CLTV: Cubbieland Television

We certainly enjoyed the delightful banter between Tribune-employed meteorologist Tim McGill and Tribune-employed anchorwoman Tanya Francisco on Tribune-owned CLTV this morning. See, Tim was especially interested in how sunny and warm it was going to be because he was going to the Tribune-owned Cubs game at Tribune-owned Wrigley Field. Tanya asked Tim where his seats are. Tim said near the bullpen. "Better take some sunscreen," cautioned Tanya, expressing her insider's knowledge of The Shrine.

We've heard this dialogue on CLTV before, almost as if it's scripted, but strangely, we've never heard Tanya nor Tim nor any of the other CLTV stars chatting about visits to White Sox games. Why is that?

CLTV describes itself as "ChicagoLand's only 24-hour regional news, weather, sports and information channel. CLTV brings viewers continuous coverage of Chicagoland's news that is convenient, up-to-the-minute, straightforward and accurate."

That makes them sound like pretty serious journalists. Outside of the Tribune Tower, serious journalists pride themselves on independence from commercial interests. The Tribune Company's greatest contribution to American journalism has been selling it out.

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."

WGN Joins Tribune Promotion of Careerbuilder

Tribune-owned WGN is now promoting Tribune-owned Careerbuilder's new advertising campaign as a news story, without disclosing that both WGN and Careerbuilder are owned by Tribune Company, a disclosure required by the ethics policies that you can read on the right-hand column of this page.

WGN's News at Noon covered Careerbuilder's new campaign today as a Super Bowl story, but did not cover any of the other companies that will advertise during the Super Bowl, except for a passing mention of Anheuser-Busch. The WGN story included an interview with an executive from Cramer-Krasselt, an advertising agency with a fat Tribune contract, and an executive from Careerbuilder — in other words, a Tribune executive. The reporter was WGN's Muriel Clair.

The unethical report was then rebroadcast on Tribune-owned CLTV.

The WGN story comes on the heels of a Chicago Tribune "news" package that misled readers by suggesting Careerbuilder is the leading job-search site. It's not. But the Tribune Company seems to be marshaling all of its journalistic resources to make the deception come true.

Tribune journalists routinely defend themselves from bias charges by claiming that the Tribune Company and each of its subsidiaries are completely separate and distinct. Does Tribune expect us to believe it's merely a coincidence that both the Chicago Tribune and WGN newsrooms are hyping Careerbuilder's new advertising campaign right before its Super Bowl debut?

Are we supposed to believe that both Tribune-owned newsrooms independently decided that Tribune-owned Careerbuilder is the only newsworthy Super Bowl advertiser?