Shadows Cast by Verdi's Sunny Outlook
Bob Verdi writes a decent Sunday column this week defending Tribune ownership of the Cubs. It's well written, self-deprecating (perhaps excessively so), and more fair and thoughtful than most of the affluent effluent that flows downhill toward the city from the Tribune Tower. But it makes some fundamental mistakes of thinking that we cannot ignore:
1. The column is written strictly for Cubs fans, from a Cubs fan's perspective. It assumes that the only reason to object to Tribune ownership of the Cubs is that the Cubs lose. It fails to register a much more serious reason to object: A corporation that controls most of the media in this town, or any of the media in this town, should not also own that which it covers. Tribune ownership of the Cubs has damaged Chicago journalism and damaged Chicago baseball. It has complicated Tribune neglect of the South Side of the city, it has embittered the rivalry between the two teams and the two fan-cultures they represent, it has caused at least half of Chicago to feel voiceless, shouted down, smothered. It has caused us to lose faith in our media, to lose faith in voices like Verdi's. This has been an Us vs. Them story for a century, and our newspaper chose sides. It chose Them.
2. Verdi's column assumes that it's good to fill the stands even if you lose: "Three generations [of Wrigleys] treated their baseball team like a library—open and close the doors on schedule. If people wanted in, fine. If not, that was fine too.... Marketing the product, such as it was, didn't exist." But marketing the product, such as it is now, is roughly equivalent to lying. Tribune manipulates Cubs fans into thinking they have a winner, then gives them, year after year, a loser. That's not a criminal act for a baseball owner, but it is a criminal act for a newspaper. There's something quite refreshing about libraries: no one cons you into entering one. That's called free and informed choice.
3. Verdi's column ignores the weirdness of its own position: a Tribune employee defending Tribune management of a team when that management style puts money directly in that employee's pocket. Verdi, like other Tribune employees, is a part owner of the Cubs through Tribune's benefit package. Verdi, like other Tribune employees, generates interest in the Cubs when he assumes, for example, that everyone in Chicago is a Cubs fan, or when he assumes that it's good to fill the stands at Wrigley even if you field a lousy team. "Since when," Verdi asks, "is it a felony to have a budget or a misdemeanor to seek a profit?" It certainly is not a misdemeanor for a baseball-team owner to seek profit from a baseball team. However, it is a violation of the trust between reporters and readers for a newspaper or a journalist to profit from coverage of a baseball team. Take another look at that Code of Ethics.
1. The column is written strictly for Cubs fans, from a Cubs fan's perspective. It assumes that the only reason to object to Tribune ownership of the Cubs is that the Cubs lose. It fails to register a much more serious reason to object: A corporation that controls most of the media in this town, or any of the media in this town, should not also own that which it covers. Tribune ownership of the Cubs has damaged Chicago journalism and damaged Chicago baseball. It has complicated Tribune neglect of the South Side of the city, it has embittered the rivalry between the two teams and the two fan-cultures they represent, it has caused at least half of Chicago to feel voiceless, shouted down, smothered. It has caused us to lose faith in our media, to lose faith in voices like Verdi's. This has been an Us vs. Them story for a century, and our newspaper chose sides. It chose Them.
2. Verdi's column assumes that it's good to fill the stands even if you lose: "Three generations [of Wrigleys] treated their baseball team like a library—open and close the doors on schedule. If people wanted in, fine. If not, that was fine too.... Marketing the product, such as it was, didn't exist." But marketing the product, such as it is now, is roughly equivalent to lying. Tribune manipulates Cubs fans into thinking they have a winner, then gives them, year after year, a loser. That's not a criminal act for a baseball owner, but it is a criminal act for a newspaper. There's something quite refreshing about libraries: no one cons you into entering one. That's called free and informed choice.
3. Verdi's column ignores the weirdness of its own position: a Tribune employee defending Tribune management of a team when that management style puts money directly in that employee's pocket. Verdi, like other Tribune employees, is a part owner of the Cubs through Tribune's benefit package. Verdi, like other Tribune employees, generates interest in the Cubs when he assumes, for example, that everyone in Chicago is a Cubs fan, or when he assumes that it's good to fill the stands at Wrigley even if you field a lousy team. "Since when," Verdi asks, "is it a felony to have a budget or a misdemeanor to seek a profit?" It certainly is not a misdemeanor for a baseball-team owner to seek profit from a baseball team. However, it is a violation of the trust between reporters and readers for a newspaper or a journalist to profit from coverage of a baseball team. Take another look at that Code of Ethics.
posted by Chicago Cubune Watch permalink
