Pittsburgh Media Scoops and Gossip
Welcome, newsroom pros and moles. Here's the spot for all the latest dish and debate on what's happening in Pittsburgh media. This is a forum to talk about issues affecting the Pittsburgh media scene.
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ABOUT THE DOG: Since so many have asked, the photo is simply a dog delivering the paper. He has no connection to any past advertising campaigns for any newspaper. He's a nice dog.
- Stanley Cup at the Trib? -- Bully, 21:58:05 07/03/09 Fri [1]
The Stanley Cup went to the Trib the other day and several reporters and photographers got their picture with it.
So much for journalistic integrity.
Discuss.
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- Boulevard of Champions -- Photo fan, 10:33:50 06/16/09 Tue [1]
Did anyone pick up today's "Boulevard of Champions" Souvenir Edition of the P-G? Online, they mention a special 8-page section about the Pens parade available in print, though the print edition (below the fold) references a 7-page section. (page 8 is a Verizon ad).
The A-1 photo is beautiful, and leads one to believe some of the same quality content might appear in the special section. The E-1 (special section) photo is also great.
Once you open the section, you get black and white player pictures, a color picture of a burrito, a color ad, a story about public transit traffic nightmares (a downer in a 'celebratory' section) more black and white player pictures, and a full page of full-color fan pictures. Couldn't the P-G splurge on color for the team photos? The fans were there to cheer on the Pens. Don't they deserve some color pictures of the event they attended? The text was nothing special. It would have been nice to have a recap of a story or two from a sports writer
The photo content is skimpy. I expected better. Is the P-G short on photographers? The could have paid a few of the fans for their own pictures. There were some nice professional cameras in the crowd.
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- The Trib is flexible -- Peter Paul or Mary, 12:36:36 06/28/09 Sun [1]
This week's pissy John Kerry note in Whispers identifies Teresa Heinz as the "ketchup heiress." It's usually the "pickle heiress," but today they switched. I'll bet the Old Man spit out his coffee when he saw that! You never know what the wacky sycophants will do next!
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- PG Columnists and Space-wasters -- T. Pott Tempest, 03:24:40 07/03/09 Fri [1]
What happens when a PG columnist normally flush with stuff to rant about can't come up with anything interesting?
Well, Shribman always dishes the international, national and world view so he doesn't have to dirty his hands talking local about an area he doesn't care about because he only resides here.
O'Neill lays out local affairs in such a trite, predictable way he's hard to read even when he makes a valid point.
Jack Kelly gives us a Sunday Sgt. Rock/Rambo routine that reads like a print version of Colbert, not thoughtful neocon argument.
Ruth Ann offers Church Lady viewpoints delivered in such a sickeningly sweet manner her stuff reads like a cross between Shirley Temple and Salina Zito.
And in a slow week, what gives with Baloney Tony, the pal of John McIntire and Lynn Cullen?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09184/981500-153.stm
Yawn.
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- Nothing to say and it's not okay -- Fifth Column, 03:26:19 07/01/09 Wed [1]
Had to read this twice and it still makes no sense.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09176/979517-151.stm
Honestly, who down on the Boulevard is dedicated to keeping Bennett's weekly blather in circulation? She gets worse every week and no one seems to care.
My question to PG'er: did your management agree to carry her column as part of her buyout or is this part of Shribman's troubling logic about what's really good and bad?
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- Rob-O Again -- Sidney Falco, 03:53:40 06/14/09 Sun [1]
Hey! I'm from Pittsburgh and I drove within 300 miles of a Hollywood studio on my last trip to the coast. You think Rob-O, the ultimate fan-boy and fifth-string TV critic might be interested? Since he doesn't know the difference between being a journalist and being a flack, I can't wait for another of his seemingly unending trips to Tinseltown (paid for by a newspaper that's allegedly on the ropes financially). Surprises me he doesn't try to land a real flack job out there, so he can tool up and down Mulholland Drive in a Corvette wearing those stupid shades of his.
Why go off on the boy? Well, here's one more reason.
http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/tunedin/archive/2009/06/12/pittsburgher-makes-goode.aspx
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- Billy Mays -- Surfer Dude, 09:51:00 06/28/09 Sun [1]
12:45pm on the 28th and the Trib has a localized story on their website about the death of McKees Rocks native Billy Mays.
Not a word on the PG site
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- Furloughs -- DogMan, 09:26:53 06/26/09 Fri [1]
The Tribune-Review today offered all full-time employees one week of unpaid vacation "to reduce costs and expenses."
The time off is strictly voluntary.
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- BCT @ U.S. Open? -- Just_Asking, 01:43:52 06/19/09 Fri [1]
Any idea why the Beaver County Times has a writer at the U.S. Open? This paper doesn't cover the Penguins, Pirates or Steelers on the road, but has some guy in New York for this?
I'm confused. No wonder they're laying people off.
http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2009/06/18/sports/doc4a3b08658400c563898494.txt
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- What the....? -- The Linguist, 15:42:56 06/25/09 Thu [1]
Seen her bashed before, thought some of the criticisms were overkill. But then I saw this.
http://www.post-gazette.com/podcast/detail.asp?id=17
Is there an English translation available?
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- Observer Layoffs -- Confused, 12:55:46 06/25/09 Thu [0]
What is going on at the Washington Observer? Anyone know what's happening?
http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/06-25-Layoffs
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- Greece is the word -- Aristotle in a Bottle, 16:46:12 06/07/09 Sun [1]
Is the P-G kidding? China Millman writes a lead Sunday article on where to find the best meals in Greece? How many P-G readers are going to Greece? Is this paper deliberately trying to be totally irrelevant as part of some giant inside joke?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09158/975129-34.stm
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- Mulletmedia -- Biz in front, 10:13:12 06/22/09 Mon [1]
I wonder if anyone else has noticed the decline in news on the Trib's web site. I read both sites and find that if I start with the Trib, the PG has at least twice as many breaking news stories. The day Pittsburgh won the livable city title, the Trib had nothing for most of the day. Is the desk on vacation?
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- Delicious Irony -- Lincoln Highway, 21:27:38 06/18/09 Thu [1]
A Trib story about a business run out back of a motel on Route 30 in Westmoreland County, a motel where $ 25 buys customers three hours in a room.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_630128.html
Good thing it wasn't Doug's Motel along the same road. Writing background in that case would be kinda awkward.
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- Way to go, Trib! -- Ketching Up, 03:04:04 06/21/09 Sun [1]
My Sunday paper (June 21) has the weekly reference to Teresa Heinz as "pickle heiress!"
I'll bet the old man laughs himself silly when he reads that!
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- Carpenter: 1, Owen: Zero -- Ray Ban, 22:14:47 06/18/09 Thu [1]
Mackenzie Carpenter on storm TV coverage Friday:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09170/978427-455.stm
And Thursday, what do you get from Rob Owen?
http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/tunedin/archive/2009/06/17/this-time-weather-cut-ins-warranted.aspx
Mac, with much more experience and being many years Rob's senior, positively CLEANED HIS CLOCK with her story.
High time the PG bigwigs decided if "the kid" should be covering TV at all since he's increasingly ignoring it in favor of insipid celebrity journalism. Maybe he ought to see if Entertainment Tonight is hiring because the paper's take on the storm coverage proves once again he's no real journalist, much less a TV critic.
Believe it. Not all the deadwood at the PG is over 40.
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- The stupidity of Eric Heyl -- Cabb N. Hill, 21:21:33 06/12/09 Fri [1]
Honestly, along with a total lack of insight this guy is about as engaging and witty as Samantha Bennett and that isn't saying much.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/columns/heyl/s_629203.html
He goes through this whole done-to-death business about what will happen to Iron City's sales once they move to Latrobe, and then at the end, he opines...
"But if customer backlash is severe at the old-man bars where the beer remains popular, Iron City might well have to consider breaking with the past and changing its name to reflect its new home turf.
Anyone up for a nice cold Placid Pasture?"
A crappy punchline, to say the least. He also mustn't get out to Westmoreland very much since he was too lazy to check the brewery's actual location. Latrobe is a CITY. The old Latrobe Brewery that's being utilized isn't far from Excela Latrobe hospital. No "pastures." If he was trying to be funny, he missed by a dozen miles. Hell, Google Earth (if Heyl even knows what that is) would have shown him. Even in a Trib opinion column, you can't have your own facts.
Of course, why would Eric the Untalented need bother to do any checking? Trib Court Jesters play by different rules. Don't have to be right so long as you're FAR right!
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- Who edits these things? -- Don Cherry, 19:30:29 06/05/09 Fri [-2]
The P-G hockey blogger was a topic of discussion a few weeks ago on this board. I have to ask, is the guy edited at all?
In his blog post from Game 4, he actually posted the office phone number of NBC TV executive Dick Ebersol and implored Pens fans to flood his office with calls in regard to the network not showing the game on the screen outside Mellon Arena.
Is it Seth's goal to piss everyone off? Does the P-G condone this kind of stuff that seems more befitting a radio talk show? And who the hell edits his blog?
I have heard the guy has pissed everyone off in the sports department and can see why now.
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- Bennett bores 'em again! -- Easy Rider, 16:14:09 06/04/09 Thu [1]
Why does the PG waste their time printing this baloney?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09155/974671-151.stm?cmpid=bcpanel0
If Ms. Bennett were any good she'd be writing for a way bigger market than Pittsburgh regardless of her standing with that national newspaper columnists association she's involved with. Her columns are generally silly and trifling. They read like she's writing them to amuse herself not anyone else. A two-seat bicycle trip as a means to amuse people?
There might be a columnist who could make this work but it would have to be someone with considerably more talent and wit than Samantha Bennett.
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- What is this man thinking? -- Mr. Curious, 11:36:09 06/10/09 Wed [1]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/p_148591.html
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- The absurdity of P-G courtesy titles -- Dealer, 00:42:18 06/17/09 Wed [1]
It really hits home when you see the area's most notorious cop killer referred to as "Mr. Poplawski" throughout the front page story.
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- Person of Interest -- G Real, 05:41:44 06/09/09 Tue [1]
Can anyone explain the purpose of the "Person of Interest" feature in the PG? Why is this person interesting? Why should we care? Because she looks good in a photo? Baffling.
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- Bulletin! PG Finds New Place to Dump Interns! -- Uncle Junior, 23:12:59 06/10/09 Wed [1]
http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/summerburgh/default.aspx
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- RE: BCTimes -- Mike Bires (truth, accuracy, truth), 11:30:10 04/28/09 Tue [7]
Obviously, the person who started this false report about Mike Bires submitting a letter to a suburban paper or a weekly about stringing got the facts totally wrong.
There were conversions recently, as there has been in the past, about the BCT's sister paper in Uniontown sharing some of Bires' Steelers' stories. To some degree, that's been ongoing for years.
John Perrotto, the former Times' baseball writer, used to have many of his Pittsburgh Pirates stories printed in the Herald Standard.
Often when high school teams in those two papers' coverage areas played each other, stories are exchanged.
Mike Ciarochi, the sports editor at the Herald Standard, used to have his Steelers stories published regularly in the Beaver County Times.
And in the case of Bires being printed in the Herald Standard, or Ciarochi in the BCT, there is never a stringer fee. They work for the same company!
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- Trib Kiddies wouldn't sink THIS low! -- Grande Stander, 02:47:47 06/10/09 Wed [1]
http://www.pgharts.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=144643
You've got Rogers, Allison and Norman wasting their time doing gigs with this pathetic guy who can't keep in job in local broadcasting (ex-PCNC, ex-WTZN--AKA the "Man Station") and has a "mercy gig" arguing on QED's lame-o "Off Q" with three other stiffs. He's an awful standup comedian and goes wild if anyone criticizes his crude, unfunny ideas of "humor." His p***ing contest with some of his critics with his YouTube standup postings is a hoot.
And PG editorial staff appear in public with him? Tells me a lot.
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- Cliches, anyone? -- Bully Varde, 13:11:03 06/07/09 Sun [1]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09158/975782-388.stm
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- Rob Owen's excited! A new TV drama shot locally! -- Film Office on the Boulevard, 23:56:04 05/20/09 Wed [1]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09141/971612-67.stm
Hey gang! Expect breathless updates! Fawning butt-kiss interviews, the insight of a gnat and the breathlessness of Ryan Seacrest as Rob "Skippy" Owen lets us in on every hot detail! Odds are, it'll be his next Golden Quill!
Alongside Beltway Dave, Jack "Sgt. Carter" Kelly, "Cat's Call" and China "Tipmaster" Millman, "Skippy" (aka Rob-O) is one of the reasons the PG remains "One of America's Great Newspapers!!!!"
Damn, aren't we lucky?
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- BCTimes -- Just Curious, 07:37:22 04/22/09 Wed [18]
What's going on at the BCTimes now that Briscoe is gone? The last few threads posted here were full of angst. Just curious if things are better now or headed that way? Has anyone else left? Updates please!
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- Re: BCTimes -- jackson knows, 11:17:06 04/22/09 Wed
- Re: BCTimes -- Huh?, 21:58:28 04/23/09 Thu
- Re: BCTimes -- Ted, 04:14:27 04/24/09 Fri
- Re: BCTimes -- jackson knows, 04:48:36 04/24/09 Fri
- Re: BCTimes -- What a shock, 05:31:29 04/24/09 Fri
- Re: BCTimes -- Just curious, 19:44:18 04/24/09 Fri
- Re: BCTimes -- Elvis O'Sewickleyheights, 05:31:50 04/25/09 Sat
- Re: BCTimes -- jackson knows, 07:06:22 04/25/09 Sat
- Re: BCTimes -- Ok, so I asked..., 11:10:38 04/28/09 Tue
- Re: BCTimes -- Yetta Nuther Alum (What I heard), 09:32:33 04/30/09 Thu
- Re: BCTimes -- jackson knows, 04:49:56 05/07/09 Thu
- Re: BCTimes -- Just Asking, 23:54:57 05/09/09 Sat
- What'll Trib Total Mediocrity do to get G-20 attention? -- US Ambassador to Beltzhoover, 03:38:16 05/29/09 Fri [1]
I'm predicting Scaife puts a big sign somewhere downtown that says:
"ATTENTION! G-20 LEADERS!
DON'T VOTE FOR SPECTER IN THE 2010 PA PRIMARY!
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- Why is this even here -- Clark Barred, 22:38:07 05/30/09 Sat [1]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_627364.html
- No mention of KQV's Scaife ownership.
- A ridiculous fan-boy tone throughout.
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- Kudos to City Paper and Rich Lord -- Elwin Green, 21:06:29 05/30/09 Sat [1]
The current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review features a cover story saying, in essence, that the business press missed the boat in covering the subprime mess. Along the way, they commend Rich and CP for their coverage.
Here's the story: http://www.cjr.org/cover_story/power_problem.php?page=all
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- Some love for Millman (once!) -- Mess Kit, 02:32:01 04/23/09 Thu [1]
Note this review. Marylynn Uricchio's family's restaurant. The connection is duly disclosed and what's more China did not bend over backwards to give them a gushy review. It was actually pretty critical, all told. I share many of the negative views about Millman's "me" style of writing and tendency to talk down to readers. Still, I can't knock her on this score. The paper sucks more every week but at least the core ethics are intact.
The trouble is things like this stupid new "Plush" section just alienate the PG from the majority of readers who don't lived in gated communities, mansion or aren't members of Fox Chapel country clubs.
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- Can anyone explain the meaning of... -- Webster Dick Shunarie, 03:14:39 05/26/09 Tue [1]
...the meaning of the term "dimmycrat." The Trib editorial editor used it in one of his contrived smart-alecky Sunday columns and I cannot, for the life of me, fathom the meaning of the word. It's not in the dictionary. Does it exist, or is he just attempting to be clever?
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- The latest message from Mt. Olympus -- Yinzer Peon, 23:41:51 05/23/09 Sat [1]
I feel so UTTERLY BLESSED that the PG gives us the weekly insights of the one and only David Shribman. I find it so enlightening to find out all that he knows about the wonderful world of Washington (DC not Mount Washington or Washington PA), the Georgetown section of DC, New Hampshire, and now, the Berlin Wall, which fell 20 years ago.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09144/972068-372.stm?cmpid=bcpanel2
Just don't ask him about Point State Park, the North Side or Mt. Oliver. All that is beyond his scope. Of course he might have seen a few places in one neighborhood if he walks Kid Robbie's dog Clementine. Maybe. Unless he wore blinders.
Conclusion: the Trib is a subsidized joke. The PG is an unsubsidized joke. Aren't we lucky?
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- Non-disclosure, Trib style -- Paula Abdul, 23:25:48 05/24/09 Sun [1]
Talk about blatant flackery:
First a piece by the GA assigned to the Greensburg area:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_625397.html
Then by Harrop, (aka "J"), whose new video feature should be retitled "Not So Hot Picks" to reflect her own skills.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/more/s_626068.html
And finally a piece by another Trib Greensburg GA:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_626631.html
Nowhere does it mention Greensburg Community Days being sponsored by Trib Total Media even though the flyers did.
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- just curious... -- moneymaker, 19:46:02 05/18/09 Mon [1]
who profits from the google ads on this site?
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- Yo! Trib-Bashers! Check THIS out! -- Pot Metal Quill Awardee, 04:41:03 05/15/09 Fri [6]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_625262.html
How's about that? NO ONE ELSE won any awards! Just Trivial Total Mediocrity and their no less mediocre "newsgathering partners" at WTAE!
Oh, I forgot! In Scaifespeak there ARE no other media outlets in the Pittsburgh area! More get added as he buys them!
Note also that TTM and Scaife's law firm were among the sponsors.
But drat! Then there's THIS little bit of annoyance!
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09135/970331-28.stm
Oh, those rascals and scamps at the Trib! Over there, it's Dickie-boy's world! The rest of us just live in it.
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- Shameless Trib Promotion Stunt # 249 -- Vanity Project, 13:35:55 05/12/09 Tue [10]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_624785.html
Awww....isn't this sweet? In a super-lame promotional ploy to get people to think highly of this POS known as Trib Total Media, they get a bunch of the local stuffed-shirt establishmentarians to "honor" the "good kids." On the surface, there's nothing wrong with that.
There is plenty wrong with the Trib's motivation. And who is the speaker, TAE's Jennifer Miele. Aside from the fact she's a tool as a reporter, it wouldn't have anything to do with the paper's "news partnership" with TAE, would it? She also writes lame bits for the Westmoreland fanfare page.
And the judges! One is a Republican State Legislator who worked for Strassberger McKenna, the law firm who's long represented Scaife.
http://www.vote-pa.org/Intro.aspx?Id=PAKriegerTim
Of course, they also recruited another judge: Jo Anne Boyle, Seton Hill University's President, the subject of a lot of puff piece stories that make Trib Westmoreland the school's second PR department.
This outfit is so shameless I wonder if this team might up the ante by creating a second competition for the kids at the opposite end of the achievement spectrum. They could call it "Trib Total Media's Most Wanted Youths" or, "Not Penn State--State Pen!"
This is what limited sense and unlimited money gets you.
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- Yo Adrian! How about a cliche -- Tradio, 08:42:59 05/19/09 Tue [1]
Only Adrian has the "talent" to work two cliches into a one sentence lede.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
By Adrian McCoy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The pending sale of Sheridan Broadcasting's three Pittsburgh stations is sending ripples through the local radio market, and there are still more questions than answers.
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- Thought this guy took the buyout -- Cecil B. DeMille, 21:26:59 05/13/09 Wed [10]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09133/969619-388.stm
If he didn't, it's too bad. "Film critic emiritus?" For years he talked down to his readers, kind of like Shribman, Simpson and Millman do today.
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- The "I" word from Colin. -- Second Person, 17:20:12 05/11/09 Mon [9]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/mcnickle/s_624335.html
If Colin were a real editorialist, he'd have an intellect that could make his political opponents cringe instead of laugh.
If Colin had depth, he wouldn't have to rely on being a right wing John McIntire, favoring snark over substance.
If Colin had talent, he wouldn't need to grind out that aforementioned snark to please the single-minded, paranoid oldster who signs his paychecks.
So there.
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- Trib sports is such a joke -- Ty Cobbler, 16:23:02 05/10/09 Sun [10]
Saw the Trib had a huge spread on the Pirates' Dominican training facility this weekend, sending their reporter Rob Biertempel down there.
Didn't Dejan Kovacevic at the Post-Gazette write the exact same thing oh, about four or five months ago? Right down to the interview with that rotund Gayo guy, where Biertempel pretty much asked the same exact questions Dejan did?
The Trib sports department never leads and it isn't so much that they follow, but Kevin Smith and his crack staff can't even come up with any original ideas.
Is the problem with the leadership or the writers or a little of both.
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- Yo, PG Copy Desk! You missed a doozy! -- Mommy Track, 21:17:14 05/10/09 Sun [9]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09130/968526-51.stm
"My husband and I were ready to settle down and have kids and buy a house," she says, and when he got a job offer in Morgantown, W.Va., they moved to a five-acre country home in Washington, Pa."
Aside from certain residences in Dubai and a few uber-wealthy elsewhere, can anyone think of a residence, an actual structure, as large as five acres, not counting the lot itself? I don't even think Joe Hardy has anything like that. You're slipping, Mervis.
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- Trib Is Top 50 Employer -- Ted Turner, 05:58:04 05/04/09 Mon [10]
Just glanced through the PBT list of 50 largest Pittsburgh-area employers. Was surprised to see Trib Total Media at #42, ahead of Alcoa and Howard Hanna. Post-Gazette was not on the list. I loathe the Trib, but you gotta give Scaife credit for business sense. Is this the first time Trib is on the list?
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- Once again, Shribman snubs the Burgh -- Snob Hill, 23:59:34 05/03/09 Sun [5]
Pittsburgh loses three police officers in the line of duty.
The PG does an excellent job of coverage.
Not a word from the Executive Editor in his column.
Compare:
Jack Kemp dies Saturday.
The same Executive Editor devotes an entire column to him Monday, complete with the "blockbuster" revelation Kemp saw the film version of "Les Miserables" three times over 20 years ago.
If you think criticizing Shribman is off-base, there's your smoking gun. To quote Dana Carvey's Church Lady, he sees himself as "just a little bit superior" to this region of Yinzers. Heaven forbid he get his dainty hands dirty!
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- PG Mea Culpa, Sorta -- Uncle Junior, 00:18:32 05/04/09 Mon [3]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09124/967525-181.stm
Note that nowhere does the reporter note the gross overkill practiced in the coverage/slobber-fest of Mayor Fetterman by her own newspaper, which prematurely knighted the publicity-hungry politico. Now we get the rest of the story.
If this is the overall direction of the PG in decline, not even Dr. House can save it.
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- Legal Implications of Destroying Notes -- Shredder, 07:07:13 05/01/09 Fri [5]
A couple weeks ago the PG reported that Dennis Roddy testified in court that he destroyed his notes and interview recordings for the stories about the old lady who alleged had money misappropriated from her by a county councilman.
This surprised me, because when I worked for a paper, I kept all my notes. Maybe that was the wrong thing to do. I'm curious about what other reporters do, and what PG policy is on the matter.
Here are a couple of relevant lines from a relatively old (1997) AJR article:
"Most lawyers would concede that, once litigation has begun, journalists no longer have any option--they may not destroy materials that could be relevant to the case. But until a lawsuit is filed, news organizations have the right to make their own determinations about what they will keep and what they will discard.
This decision suggests that the news media have an ethical and legal obligation to keep indefinitely any newsgathering materials that might be "potentially relevant" to lawsuits that may or may not be filed in the future. If they don't, juries will be empowered to draw the worst possible conclusion at trial."
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- From the Trib a.k.a. "Pittsburgh Specter-Rebuke" -- Club For Gross, 21:26:39 05/02/09 Sat [6]
Look at the editorial section: a Specter slaughterhouse. Fine. Of course, no one will read this stuff as it's repeated over and over.
Look for Specter bashing (like the Clinton-bashing of old) to infect Trib news sections for at least the next year, as hack editors strive to keep their jobs by keeping the old man giggling and snickering as opposed to practicing real journalism.
Oh, and note this this bit of political insight from Zito, the faux-analyst and eerie doppelganger for Tony Soprano's fictional sister Janice:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_623278.html
It's like proclaiming to the world that people rob banks because they want the money.
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- Scaife Proves it's his Play-Toy, Again -- Matty Mattel, 23:54:43 04/25/09 Sat [7]
All through the Trib this week, and for the rest of the year and into next, will be constant, incessant reminders of how much Dick Scaife hates Arlen Specter. I'm not getting into the pros and cons of the man. It has every right to be on the editorial pages. But rest assured, you will see it everywhere in the Trib papers until the 2010 primary is decided and if his boy, Pat Toomey wins the nomination, Dick will turn his fire on whatever Democrat opposes Toomey.
It's this sort of thing, never mind the Tribspeak and brainwashed Trib-Kiddie rhetoric that appears here, that's the real reason for the paper's existence. It exists so Dick Scaife can order his minions to pump up his favorites, in this case Toomey, and thrash those who've displeased he (and, I assume, Beauregard). Specter claimed the top spot on the Scaife enemies list from Jim Rohr of PNC. No one would claim the Senator from Philly is a great guy personally. He was known to be sour, cocky and ill-tempered even before his illness, and like all politicians he plays both sides against the middle. Not exactly Mr. Warmth.
But please, Trib staff, don't insult our intelligence or delude yourselves by telling us coverage won't be affected. It will be what your boss wants it to be. No more and no less.
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- little league -- Voy boy, 14:51:39 05/01/09 Fri [5]
Did anyone hear about the email Smitty sent out in regard to covering Little league? I heard a writer from the VND wrote something about snickering in an email and Smitty went off about how Little League is what will increase circulation.
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- D.R. Law -- Shredder, 10:52:53 04/20/09 Mon [17]
When in doubt, overreach for an inappropriate word:
"Mr. Roddy testified that Ms. Jordan was "gob-smacked" when he told her she gave $10,000 to judicial candidate Cheryl Allen."
Paging Dr. Roddy, Dr. Roddy ...
"Mr. Roddy said that his experience ran contrary to a doctor's report that Ms. Jordan was psychotic and her memory was very impaired."
2 + 2 = 5. Just take Dennis' word for it:
"Under cross-examination from defense attorney Thomas J. Farrell, Mr. Roddy said he threw away the notes and deleted the tape recording of the interview."
Of course, the note destruction issue is crucial to both the case and journalism in general. Here's a fairly brief story on different sides of the debate
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=1785
My practice and experience with other reporters is that we all keep stacks of full note books for a long time. What do you do? And what have you seen of Dennis' desk and drawers? Full of papers and notebooks, or neat as a pin?
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- Pens coverage -- Michael Motorcycle, 06:48:10 04/24/09 Fri [10]
I'm more of a Pens rooter than an analyst, so I went online this morning to try and find out what strategy the Flyers used to keep the Pens out of the net last night.
Unfortunately, I didn't find it from Rossi or Molinari.
Oh, I got the standard and cliched "Flyers goalie stood on his head" report from Molinari, and Rossi's blog saw fit to patronize his readership with a couple of paragraphs about how stupid people who call up cable companies when the channel they are watching the game goes dark are, but nowhere did I find about how the Flyers defensemen began to attack less and push the Pens' forwards to the boards more in the second and third periods.
I found out about this strategic change from a stringer who covered the game for a Philadelphia newspaper.
Is it just me, or should the Pittsburgh hockey media concentrate on having an "attitude" less and focus on their coverage more?
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- why, oh, why hasn't this been mentioned yet? -- lovely, 19:38:44 04/26/09 Sun [8]
I sit here watching this drama unfold and wonder why anybody has yet to bring up this nugget of information.
It's really a perfect example of how one mistake in any newspaper can be fatal. Can you imagine the fate of the PG if a lawsuit were to be filed?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09116/965297-109.stm
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- Re: why, oh, why hasn't this been mentioned yet? -- Ill Literate, 23:45:10 04/26/09 Sun
- Re: why, oh, why hasn't this been mentioned yet? -- Nice try, but try again., 23:49:48 04/26/09 Sun
- Re: why, oh, why hasn't this been mentioned yet? -- Dewey Decimal, 04:28:08 04/27/09 Mon
- Re: why, oh, why hasn't this been mentioned yet? -- Bob Hoover Fan Club, 20:35:22 04/29/09 Wed
- Get tomorrow's Tribune -- Greensburger, 14:07:26 04/28/09 Tue [7]
Arlen Specter switches to the Democratic party? Tomorrow's edition of the Trib should be a pip.
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- P-G motorcycle column -- Wheels, 00:38:35 04/24/09 Fri [12]
OK, why do they have a weekly motorcycle column? Are there that maky bikers here and do they read the P-G? Looks like they pay freelancers to write it. One of them, Kimberlee Love, is Mike Seate's wife.
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- Where was the copy desk? -- Old Guy, 13:14:40 04/27/09 Mon [2]
P-G sports deskers must have been having a long lunch, so this abomination of a lead got into the paper:
--
Monday, April 27, 2009
By Chuck Finder, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
SAN DIEGO -- Brian Bixler, in his fourth big-league plate appearance and his second swing of the season, after flying out the previous at-bat, knocked a two-run double into right field.
That right there equaled his entire RBI output from a 108 at-bat last season: two.
--
How about:
With one swing of the bat Sunday, Brian Bixler matched his RBI total from the 2008 season.
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- Bullfeathers -- I.M. Puzzled, 13:35:16 04/26/09 Sun [3]
Ah, Colin McTwocentsworth is at at it again, finding obscure people -- he calls this one "a noted Spanish researcher" -- who agree with him and Dickie Boy.
This time it's Gabriel Calzada Alvarez, a professor at that eminent pillar of learning, King Juan Carlos University in Spain, who supposedly has determined that "carbon caps" cost jobs. As Dickie pulls the strings, McTwocentswort types the words in his column in today's Trib.
That college in Madrid? It's been an educational cornerstone since it was formed way back in, uh, 1996. And that "noted Spanish researcher" Professor Alvarez? Even Google can't find him.
Sometimes, columns like this are called "spin." This one, to use one of Mr. McTwocentsworth's words, is "bullfeathers."
Oh, and that head on the column? Nugatory? Talk about archaic language. Look it up. It means trifling. Goes good with McTwocentsworth.
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- Buyout effect? -- On the outside, 09:53:03 04/15/09 Wed [28]
Did the Trib sports department take a lot of hits in the buyout? I ask because it seems to me that something is just a bit off the last couple of weeks.
I can't tell if its the design or the writing, but it just seems the overal presentation is lacking. Most of the writers seem to still be there. Was there a key buyout I might have missed?
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- Flush Plush: the PG's new feature -- Robin Leech, 12:40:00 04/22/09 Wed [3]
A bad economy, people cutting back, and THIS is what the Brown Box on the Boulevard/One of America's Great Newspapers gives its dwindling readership?
http://www.post-gazette.com/plush/
McKay is a great food writer. Why waste those talents having her produce a half-assed newspaper version of the "Robb Report?"
This has gotta be one of Beltway Dave's conceptions, or a product of the mediocre minds of one of his deputies. If not, someone there can enlighten us who deserves "credit" for generating this sorry excuse for a feature?
Wonder how long it'll be until there's another story on luxury workout machines for basset hounds?
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- Secret society -- newish, 14:11:33 04/16/09 Thu [6]
Don't laugh...
I'm new to the PGH media scene and a mentor told me about this forum. I'm curious...is this something that most major cities do? This little secret society of journalists play fighting with each other? I've only worked in smaller cities before, and haven't heard of this before.
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