1984 or 2010?

Everybody has their linguistic pet peeves, but Tribune CEO Randy Michaels seems to have jumped the shark into Orwell territory with the edict he issued this week banning 119 words and phrases from use on the company's television properties.  Staffers at WGN, Tribune's news/talk radio station, are not only forbidden to utter words such as "flee" or "laud" -- they are directed to tattle on any co-workers who break the "rules"  (on bingo cards, no less).  Like Ragan, we would like to know: when did CEOs become editorial policemen?