Not to Be Outstunk, Tribune Soils Itself
With the blowup between Ozzie Guillen and Jay Mariotti occurring between the White Sox and the Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune could have taken the high road -- but no, if there's any media unfairness being dealt in this town, you can count on the Tribune to set the standard.
By publishing the phrase "Dealing with Ozzie's Demons" in a blaring headline on its Sunday sports page, the Tribune concretizes its interpretation of events, the storyline that it will now impose upon Chicago forever hereafter. This is how storylines get set in this town, regardless of how inaccurate they are (such as the self-serving storyline that the decaying Tribune property known as Wrigley Field is a "sacred garden" or that U.S. Cellular Field is a dangerous place, even though baseball fans in Chicago only seem to get shot to death after attending Cubs games).
Ozzie Guillen may have made a terrible mistake, but his mistake shows a lack of restraint, not the presence of "demons" (Tribune had to reach all the way back to the Dark Ages for that insightful explanation). By portraying Ozzie as having demons, the Tribune locates the whole problem inside Ozzie, effectively endorsing Mariotti's view of the incident, which effectively endorses Mariotti's abusive style of journalism. That's almost as bad as employing Mariotti. Normally you don't see the New York Times trying to outsleaze the New York Post, you don't see the London Times vying to be as petty as the Sun, you don't see Peter Jennings emulating Jerry Springer. Only in Chicago will you find your major dailies competing to be the worst.
Where's our good newspaper?
By publishing the phrase "Dealing with Ozzie's Demons" in a blaring headline on its Sunday sports page, the Tribune concretizes its interpretation of events, the storyline that it will now impose upon Chicago forever hereafter. This is how storylines get set in this town, regardless of how inaccurate they are (such as the self-serving storyline that the decaying Tribune property known as Wrigley Field is a "sacred garden" or that U.S. Cellular Field is a dangerous place, even though baseball fans in Chicago only seem to get shot to death after attending Cubs games).
Ozzie Guillen may have made a terrible mistake, but his mistake shows a lack of restraint, not the presence of "demons" (Tribune had to reach all the way back to the Dark Ages for that insightful explanation). By portraying Ozzie as having demons, the Tribune locates the whole problem inside Ozzie, effectively endorsing Mariotti's view of the incident, which effectively endorses Mariotti's abusive style of journalism. That's almost as bad as employing Mariotti. Normally you don't see the New York Times trying to outsleaze the New York Post, you don't see the London Times vying to be as petty as the Sun, you don't see Peter Jennings emulating Jerry Springer. Only in Chicago will you find your major dailies competing to be the worst.
Where's our good newspaper?
posted by Chicago Cubune Watch permalink
