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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- Beaver County Times meltdown -- curious george, 08:31:55 02/26/09 Thu [72]
Is anyone taking note of the complete meltdown going on at the Beaver County Times? This week, chief photog Clif Page was laid off, following in the footsteps of other long-time, high-quality staffers. What's going on? There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the decision making. It's also interesting to note the business decisions made during the current publisher and editor's tenure have all been abject failures. Now as they downsize, they choose to remove some of their best people. Does anyone see a future here? Why do these guys still have jobs?
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- Oh, those Trib ethics! -- Bleu Crossed, 21:24:58 02/21/09 Sat [9]
Stouffer's article
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_612134.html
Scaife foundation report--note amount donated to the Pacific Research Institute (also in earlier years). A PRI official is quoted in Stouffer's story, but the connection's never mentioned, is it?
http://www.scaife.com/sarah07.pdf
One of America's Great Journalistic Jokes.
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- BCT buyouts -- BCT alum, 19:38:46 03/05/09 Thu [13]
Since Friday is the last day for at least some of the folks who accepted the voluntary layoff, does anyone know who all took the offer? Curious about which of my former colleagues are victims of this exodus...
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- My Sunday Tribune checklist -- Trib Total Predictability, 01:17:10 03/23/09 Mon [3]
--Glowering mug shot of Colin McNickle? Check.
--Arcane language in McNickle column? Check.
--Crackpot L. Brent Bozell III column? Check.
--Pointless Joseph Sabino Mistick column? Check.
--Pointless Tom Purcell column? Check.
--Bill Steigerwald rant that global warming is a hoax? Alas, no.
--Whispers mention of John Kerry? Check.
--Whispers reference to Teresa Heinz as pickle heiress? Check.
--End of Whispers items about obscure happenings at the Westmoreland County court house? Check.
--Mallard Filmore cartoon that no one reads? Check.
Ah, so nice to have a comfort level.
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- Gotta love that PG online! -- Ben Casey, 00:00:04 03/24/09 Tue [2]
http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/
They post a story by Rob "Hollywood-fan-boy" Owen. Above the link is a photo of Noah Wyle with this caption:
"Noah Wyle plays Dr. John Carter on the long-running "ER" series."
Fine. Nothing wrong with that.
Then right below that, they inexplicably post the SAME link, and another ER cast photo with this caption.
"Noah Wyle plays Dr. John Carter on the long-running "ER" series."
The problem: The color photo is of *African-American* cast member Mekhi Phifer.
It'll probably be gone once someone there sees this post, but damn does it say a lot about one of America's Great Newspapers.
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- Shribman: one-man History Channel -- General Patton, 23:52:33 03/21/09 Sat [2]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09081/957165-372.stm
Now I am not saying anything against the heroes of the World War II European theater, no way. But THIS is all that the PG's great Pulitzer prize-winning Exec. Editor can come up with for his Sunday column? I mean, Stephen Ambrose he's not.
In most columns, Beltway focuses on DC or national politics or rambles on about New Hampshire or other areas of his native New England. So when out of gas, he prattles on about a legendary WWII battle. Now that's what I call ingenuity! Anything to avoid ever having to lower himself to discuss issues facing Pittsburgh and its environs. He's not been here long enough to understand, it seems.
Wonder what he's got for next week? Maybe Roosevelt's charge up San Juan Hill! Be there! Aloha!
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- Trib: pot calling the kettle black -- Clark Barred, 04:49:10 03/22/09 Sun [1]
Don't you just love it? Trib-Kiddie Behe complains that the English language is being mangled. And he does so in the pages of a paper so badly written overall that it, among various other things, helps advance declining literacy in this region.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/books/s_616728.html
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- When will the Trib learn (never!) -- Beauregard, 12:03:17 03/20/09 Fri [7]
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/more/s_616710.html
Note after all this time, "Hapless Harrop" can't sustain a thought without looking down at the paper in front of her. Of course she's not that good on paper, either.
What's the matter? Can't Scaife even afford a cheap TelePrompter?
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- What a riot! -- PiGlet, 18:43:27 03/13/09 Fri [4]
Does anybody know why the P-G didn't bother to assign a reporter to cover the fight that broke out at Allderdice High School on Thursday? If you read our story and compare it to the Trib story, it's clear that we got thumped on this one. Did the editors not realize this was a major incident at one of the city's best high schools, or is it simply laziness on our part. I don't work in news but was just wondering what kind of thinking goes into these decisions.
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- New PG Column: China Millman and her Coffee! -- Star Bucked, 23:13:18 02/25/09 Wed [20]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09057/951496-51.stm?cmpid=newspanel1
In a recession and as their own ranks thin with more thinning likely to come, the PG starts a column about coffee authored by Ms. Elitist herself, who dissed anyone who chose to not tip as much at restaurant as she chooses to (even for subpar service) and makes so many of her dining reviews about her as much as the food and the service.
This column must be another Shribman-approved bonehead-airhead move. Between Shribman, John R and "Clementine," Seen and Millman's nonsense, the PG will soon look like the local Robb Report!
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- Rob Owen in Hollywood: -- Brown Derby, 01:14:12 03/17/09 Tue [3]
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09076/956077-67.stm
Given this dateline, I gotta ask, wasn't he just IN Hollywood recently? Tell me this is left over from his last trip there. If not, I have to wonder, at a newspaper where buyouts have been and layoffs might be, how they have the budget to keep sending the
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- PG breaking news a week later -- Ken, 19:14:46 03/05/09 Thu [7]
I posted the story on Twitter last week about the idiot West Virginia lawmaker that has nothing better to do with taxpayer money and time than to propose banning Barbie.
Never mind the fact that the story is ridiculous, why is the P-G reporting the story with a local byline on March 5 when it's a week old? That's ridiculous and that's why media in Pittsburgh has just gone downhill. Gotta be quick, folks - super quick. Folks don't get their news from newspapers. Not at all. And just having a boring old Web site is way, way outdated too.
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- The "patina of hipness" -- TV Watcher, 01:26:29 02/19/09 Thu [7]
Did you miss the P-G Editors show last Sunday morning? It's OK, everyone does.
Shribman wasn't there but John Allison was a capable substitute. One of the guests was the mayor of Braddock, a hulking, biker-looking guy with a shaved head and tattoos. Imagine a white Mike Seate. Anyway, Allison was gushing about all the things that were going on there and said Braddock had the "patina of hipness." The phrase cracked up the mayor, who had been sneering through the show. Dan Onorato and Stacy Smith were howling, too. The "patina of hipness." Oh, how I love that P-G attitude.
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- The Shribman Show (PNC - PG Town Meeting Edition) -- Don Pardo, 03:42:17 03/07/09 Sat [2]
Just had a chance to watch the "PNC-PG Town Meeting on the Obama Administration and the Economy" from last month, taped and rebroadcast over Pa. Cable Network. It was well-attended and moderated by Shribman, with Gerald Seib, the M.E. from the WSJ, Anne Kornblut, the Post's White House Correspondent, PG Political Editor Jim O'Toole and Stuart Hoffman from PNC. I watched having read the vitriol about "Beltway Dave" posted here but not really having made up my mind about him.
I have now. The guy is smart, brilliant and articulate and he seems like a thoroughly decent individual. But no way can he engage an audience with any level of gut-appeal. He has the charisma of an old sweat sock as he very obviously reads off prepared notes as opposed to speaking naturally. His well-intended jokes, even the ones about local sports, fell flat because he just can't do humor [the same as his columns]. He yakked about his ties to Kornblut and Seib.
Now Hoffman obviously had a place at the table. And having Seib and Kornblut to offer insights on the subject made sense. O'Toole was also really good. No complaints there. But what does it say about Shribman's view of his own newspaper that he had just one PG reporter on the panel? Was there not a thought of inviting anyone who could represent the PG business section? I thought this made no sense. Amazingly bad judgment on his part.
One thing became very clear: as his critics have often articulated, sometimes sincerely, often snarkily, Shribman clearly and firmly exists on another plane. He's happy being professorial, talking not down to people so much as over their heads, not realizing he isn't connecting. Every panelist, including PNC's Hoffman, DID connect.
Having only read Shribman's lofty columns, it all makes sense. He was more hopeful (perhaps unrealistically so) about the PG's future, noting its stable circulation and growing website visits (not mentioning the declining ad revenue issues). It was clear to me he likes talking with the elite and the intelligentsia of the community. But the critics are right. He has an affinity for DC that justifies the "Beltway" nickname, and a clear disconnect with our local grass roots. Great guy for a classroom or elite symposiums. For the PG? I honestly don't know.
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- Bill Toland: 0, Bob Woodward: 0 -- Follow the Money, 04:57:53 03/05/09 Thu [6]
http://www.post-gazette.com/multimedia/?videoID=101615
Forget the "Seinfeld" ripoff opening. Feast your eyes on Toland, brownnosing the great Bob Woodward!
Woodward sits dressed in Limbaugh-styled black and spews out his standard rap. Billy Boy is so dazzled that he says little, just pitches (often mutters) fawning or hopelessly boring softball questions. He doesn't even draw blood when he asks if Woodward should have used some of his tips to do Post articles, not books. What's the matter? Did Billy think if he did anything more than toady he'd turn into a pillar of salt?
Betcha Shribman was in his glory. I wonder if Billy Boy got his autograph when it was all over?
Woodward suggested to weather the current downturn that journalists "make the product so good people have to have it." So much for the PG!
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- Rocky Mountain News goes under -- Steve Jobless, 13:08:11 02/26/09 Thu [20]
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/26/rocky-mountain-news-closes-friday-final-edition/
Just another day in paradise in this business.
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- Chico's new job -- Hot Stove, 18:50:24 01/19/09 Mon [50]
Don't know if anyone's noticed this yet or not, but former PGer Chico Harlan is now covering the Washington Nationals for the Washington Post. Now, that's a step up.
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- PG finishes behind Trib is sports competition & in breaking news coverage today -- Reader of Both Papers, 18:28:15 02/26/09 Thu [16]
This has to be a first: The Trib got honorable mention in Daily and Sunday section competition, the Associated Press Sports Editors announced today.
The PG got an honorable mention (which I believe means Top 20 nationally) in the Sunday competition.
Link: http://apse.dallasnews.com/2009/judging/2008results.html
The awards are by vote of other sports editors across the country so it's basically an indication of what their peers think of the two Pittsburgh sports sections.
The PG did finish strong, with Ed Bouchette, Gerry Dulac and Dejan Kovacevic (twice) being cited for their writing/reporting. The Trib, which should be a surprise to nobody, was shutout of the individual writing awards.
Link: http://apse.dallasnews.com/2009/judging/2008writing.html
I believe this might be the best showing ever by the Trib. For the PG, it's got to be a big disappointment. In the past under Jerry Micco the PG has won several top ten awards.
I keep hearing how the PG doesn't have any money and the sports section reveals that fact on a daily basis. Yet Micco still finds a way to send Gene Collier to Columbus Ohio recently to cover their alma mater and one the worst excuses for a Division I college basketball programs in the country -- Penn State. And, please don't tell me it only costs a couple tanks of gas. What was the point? Certainly nobody in his right mind thinks Penn State will make the NCAA tournament, do they?
It doesn't take money to be creative and I see very little of that and imagination in the PG sports section these days. The Trib? They do it with mirrors, but I give them credit. The national sports editors seem to think they are getting better.
It's been said on this board that Micco seems more interested in his TV career than the paper. I have no idea if there's any truth to that, but the PG sports section right now lacks immagination. Too often it looks tired -- much like the entire paper.
Based on the PG's performance covering the breaking news of the Penguins' trade today, perhaps Beltway Dave might want to make a visit to his sports department: Wakeup Carl Remensky and ask Jerry what exactly is going on.
The Trib Web site, much criticized and with good reason on this board, had the Penguins trade story almost 45 minutes before the PG. When I first heard of the deal, I went to the PG breaking news and found nothing. Don't recall exactly what time it was, but I then Googled Ryan Whitney "news" and saw the Trib story at the top of the list. Google indicated the Trib story had been posed 38 minutes earlier. Nothing from the PG when I Googled. About 10 minutes later, the PG published 3 paragraphs on its main Web page about the trade.
Reading more about the trade in other papers, I learned in the LA Times of all places that Whitney learned of the trade as he was getting on the Pens' charter for Chicago. Perhaps Dave Molinari was also traveling today, but doesn't the PG have a backup plan?
The Trib scored a goal through the PG's 5-hole today. To use a Mike Langism: Micco doesn't know whether to laugh (cry?)or wind his watch. Somebody on the Blvd. should be embarrassed tonight.
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- Who's got the nerve and who hasn't -- Beauregard, 15:49:46 02/27/09 Fri [3]
http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A59597
The weenie-wusses on the Boulevard are too busy designing new features for the Fox Chapel set to do their job, leaving it to CP to take up the slack?
Pathetic. Not surprising.
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- Clarke Thomas has died -- Vince, 00:52:33 02/22/09 Sun [13]
Long-time P-G staffer:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09053/950952-100.stm
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- Remensky? -- Perk, 09:08:47 02/25/09 Wed [3]
Did Carl Remensky take the buyout at the PG?
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- PG - no more free obits -- kiddo, 21:07:25 02/24/09 Tue [5]
So the PG got rid of free obits this week.
Any thoughts?
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