Chicago's Tribune Co. to Cover Florida ... Locally?

For fun, try coming up with 100 ideas and writing each on a piece of paper. Then affix those pieces of paper on the wall. Then have a mad good time and throw darts at them. Where the darts stick, put those ideas into action.

That's what it's like to be a top executive at Chicago-based Tribune Company these days.

While the media industry is amid massive change and the Tribune Company is trying to change (profitably) with it, no idea is too unreasonable to entertain. This could even include covering breaking local news in other markets. Like Florida.

In addition to writing about cell phones for About.com, which is part of the New York Times Company, and film for HollywoodChicago.com, I'm also the editor-in-chief for Chicago-based MidwestBusiness.com. Among many other stories being covered there, we've been keeping a close eye on the Tribune Co. as it tries to find the ideas that stick.

Here's a new one: register the domains FloridaBreakingNews.com, MiamiBreakingNews.com, OrlandoBreakingNews.com and SouthFloridaBreakingNews.com and base reporters there to compete with the other local newspapers.

Using a legal tool called Name Server Spy from DomainTools, I have just discovered that as of Sept. 11, 2008 (as fitting a day as any) the Tribune Company's Tribune.com took over control of those domains. Does this reveal one of its new strategic directions?

Take a look at the exclusive Tribune screenshot yourself and leave your comments here. The Tribune Company, by the way, does also own the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspapers.