions. But if he makes a play for Chicago and LA, he will have to act quickly to persuade investors that the plan isn’t simply the swan song of the last of the great newspaper barons.