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.
- Rob Owen's Paean -- Babble Reader, 12:19:41 10/19/07 Fri [16]
Rob Owen, the P-G's answer to Chuckles the Clown, went over the top today.
Can you imagine a total of more than 20 inches of space. including pic, of a new weather forecaster at KDKA-TV? And he treats us to the breathless news that Valerie Abati has a pair of slippers she wears in the studio. And spring is her favorite season. And she "chats amiably" while her picture is being taken. Ah, journalism , thy name is mud.
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- Tim Russert faces the ultimate stupid question -- Would Steen, 11:01:23 10/22/07 Mon [3]
I direct your attention to her second question to Mr. "Meet The Press..."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07295/827343-129.stm
Also, it wouldn't hurt to take a gander at Sheridan's profesional biography in the upper right hand corner. It explains a lot.
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- review this -- Sis Kel, 11:38:48 09/22/07 Sat [17]
City Paper's 9/13 review by Lissa Brennan of a photography exhibit is so flowery and positively lopsided without any real analysis or journalistic credibility that I felt it necessary to comment. An example: "What we connect with is not the barflies, stagnant behind their mugs of vital liquid, but rather the smoke that winds from cigarettes held aloft, sinewing and curling from between stony fingers. In this room, where the people seem as indelible a part of the terrain as the dartboard, this inanimate entity possesses all of the life." Huh? (just wondering, what the heck is sinewing smoke?)
The entire review reads like this. All yin, no yang.
Yipes, I have followed her reviews and they all are like this one. To make it worse, she injects her own political views on a regular basis.
Is this journalism?
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A35534&cb=9b1d6649bb42a3192f28c055b66f0fc5#comments
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- Trib techie freaks out -- tech tech tech, 08:37:18 09/22/07 Sat [12]
Ran across this interesting rant by a egomaniac Trib techie on his blog. Interesting how thin skinned those Trib kiddies are.
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=103570929&blogID=311488142
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- Ervin Dyer? -- PghLesbian, 07:27:39 10/21/07 Sun [4]
I noticed in today's PG that Ervin Dyer is no longer with the paper. What's the scoop?
Thanks
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- More on Mayor's Race -- Mr. Capitalism, 08:18:36 10/21/07 Sun [1]
Two thoughts here-
Saw the Luke Ravenstahl feature in the Post-Gazette. I'm curious if the P-G is planning a similar profile for Mark DeSantis next Sunday.
A blogger has echoed my sentiments about allowing The Socialist candidate into these debates and that candidate's subsequent answers-
http://pghcomet.blogspot.com/2007/10/nix-libertarian-and-socialist-pt-4.html
To add more weight that The Socialist should not not have been allowed in the debate- he's not legally able to be Mayor of Pittsburgh.
The candidate is 24 years old. The law states the mayor must be 25.
How does an editorial board not know that?
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- Sam Bennett: Humor that just lies there -- Would Steen, 21:28:39 10/16/07 Tue [7]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07290/825933-51.stm
Is the subject a fertile ground for humor? You bet.
Is this offensive? No.
Is it witty? No.
Is it funny? No.
And still, Bennett's editors see talent.
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- Mayor's Debate -- Mr. Capitalism, 09:16:17 10/10/07 Wed [18]
I have just read the write-ups of the mayoral debate in both the PG and Trib and I have to ask something.
Why are we inviting the socialist candidate to these debates?
Yes, he's on the ballot. But I have followed Pittsburgh mayoral debates not only in this year, but in previous years, and these candidates seem intent on not following the rules and wasting everyone else's time.
Ignoring that it does not make Pittsburgh look very good that there are actually 250 people in our city willing to sign a petition to embrace the political party of Stalin and Castro and put a socialist candidate on the ballot, WILL THESE ANTI-AMERICAN SHMUCKS AT LEAST RESPOND TO THE QUESTIONS PRESENTED TO THEM?
Two years ago, KDKA's Jon Delano asked Socialist candidate Jay Ressler how he would bring more money in to Pittsburgh from Harrisburg in a debate.
Ressler totally ignored the question and responded- "WE NEED TO GET OUT OF IRAQ!"
HUH?
Yesterday, the socialist candidate did more of the same. Every question was a platform to rail on about- well- I'm not sure what.
I'm told the reason why socialists get on the ballot in Pittsburgh is because the local democratic committee knows they won't hurt them. If it's a two horse race, there will be a significant amount of people who are fed up with City Government (who isn't?) and will vote against the incumbent.
Putting a fringe party on the ballot divides the anti-incumbent vote. And local left-wingers, for better or worse, will embrace working to put a socialist on the ballot instead of, say, a Libertarian.
But at least Libertarians and Titus North's Green Party answer questions asked of them! They have ideas! They follow the rules of order and put people on the ballot who don't have the appearance of local socialist candidates, who generally have the appearance of a guy you would get into a longer line to avoid standing next to.
Really. They can't win and they waste time taking away from real issues in these debates, not to mention reinforce the perception that Pittsburgh cannot get out of 1906!
If the socialist candidates aren't going to follow the rules, then I don't care if they are on the ballot or not. They have proven, time and again, that they are here only to disrupt these debates.
So why invite them if their only purpose is to disrupt the whole process?
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- Lousy Lead -- Simon, 14:52:06 10/12/07 Fri [4]
This was on the P-G's breaking news section:
Friday, October 12, 2007
By Ron Musselman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State football program has suffered another setback.
Tailback Austin Scott was arraigned Friday afternoon before Magisterial District Judge Ronald Horner on felony charges of rape, sexual assault and two counts of aggravated indecent assault.
Scott, 22, also faces misdemeanor charges of simple assault and indecent assault, according to Penn State police.
The program has suffered another setback? Who cares? Get to the news, which is a felony charge.
The context of the charges within the football program is something that can be addressed later.
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- PG Seneca Valley coverage -- Ed Yucashin, 13:58:11 10/14/07 Sun [1]
The P-G has Chute, Smydo and Sostek as full-timers who cover education.
So why has a stringer had all the bylines about the Seneca Valley strike? If I were Shribman, I'd be looking for some answers.
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- Lousier Headline, Greensburg Trib style -- Hair It Age, 21:49:57 10/12/07 Fri [2]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_532404.html
Okay...so he's from North Huntingdon.
But the lead says Greensburg.
The address, Highland Avenue, is clearly Greensburg.
Unless the City of Greensburg is now part of North Huntingdon Township, there's a problem here.
Rank amateurs.
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- Web sites -- Offline (confused), 10:07:13 10/13/07 Sat [1]
In all seriousness, the Web sites for the two major papers are really bad in their own unique ways.
The Trib has very poor updating so everything always seems old.
And the PG's redesign is so not user friendly it's sad. In the age where Web sites are getting wider and easier to navigate, this is way too vertical. When the page loads, you don't see much news and even when you scroll there isn't much more.
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- Trubble at the Tribble? -- princess pea, 15:17:11 08/28/07 Tue [12]
The rumour mill says layoffs are imminent on Martindale Street. This follows several positions going unfilled after people quit.
Is it possible?
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- Condolences to Helen Fallon -- Mourning journo, 06:46:39 10/11/07 Thu [1]
http://post-gazette.com/pg/07284/824519-122.stm
I'm just an acquaintance of Helen Fallon, mainly through seeing her at Quills and other awards dinners, but when I saw this this morning, it hit me right in the gut ... I can't imagine dealing with such a sudden loss. Be assured, Helen, that you are in the thoughts and prayers of media folks throughout western PA.
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- WPXI -- Print guy, 20:39:10 10/10/07 Wed [1]
The anchors were all smiles tonight after the 11 p.m. broadcast. With good reason. It looks like they got most of the glitches worked out.
Good job. That had to be a huge endeavor, moving the studio and going HD with all new software. While it was painful to watch, I'm glad they got it put back together. They seemed snappier with the news too... packed a lot more in than normal.
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- Why did the Trib boycott the cancer gala? -- cookie, 12:29:44 10/10/07 Wed [1]
There wasn't one word in Jean Horne's Fanfare column about the big Hillman Center Cancer gala benefit that raised $6 million last week. The PG Seen did a whole column on it Monday. Jean picked the gala as her best party last year but blew it off completely this year - not even one photo. What's up with that?
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- Newsgathering Synergy in Action, Trib/TAE style -- Hair It Age, 19:18:59 10/09/07 Tue [2]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_531467.html
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/search/s_531544.html
Interesting that Ms. Miele teaches "corporate communications" at her alma mater, St. Vincent, where she also emceed Bush's commencement speech at the request of W's ex-White House flunky and Head Theocrat, SVC President Jim Towey.
Even the PG isn't this smarmy.
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- York Daily Record -- Head East, 16:21:00 10/08/07 Mon [1]
Anyone know anything about the York Daily Record? What kind of place is it to work?
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- You too can work at the Trib PM! -- lady tasha, 18:10:35 10/04/07 Thu [2]
Are you a reporter who can cover everything from breaking news to celebrity interviews and enterprise packages to oddball trends? Trib P.M., a daily tabloid edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, doesn’t color inside the lines. We cover the stories that get people talking. Enjoy life every day in Pittsburgh, named the most livable city in America this year. You can become part of the team by showing:
· A conversational writing style.
· The ability to keep your finger on the pulse of the city.
· The skill to write tightly and quickly.
· The vision to suggest ways to present the whole story package, including multimedia potential.
Tell us about your talents and earn a role in a dynamic newspaper. You can help us and your career. Send work samples, three story ideas and resume to: Mark Gruetze, Administrative Editor, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 503 Martindale St., Pittsburgh, PA 15212. E-Mail: mgruetze@tribweb.com
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- Tough times for Steigerwald -- Berky, 16:52:11 10/01/07 Mon [3]
His time at KDKA-TV is ending, as he details in this column:
http://www.timesonline.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18867061&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478569&rfi=8
See you on the radio? The station he was working for fired everyone on Monday in advance of a format change.
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- Is this acceptable -- I say no, 08:24:02 09/21/07 Fri [24]
You could make your point in a much more classy way.
Nice lede, BCT.
http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18836610&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478569&rfi=6
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- Dear P-G: Enough already -- You're not the Star..., 23:22:41 09/22/07 Sat [13]
So, on the web page, they've stuck it to Dickie by posting all of the divorce documents on-line after he filed for all of them to be returned.
Glad to see they let a personal vendetta get in the way of what should be real journalism. I am not a fan of Scaife's in the least, but I hope this one backfires on the P-G.
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- And there was a point... -- Classyone, 16:31:47 09/16/07 Sun [12]
So blazed on the front page of the PG today was the start of a page-long expose on the Scaife divorce, written by Dennis Roddy. My question is, why was this necessary? I know the answer, it lies in the section calling the Pittsburgh Tribune Review one of Scaife's "hobbies."
http://postgazette.com/pg/07259/817950-85.stm
Thoughts anyone?
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- Whirl -- cookie, 11:00:15 09/19/07 Wed [3]
Are the rumors that the Trib bought Whirl Magaszine true?
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- Re: Whirl -- Whirlpool, 21:09:16 09/19/07 Wed
- Re: Whirl -- In the Know, 18:13:33 09/22/07 Sat
- Just when you think Bennett's hit bottom... -- Weezy, 11:06:08 09/06/07 Thu [20]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07249/815134-151.stm
Talk about a waste of space. WHO thinks she's funny? White space would be more entertaining.
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- Trib Greensburg-What's missing here? -- Cabb N. Hill, 23:12:11 09/18/07 Tue [5]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/westmoreland/s_528243.html
So...you've read Paul Peirce's compelling story and now you wonder, "what does this wonderful story lack?"
Put it in terms of real estate:
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.
"In the parking lot of a Hempfield Township store." That's IT? Peirce didn't bother to find out which store, where, whatever. One of the fundamentals of journalism and a reporter who's been around for many a year doesn't think to include the detail and the editors don't bother to ask where, even though the criminal complaint would surely have all that info.
Trib's not just hemorrhaging money, gang.
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- Scaife v. Scaife -- Onlooker, 12:18:51 09/16/07 Sun [3]
I've just finished that Scaife divorce story in the Post-Gazette over a couple of coffees.
Now I'm really looking foward to reading that story in the Pittsburgh Tribue-Review, a mighty bastion of journalism, as we are constantly reminded of here. Actually, I'd settle for reading it in any paper of the mighty Scaife journalism empire.
In addition to watching for that great journalism in any or all of the Scaife papers, I'll be watching for the truly clever and witty and barbed comments from Would Steen, or even from the lesser of the clever and witty intelligensia of the Tribune-Review. The same folks, as I recall, who like to rip on Dennis Roddy, the author of that piece in the Post-Gazette.
Gee, folks, the mighty Trib is bleeding to death at what? -- $20 million or so a month? But how? What is Scaife spending that kind of money on?
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- So I gotta ask... -- Edward G. Robinson, 12:26:12 09/12/07 Wed [11]
How does a Post-Gazette reporter afford a $900,000 house in Fox Chapel?
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- What's missing in "Whispers'" DeLay Section? -- L. Nino, 00:39:08 09/02/07 Sun [3]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/whispers/s_525448.html
Simple. DeLay's well-documented legal problems. Not a word.
But leave it to "Whispers" to add something to titillate both Dickie Scaife and good old Colin "Shove It" McNickle: a whole "Whispers" section yattering about a fire that came close to his pal Theresa Heinz Kerry's vacation home.
How pathetic is a paper whose inept Trib-Kiddie employees have one goal in mind: amusing their doddering, extremist publisher?
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- You slay me! -- Mr. Burns, 07:40:40 09/11/07 Tue [7]
Yeah, I know small words (tap, anyone?) and quick phrases become favorite no-brainers of headline writers, but can we please put an end to the awkward slay suspect?
This one annoys me so much that the terrible verb conjugation in this headline (Slay suspect want trial moved from Bedford) almost is relegated to a second-tier gripe.
http://postgazette.com/pg/07254/816523-100.stm
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- Trib circ. and financial losses confirmed -- Told ya, 18:40:08 09/16/07 Sun [4]
Does PMS&G have a reason to go on after Roddy's Sunday Scaife expose? Let the "yes, but"s begin!
"While most of Mr. Scaife's papers turn a profit, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, according to financial data filed in his court pleadings, has drained anywhere from $19 million to $21 million per year in subsidies from one of Mr. Scaife's trust funds. While the Tribune-Review's statements of circulation have never publicly broken out the numbers between Greensburg and Pittsburgh, an Oct. 20, 2006, income analysis done on Mr. Scaife's behalf as part of the support proceedings, put circulation of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review at 52,453 daily and 70,155 Sundays, part of which is heavily discounted."
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- Investigative reporting -- Scoop, 04:19:03 09/16/07 Sun [3]
So, who had the more interesting investigative report this morning: Carl Prine or Dennis Roddy?
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- Propaganda or fact? -- Not so public record, 14:45:33 09/16/07 Sun [1]
The PG published today an article about the Scaife divorce details. It's rather chilling to learn the details not only about the divorce, but the state of his newspaper holdings. They must have done a lot of homework, as the files were obtained weeks ago.
http://post-gazette.com/pg/07259/817950-85.stm
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- Why wasn't the traffic fiasco covered? -- This is news, 10:53:58 09/14/07 Fri [1]
Yesterday Pittsburgh saw perhaps the worst traffic snarl in recent history. It affected virtually everyone in the city and most of the suburban commuters. It was the biggest news of the Mayor's press conference (even though he wasn't aware it was happening). Today there was not one word about it in the PG. It's almost like it never happened. Very strange.
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- Boy does this need an edit to reflect reality! -- Garloo, 22:06:11 02/01/07 Thu [2]
"The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh is offering two $1,500 scholarships to students who want to work in print journalism as reporters, copy editors, photographers, paginators or graphics designers."
Shouldn't it read as follows?
"The Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh is offering two $1,500 scholarships to students who want to work in print journalism as reporters, copy editors, photographers, paginators or graphics designers, but given current realities, will very likely be unable to find employment in those fields.
The $ 1,500 scholarships will be made available so the winners can afford retraining in vocational fields including, but not limited to, training in customer service, medical office clerking, car sales and greeter positions. Sorry kids, but that's how the cookie crumbles these days!"
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- Nate G does it again -- Would Steen, 01:03:41 09/09/07 Sun [3]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07252/815236-42.stm
Aside from the Pat Sheridan-level questions, "COLOMBIA Records?"
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- The PG's Freelance Restaurant reviews or, "Exercise in Boredom" -- Would Steen, 14:44:29 08/30/07 Thu [7]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07242/813245-242.stm
Well, Lizzie Downer has moved on from the dining beat (regrettably, hubby Ambassador Dan remains to bloviate regularly on the Op-Ed page), but the PG Weekend tradition of long-winded, boring restaurant reviews continues, this one a yawn-inducing novelette by Pitt English "Creative Nonfiction" Prof and Lee Gutkind colleague, Bruce Dobler.
Dobler's review of Tuscan Inn in Hampton Township does everything but evaluate the quality of the silverware, tells you WAY more than anyone needs to know and teems with the kind of wordy BS he and Lee are known for imparting to the Tom Wolfe-Hunter Thompson wannabes in Pitt's English Department.
I know PG'ers don't like hearing the truth, but Alice Carter or Mike Machoskey at the Trib, or Angelique and Jason at City Paper have the PG beat on food reviews.
But to be fair, the PG has 'em beat on sheer word count!
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- Dipaola vs White -- Stewart Thomas (Wondering?), 08:55:37 09/08/07 Sat [6]
This week, the PG's High School editor Mike White showed up on numerous televison broadcasts, while Tribune-Review honcho Jerry Dipaola was MIA.
It does not look good for the Trib, who is supposed to have the high school market cornered according to upper management in Pittsburgh.
Also, does anyone know any background on TR editor Kevin Smith and his publishing record. thanks
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- Press release Zito -- Whatta-beeta-upta-witha-dis?, 05:36:05 08/25/07 Sat [17]
Tribune-Review Page 8 8-24. How did a Giuliani press release end up as "news"? PROPAGANDA, more like it. Lots of losers in that list of Brabender Cox "winners." Is this a new paid feature? Send us a press release reported on the Web hours before and we'll doctor it up and act like it is the second coming of Christ? Sssssaaaaadddddd.
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- What was the purpose? -- SloNuzDey, 06:38:49 09/03/07 Mon [3]
Wonder what the purpose of the Zito story on McCain was in Monday's Tribune-Review? Sez nothing. Can't find it on the website. There is a different version of the story at townhall. What's up with dat?
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