Tribune Reporter: Cubs Expect Favoritism

In this morning's Sun-Times, gossip columnist Michael Sneed reported that Cubs President Andy McPhail and GM Jim Hendry called Tribune Cubs reporter Paul Sullivan and Tribune Sports Editor Dan McGrath into Hendry's office to complain about Sullivan's coverage of the Cubs. Sneed only had a blurb on the incident, but Sullivan spilled the whole bag of beans during an interview by Mike North this morning on The Score. Among Sullivan's comments, this interesting tidbit:

"Some of the people in the Cubs hierarchy think we're just another subsidiary of theirs and we're supposed to be their house organ."

Now where, exactly, would Cubs executives get that impression? The Tribune has owned the Cubs for 24 years. If the Tribune didn't favor the Cubs, why would Cubs executives think of the paper as their "house organ"?