Could Tribune Bias Be More Blatant?

Even though Rich Gossage began his career with the White Sox and spent five seasons on the South Side (1972-76), the Tribune apparently could not find an image of the Goose in a Sox cap:
Click the 'photos' tag below (and then scroll down, since the top of the page will look the same) for more visual proof of Tribune sliminess.

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

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