Soriano Setting New Records...
... not for baseball, but for days of Tribune adoration. Six consecutive days now, and 16 of the last 28, with a picture of Alfonso Soriano smiling atop the Tribune's online Sports page.
I don't remember Jim Thome getting this kind of love last year.
If you wonder what we mean when we talk about the Tribune blurring the line between news and marketing, this ongoing Soriano celebration is a fine example. The current photo ceased to be newsworthy five days ago. Then promotion apparently took over, promotion that has prevented other newsworthy photos from appearing on the page. And since Soriano is both a Tribune asset and a $136 million Tribune liability, it's not hard to imagine why the Tribune would want to inflate his celebrity before baseball season actually gets underway. Tribune staffers usually insist they don't do these acts of malfeasance consciously, but would it be any better if they did them unconsciously?
I don't remember Jim Thome getting this kind of love last year.
If you wonder what we mean when we talk about the Tribune blurring the line between news and marketing, this ongoing Soriano celebration is a fine example. The current photo ceased to be newsworthy five days ago. Then promotion apparently took over, promotion that has prevented other newsworthy photos from appearing on the page. And since Soriano is both a Tribune asset and a $136 million Tribune liability, it's not hard to imagine why the Tribune would want to inflate his celebrity before baseball season actually gets underway. Tribune staffers usually insist they don't do these acts of malfeasance consciously, but would it be any better if they did them unconsciously?
Labels: Soriano
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