Photogate Continues

Cubune Watcher Brian Dykes, himself a photographer, collected these latest examples, showing the Tribune enhancing color in its photos of the Cubs — look at the vibrancy of that Cubbie blue, which today's Tribune claims is the color of Michael Barrett's blood — and diminishing the vibrancy of its photos of the White Sox. For today's example, Brian selected AP photos published in both the Tribune and YahooSports.com. In fact, photos of the White Sox appear properly exposed in every online publication we have checked so far, except the Tribune, where they look underexposed. See for yourselves. Why would they do this? Who would you rather buy tickets to see? Those bright blue Cubbies on bright green grass, or those pale gray White Sox on sort of yellow grass? And remember, a little money from every Cubs ticket goes into the pockets of Tribune journalists.

All photos are copyright 2007 by the Associated Press. They are reproduced here under the fair use doctrine of criticism for purposes of illustration or comment.

Tribune Caught Uglifying Photos of Sox?

Yesterday we criticized the Tribune for publishing washed-out Sox photos underneath vibrantly-colored Cubs photos. A few hours later, the Tribune's Sox photos suddenly became much more vibrant. We also criticized the Tribune for routinely placing Cubs elements above Sox elements on its online sports pages. A few hours later, an existing story about Tadahito Iguchi was bumped up on the sports page, and an existing story about Carlos Zambrano was downgraded. For a few hours, Tribune-owned chicagosports.com even placed its Sox photo gallery above its Cubs photo gallery, although they returned the galleries to their prior positions before the end of the night.
Should we be happy about these improvements? The improvements are only cosmetic. The issue testifies to a deep-seated pro-Cubs, anti-White Sox bias in the construction of the Sports page, and the photos raise a troubling question: Has the Tribune been doctoring photos of the White Sox to make them less attractive than photos of the Cubs? In this post, you can see the difference in color saturation in Tribune photos published online before and after our criticism, and lest you think it's the fault of the photographer, the AP's M. Spencer Green, you can see the same photo as it appeared in the Tribune and as it appeared on the Daily Southtown's website. In yesterday's post, you can see the difference in color saturation between Sox photos and Cubs photos.

All photos are copyright 2007 by the Associated Press. They are reproduced here under the fair use doctrine of criticism for purposes of illustration or comment.

When 'Beat' Means 'Tired'

The Tribune's baseball beat reporters, Paul Sullivan and Mark Gonzales, seem much more interested in covering contract negotations than in covering baseball, and they've been bungling the job. Here's another example. The following lede appeared on the Tribune's sports page Tuesday afternoon:

Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs went off to their arbitration hearing Tuesday afternoon after a last-ditch attempt at a settlement failed.

It was eventually replaced by this one:

Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano agreed to a one-year, $12.4 million deal Tuesday, avoiding arbitration just before his hearing was scheduled to begin.

Tribune Bias in Placement

Please click for a larger view.

Some Good News and Some Bad News

First the good news: According to the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times — both of which cover the Tribune better than the Tribune covers the Tribune — it now appears likely that the Tribune will split its broadcast division away from its newspaper division and sell the broadcast arm to someone else.

According to the LA Times, the Chicago Cubs are part of the broadcast division.

That could mean a newspaper free of its unethical alliance with a baseball team, as well as a break in the newspaper-tv-radio media monopoly that smothers Chicago with mediocrity.

Chances are a new owner for WGN won't be much more colorful or imaginative than Tribune, but at least it will be someone other than Tribune.

Now the bad news: Under this scenario, WGN's unethical alliance with the Cubs would continue, and we really have no assurance that anything substantive would change. After 25 years of collusion between the Tribune and Cubs, can we really expect the newsroom culture to change? Not without a purge. Old habits die hard, and we're talking about a group of people fanatically committed to publicly promoting their strange attitudes as reality.

We would rather see the whole corporation split apart, purged of its unethical tendencies, and rebuilt under new ownership. But that scenario looks unlikely now, and we'll take what we can get.

Also, we can't be certain the Cubs will go with the broadcast stations. The New York Times seems to be under the impression that even if the broadcast division is split off from the newspaper division, the Cubs will go with the newspapers. That's probably because the profitable Cubs could help offset the shrinking value of the newspapers. Yep, dupes and drunks in Wrigleyville, now subsizing "journalism."

A Tempest in a Tribune

Today Tribune beat-Sox reporter Mark Gonzales continues to babble like a lunatic about Ken Williams taking criticism for his off-season changes to the pitching staff. Gonzales really seems to want some kind of pitching controversy to be real, even writing that Williams would step into a "lion's den" at Sox Fest, but in fact there has been only modest criticism outside of Mark Gonzales' own rich fantasy life. Sure, some people don't like Kenny's moves, but here's what Sports Illustrated has to say about the 2007 Sox and their pitching staff:

The pieces are in place to win, so look for health and hunger to determine if the Sox retake the Central.... This is a stable group of starters, but everyone has something to prove, especially if they want to stick around.

Maybe to Gonzales that sounds highly critical. Anyway, today Gonzales claims that all Sox pitchers are "aware of the criticism." The guy's libidinal ache for fabricated controversy even surfaces in his verbs. What's weird about these sentences:

Haeger, who will be evaluated as a starter but can relieve, admitted the McCarthy trade was a surprise...

Williams admitted last month that the thin Arizona air makes it difficult to evaluate Haeger because his knuckleball doesn't move as well as it does in higher humidity.

Are those really admissions? Were Haeger and Williams tied to a chair under a hot bulb being beaten by a rubber hose when Haeger admitted he was surprised by a trade and Williams admitted that the air is drier in Tucson?

Time for a new beat-Sox reporter, maybe, Tribune? Lately the Tribune's baseball beat reporters have been embarrassingly incompetent in very public ways: manufacturing a controversy about Mark Buerhle, then using the same interpretive technique to make up a controversy about Carlos Zambrano. The Sun-Times, undoubtedly stung by its own blind complicity in the former case, finally stepped out of the Tribune's shadow and called the latter case "bogus reporting." No duh. It's been going on for years. And the Zambrano story was substantially less egregious than the false reporting on Buehrle.

Sun-Times Stirs From Long Slumber

The Chicago Sun-Times, which should have been doing what we do here for the last 25 years, just noticed Tribune ownership of the Cubs and decided to investigate:

"The people have suffered enough. That's why this case will be tried in these pages over the coming days and weeks. We will present the case for the prosecution and the case for the defense, and then the Court of Public Opinion will render a verdict."

If the Sun-Times really does wake up, will it wake up with or without a spine? That's what we want to know. Usually when the Sun-Times causes a stir, some self-important snot at the Tribune just calls the Sun-Times "the junior paper" or "the smaller paper," and the Sun-Times hides simpering under the bed again. Oh look, it's already begun. From the Tribune's Steve Rosenbloom: "Sounds like the smaller newspaper is pitching a fit over what the bigger newspaper wrote." Steve thinks he's pretty great, working for the "bigger" newspaper.

So the Sun-Times is going to prosecute the case in the court of public opinion, and then let the public decide. But it sounds like both parties have already made up their minds. The Sun-Times, in the same story that announced the "trial": "The Sun-Times wants the team sold -- immediately." And Public Opinion, expressed in a Sun-Times poll beside that story:

POLL RESULTS :: Do you think the Cubs need new ownership?
Yes 82% 2043 votes
No 17% 422 votes

So why do we need the trial? Just to lend legitimacy to the hanging? We'll be watching how well the Sun-Times prosecutes its case. The paper says it will examine how the Tribune-Cubs partnership hurt the Cubs, but will it also examine how the Tribune-Cubs partnership has hurt the White Sox, alienated Chicagoans from their media and from one another, and damaged journalism in Chicago? We suspect the Bright One, which has been quietly complicit for the last quarter century, might find that potato a little too hot.

White Sox Partner Expresses Interest in Tribune

The Chicago Tribune reported yesterday on Chicago real estate mogul Samuel Zell's interest in purchasing a portion of the troubled Tribune Company. It did not mention, however, that Zell is a friend of Jerry Reinsdorf and a partner with Reinsdorf in several ventures, including the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls. The Tribune-owned LA Times did mention the connection.

Considering that Tribune owns the Cubs, we would think Zell's partnership in the White Sox would be newsworthy, but the Tribune views the news through some curious filters.

We suppose it would be a fitting kind of justice if a Sox partner bought some Tribune, with the Cubs as an expensive little accessory. It would be particularly nice to see Zell leverage his interest to bust apart the media monopoly, sell off the television and radio stations, split off the Cubs, and re-dedicate the Chicago Tribune to clean journalism. It's a tall order in Chicago, but it's just the sort of thing champions can do.

By the way, Zell is rolling in dough. He just sold his real estate conglomerate for $23 billion, an estimated $1 billion of which reportedly will go to him alone. Reinsdorf was also a director and shareholder in that venture. The LA Times published a colorful portrait of Zell, also better than the Tribune coverage. Here's how it starts:

He's about 5 feet 5 and has a bald dome and a beard like an Amish farmer. He revels in the nickname he gave himself years ago: "the Grave Dancer."

At 65, Chicagoan Samuel Zell is still apt to arrive at a cocktail party by motorcycle and walk in wearing bluejeans and a Chicago Bears jersey. He thinks like an economist but can talk like a dockworker. He has vacation homes on the beach in Malibu and on the slopes in Sun Valley, Idaho, where people say he skis like a maniac. He's also a paintball fanatic who Forbes says is worth $4.5 billion....

Zell, the son of Polish-Jewish World War II refugees, is all about buying at the bottom. He's the Grave Dancer because of his history of snapping up distressed properties — assets so out of favor nobody else would look at them. He specializes in real estate but has owned companies in a variety of industries over the years, including Schwinn Bicycle Co. and Chicago's Midway Airlines. One Zell acquaintance joked that there would be a conflict of interest if he got involved with Tribune because he also holds a minority stake in the Cubs' cross-town rival, the Chicago White Sox.

A New Curse for a New Era

Speaking of questionable things presented as real, Mike Downey writes a rambling, incoherent column today about a new Cubs' curse, perpetuating a mythology that helps Tribune separate fools from their money — that is to say, a mythology that helps Tribune extract up to $255 per ticket from rubes willing to sit in uncomfortable seats in an ugly, crumbling stadium eating bad food, drinking bad beer, and watching a last-place team lose. Why am I slamming my head against this wall? Well, there's a curse you see.

Can people really be that gullible? Well, people blew up the Bartman ball and then ate it in their spaghetti.

But this is the dawning of a new era in Cubdom, the Alfonso Soriano era, the Lou Piniella era, the gulp, we-just-spent-$300 million era, the higher-ticket-prices era, so the old goats and mostly-black cats just do not apply. To prepare the fans for another year of even more expensive disappointment, Downey spins them a new curse. Except this one makes even less sense than the last few. Something about George M. Cohan. Just about anything can be a curse these days.

Cubune Watcher Brian Dykes thinks the Tribune can't be serious: "What is funnier to read nowadays, the Cubune or the Onion? It is hard to chose!"

If you'd like to read more about the oft-cursed Cubune, Downey's performance is getting rave reviews on the Flying Sock Forum.

Extry! Extry! Get Yer Cubs Tix— er, Tribune!

Paul Sullivan, who claims he doesn't like working for the Cubs' house-organ, sounds a lot like a box-office clerk in his story yesterday about increased ticket prices at Wrigley Field. He's got every detail you'd ever want to know about buying Cubs tickets: how, where, when, what to bring (two forms of ID!), what to wear (your numbered bracelet), what radio station to listen to (WGN, of course), what number to call, what other number to call, and hey, we take credit cards! Check it out:

As expected, the Cubs announced Tuesday a $2 across-the-board increase in prices for the majority of individual tickets, which go on sale at Wrigley at 8 a.m. Feb. 23, and through phone and Internet outlets at 10 a.m. that day. Ticket prices for the two premium seating areas--the bullpen boxes and the dugout boxes--rose $5. The Cubs have yet to announce when those and the bleacher boxes (up $2) will go on sale....

In what has become an annual tradition, fans hoping to purchase tickets will have to go to Wrigley Field on Feb. 21 or 22 to receive a numbered wristband, and the order of numbers will be announced on WGN-AM after a 6 a.m. drawing Feb. 23. Any fan buying tickets at Wrigley will need two forms of identification, including a government-issued photo ID.

There will be a limit of six tickets per game at the box office and 42 maximum, and all bleacher tickets must be purchased with a credit card. The numbers for ticket orders over the phone are 800-843-2827 and, for out-of-state callers, 866-652-2827. The Cubs' Web site will begin accepting customers in its virtual waiting room at 9:30 a.m., and all customers will need a valid cubs.com account.

Now, that's news you can use, Cubs fans! The Tribune also ran a story about Sox tickets a while back, but it was less than a fifth that length. Life is so much simpler in the South.

Tribune Toots a Lonely Horn

This much is certain: if the Tribune doesn't toot it's own horn, no one else will.

The Chicago Tribune is disregarded by most people in its own city and despised by many. It's distrusted nationwide. Its management has been urged out of the newspaper business by the leading journal of the newspaper business. Its business model of journalistic compromise and advertorial synergy has led the whole Tribune corporation to the guillotine, and yet it continues to receive lavish praise from a single source: the Chicago Tribune.

The latest dose comes from Tribune correspondent Charles Madigan, a good company man who wrote this about his officemates in their Tribune Tower cub-icles: "They are great colleagues and very serious about journalism.... The Tribune is an info-pimp free zone, from its snappy bloggers to boring old me."

Very serious about journalism? Did someone say they weren't? The Tribune whitewashed the Columbia Journalism Review's editorial indictment of the Tribune. The nation's leading newspaper journal called for Chicago's largest media corporation to get out of the newspaper business, and Chicago's largest newspaper printed not a word about it. Pretended it never happened. But from quotes like Madigan's, we can see that some in the tower do read CJR, and it makes them a little insecure.

"Info-pimp" is Madigan's term for "people who pick up questionable things and present them as real." Is the Tribune really an info-pimp free zone? Let's see:

1. Tribune repeats Tribune-owned Careerbuilder's advertising slogan -- "the nation's largest online job site" -- in the lede of a news story without scrutinizing or explaining what it means by "largest." The story does not mention that in reality, far more people use Monster.com. Largeness: Questionable thing presented as real.

2. Similarly, Tribune declares Tribune-owned Cubs are still Chicago's biggest baseball team, with no substantiation... the day after 1.75 million White Sox fans appear on the streets of Chicago. Have you ever seen more than 1.75 million Cubs fans? Bigness: Questionable thing presented as real.

3. Tribune sportswriter David Haugh writes that the Cubs are Chicago's most lovable baseball team... while reporting on a popularity poll that shows the White Sox and Cubs in a statistical dead heat. The Sox have since passed the Cubs in that poll. Lovability: Questionable thing presented as real.

4. Tribune reports that the White Sox will not re-sign Mark Buerhle, then invents a controversy when that report turns out to be false. Williams-Buerhle controversy: Questionable thing presented as real.

5. Tribune values Tribune-owned Cubs at $600 million without attribution, ignoring a more widely-circulated Forbes valuation of $450 million. Tribune reporters also forget to mention the Tribune stock in their benefits package. $600 million: Questionable thing presented as real.

To mention just a few.

As Madigan says, "It's better to hang with people who at least have a passion about checking things out." So I guess we should subscribe to The New York Times.

Beleagured Tribune Lashes Out at Internet

Madigan's column closely resembles a Jan. 27 Tribune editorial. Madigan compares reading the Tribune to sleeping with someone you know (if only it were that enjoyable), while the less-sexy editorial asks, "Do you know who's giving you your news?"

The editorial assumes we know who's giving us our news when we read the Tribune, as if the Tower is full of old friends who often meet us for lunch rather than arrogant suits who routinely ignore public concerns about their dubious investments and ethical compromises.

Both the editorial and Madigan's column were inspired by the heinous false report about Barack Obama's education that first appeared in Insight, a Washington Times-owned internet magazine. Since Insight appears on the internet, Madigan and the rest of the editorial board seized the opportunity to malign all new media with a broad brush and assert the reliability of mainstream print media like, um, themselves. From the editorial:

It also is a sign of the growing indifference Internet "journalism" presents on the question of truth. Rumor is good enough. Bibles of blogging are created based on nothing more than rumor.

But Insight and Tribune have a lot in common: both are conservative publications that advance a self-serving political and economic agenda, compromise ethics, pick up questionable things and present them as real. And while Insight appears on the internet, it is published by a print newspaper much like the Tribune. So maybe paper vs. pixels isn't the real issue.

And while the Tribune excoriates bloggers and other pixelated sources of information, former Tribune managing editor James O'Shea is trying to move the Tribune-owned LA Times to the Internet. According to the LA Times, "O'Shea employed dire statistics on declining print advertising revenue to urge The Times' 940 journalists to throw off a 'bunker mentality' and view latimes.com as the paper's primary vehicle for delivering news."

It's all so discordant, isn't it? A bunker mentality is bad... except when the bunker looks like a tower. Bloggers are bad... except for those "snappy" Tribune bloggers. Lying to readers is bad... except when the Tribune does it.

We think the tooters need to work on their harmony.

What Chicago Thinks of its Sportswriters

Predictably, many Chicagoans are unhappy with Rex Grossman today, but they always seem to be unhappy with their sportswriters. Before the Super Bowl, Tribune columnist Steve Rosenbloom took umbrage on his "Rosenblog" after Rex Grossman said some sportswriters are ignorant. What you'll find very interesting is the tone of the public comments that followed. No one here is saying Grossman is great, but every comment rips Rosenbloom and other parasitic practitioners of sportswriting. Remember that untold thousands of Chicagoans informally boycott the Tribune as a matter of course. These comments aren't coming from people who loathe the Tribune so much they avoid it. These comments come from the Tribune's own website, which means these comments come from Tribune readers, and most importantly, the coveted "new-media" readers who participate in the interactive features on the Tribune's websites. You're about to read an expression of public opinion that represents a commentary on the state of Chicago sports journalism. With readers like these, who needs enemies? Check it out:

Not shocking you would have something to say right after Rex said you newspaper people were ignorant. He has taken the abuse from every angle all year long. And all year long, he has taken the scrutiny and critism without getting too irritated with the media at all. So now he says one thing and you jump all over him. How much did you expect him to take before he finally said something that wasn't politically correct? Sorry, Rosenbloom...Rex isn't perfect and neither are you. Posted by: Josh | Feb 2, 2007 3:53:33 PM

So the park district was looking for another opportunity to "gouge the fans"? The article says they were looking to show the game in order to raise money for charity. If you can't even get that straight, I guess Rex is right - - "journalists" like yourself in the print media are ignorant. Let the Waddle countdown continue. Mr. Rosenbloom, your plane is boarding . . .. Posted by: jackarmstrong | Feb 2, 2007 4:35:29 PM

Ignorant fits this stupid blogger perfectly. Way to man up and admit it, see if you man up in 2 days about how good the Bears are and how wrong you were. Posted by: Kyle | Feb 2, 2007 4:46:07 PM

So you don't think any of the newspaper writers are ignorant about the game? Grossman didn't say every newspaper columnist was ignorant; only ones like you who are dumb enough to make even Sean Salsbury look bright. Posted by: Vince | Feb 2, 2007 4:46:59 PM

Rosenblah,
You have been the biggest local hater on DA BEARS and especially Rex. Something you chose and your employer still obviously endorses. You throw down "his scarlet letter"?! What about your daily intentional hate?! Too bad the kid couldn't call you out for what you are, a hack who intentionally hates on everything! Good for Rex, but again he held back, way back for what you alone have dished. The Choice: and remember death is not an option, leave town! Would love to see you in Green Bay next season! Play Angry / Play Hostile GO BEARS!!! GO REX!!! Posted by: skiman506 | Feb 2, 2007 8:16:29 PM

This is funny because Rosenbloom is as ignorant as they come. This man knows nothing about sports whatsoever. This blog is basically only good for coming on and ripping on Rosenbloom. I mean look at the comments. He has to know he is terrible. Yes Rosenbloom you are stupid and ignorant. If you had any intelligence you may have come up with a writing concept beyond "your table is ready" and "death is not an option" at some point. Posted by: Derek | Feb 3, 2007 12:04:44 AM

Wow, I have never seen a point by a media critic (Grossman) proven any faster. It's amazing to think that Rosenbloom is actually paid for this spew. It gives hope to souless, mean-spirited writers everywhere. Posted by: AnotherBruce | Feb 3, 2007 4:00:56 AM

Bloom... Has Grossman posted a 0.0 quarterback rating yet this offseason? No, try about 100 pts higher. And what's with the comment about waiting another generation to see a Bears Super Bowl? You're the biggest hater in Chicago. You and Skip Balis would be great together on ESPN Deportes or something. I mean, poor Sean Salisbury. He spends his Sundays with a dope-fiend (Irvin), and his Thursday with a dope (you). GO BEARS! Posted by: Mike in Bloomington | Feb 3, 2007 10:17:31 AM

Bernard Berrian said on PTI that if the newspaper guys could watch film they would see that it is not all Grossman's fault. I would have to agree. Sometimes it is a breakdown in pass protection, or a receiver running the wrong route or *gasp* someone on the other team making a good play. Yeah Grossman has deserved some of the abuse, but seriously when did football become a one person game? Posted by: gnjaxon | Feb 3, 2007 1:13:28 PM

You are exactly what Grossman called you...ignorant. Posted by: jim | Feb 3, 2007 1:33:20 PM

I think there must be some sort of masochitic gene in the typical sports writer. Why can't you guys simply be happy? Why do you feel it's necessary to taunt fans. Morrissey says Lovie needs to rant and rave more. Really? Well, maybe he can get Denny Green to come in and give a pep talk. I'm pretty sure Green is free this weekend. Posted by: Denis Verte | Feb 3, 2007 4:19:59 PM

Anybody wonder why Rosenotti never responds directly to any of the posts? I have two theories:
1. Doesn't want to know how many people really despise him;
2. Doesn't really know how a blog works
Posted by: Mark | Feb 3, 2007 4:21:43 PM

Truth in Advertising: The Wrigleyville Tribune

The Peace and Education Coalition has offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the rapist who assaulted two girls in the Back of the Yards neighborhood this month, according to the Sun-Times and NBC5. But you won't read about that reward in the Tribune.

As we have documented many times, the Tribune often posts front-page community alerts on its website, sometimes accompanied by video reports and sketches of the suspect, for sexual assaults that occur on the North Side (especially Wrigleyville), but rarely, if ever, for sexual assaults that occur on the South Side. The Tribune covered the Back of the Yards attacks only after the second one occurred and residents called a community meeting. Had the Tribune given the first attack the attention it gives to attacks in Wrigleyville, perhaps the second would not have occurred. The responsibility for publicizing crime rests at least as much on the press as on the police.

The Tribune's emphasis is clear. It favors the North Side, and particularly Wrigleyville. Since some Tribune stories essentially consist of advertisements for Tribune properties, like Careerbuilder, the Cubs, and Wrigley Field, can we use truth-in-advertising laws to require the paper to rename itself more truthfully?

Hard to Shake Suspect Synergies

Mary Ellen Podmolik has a makeup story (you know, like a makeup quiz after you bomb the first one) in today's Chicago Tribune about some Super Bowl advertisers not owned by the Tribune Company. Better late than never, Mary Ellen. But remarkably, the piece is accompanied online by the WGN news segment that focuses exclusively on Tribune-owned Careerbuilder without disclosing the conflict of interest (WGN is also owned by Tribune). That unethical report has spread like a virus. It has now aired on WGN, CLTV, and Chicagotribune.com. Sometimes ethics just can't get the better of Tribune "synergies."