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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- Want to cover the Steelers? -- Mike, 12:26:35 04/25/12 Wed [1]
The Tribune is looking for a new beat reporter. Scott Brown is leaving.
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- Who's going to replace Jon Burton at The Fan? -- Curious George, 13:34:33 05/15/12 Tue [1]
There have been a reported 200+ applicants for the job.
As for the in-house canidates, Eric Hagman should be a front runner, with his experience and solid work from his days at KQV and now on The Fan.
Word is there are a number of in-town people expressing interest also and the out-of-town people who work elsewhere seems to have peaked great interest as well.
Any thoughts?
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- There's only one -- Hal, 01:58:52 05/11/12 Fri [1]
Guess what individual's name appears on the drop down menu of the sports main page at the Trib site?
http://triblive.com/sports/
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- Is the Trib anti-marathon now, too? -- Riveting Rosie, 05:24:49 05/06/12 Sun [1]
Was the Trib unaware there was a marathon in Pittsburgh today? As clumsy as its new website is, the PG is at least updating frequently and has the story leading its page.
The Trib's homepage has a photo of some guy with his nose in a glass of wine. No live marathon story, just the scene-setter they ran in print, at least as of 8:15 Sunday morning.
I get that it's Sunday, but the news cycle is 24/7 now. And the marathon ain't a Steelers game, but it's still important to a lot of Pittsburghers.
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- What is Scaife's point? -- Reader, 12:44:42 05/01/12 Tue [1]
OK, he wants to be an influential media mogul. But does anyone pay attention to the Trib? The paper savaged Tim Murphy throughout the primary, and he easily won the primary. They railed against Rendell and he won two terms.
The Trib is throwing money down a hole trying to run an online sports talk "station." KQV barely shows up in the ratings and loses money. It has no influence. They spent a couple years wasting money on the PM paper.
So what's in it for him?
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- Trib advertising campaign -- Lefty, 00:21:21 02/27/12 Mon [1]
Brilliant marketing strategy: "Our opinions lean to the right, but our news coverage is straight down the middle."
Too bad it's a lie.
Count how many times Scaife-funded organizations are cited in news stories with no acknowledgment of their connection to the paper's publisher.
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- Omitting something important, are we? -- Huh...., 17:30:26 04/18/12 Wed [1]
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/books/paterno-family-upset-over-book-on-sandusky-scandal-631977/
No mention both were or are PG employees?
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- PG tweeters -- Ha ha ha, 12:18:23 03/08/12 Thu [-1]
Moriah Baligit and Sadie Gurman--two-thirds of the PG's crack team of 20-something police reporters. The PG provided a link to their Twitter account to help online readers follow the shootings at Western Psych. Perhaps a more seasoned journalist on the Boulevard should explain to these ladies the difference between personal and professional conduct and communication. Here are some recent tweets:
Sadie Gurman @sgurman
A man who looks like fugitive Konias was spotted at the Waterworks Mall today. If you see him please call me --- then call the FBI....
Sadie Gurman @sgurman
I have ONE more day! @pgtraffic @PittsburghPG bit.ly/wyyiJA (she's making a joke about the new texting while driving ban)
Moriah Balingit @MoriahBee
Wooo! Get it! RT @lndaley After dominating margaritas with @shannonedavis last night, gettin ready to dominate a long run with @wurthman
Moriah Balingit @MoriahBee
Great meal at Little Asia with even better company, @erichschwartzel and @getontwitterahong. Loved the fish filets with sour pickle broth.
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- More public notices moving from BC Times to PG -- oops, 19:33:22 04/12/12 Thu [1]
Looks like people are starting to jump on the bandwagon now. This could spell real trouble for the BC Times.
http://beavercountian.com/content/daily/monaca-borough-removing-ads-beaver-county-times
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- I don't like the new Post-Gazette online ''newspaper" -- New is not better!, 10:24:52 04/14/12 Sat [1]
Bring back the old one. Click on it and there's your breaking stories. The new one seems to keep them online too long to be breaking news so there's no room for really new stories.
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- Musselman: MIA -- A Disappointed Reader, 09:36:19 11/05/11 Sat [25]
The biggest "news" story to come out of Penn State in ages -- involving felony sexual abuse charges against former football coach Jerry Sandusky and AD Tim Curley, who charged with trying to cover it up -- and the PG is using wire stories. Great, great grandpa Joe Paterno is even involved, but has not been charged.
I realize the PG "sports" correspondent Ron Musselman is in the middle of the football season but come on! Certainly one the bosses on the Blvd. can figure out some way for their State College writer to get involved in this story, even if it not writing the main news bar each day.
Word is Musselman has the ear of John Blockhead and SE Jerry Micco as a result pretty much lets Musselman do what he wants. And, Musselman is obviously not going to get involved in the Sandusky story unless he's pushed. And, you learn quickly at the PG that it's not a wise career move to push any FOJB (friends of John Block).
I blame this one mostly on John Block. Many veteran reporters -- like Musselman -- don't go looking for extra work. The kids chase the big stories. Too many of the vets realize the extra work isn't worth the $10 merit raise. Do they still give merit raises at the PG?
And, there's the added factor that too many sports writers are like ducks out of water when they find themselves involved in a hard news story. They find it uncomfortable to function outside of their press box comfort zone. The PG still has one or two exceptions (Bouchette and Dulac immediately come to mind), but it usually takes the SE's direction to get them involved.
And, Micco has shown no inclination to involve his people in the coverage of hard news. In this case, taking the John Block factor into consideration, I don't blame Micco.
To get some local Sandusky coverage out of Musselman will take Dave Shribman getting involved. And, like Micco I suspect Parkway Dave realizes it's not a good career move to cross John Block.
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- Water Drops? -- Smokey D. Bear, 07:14:06 04/11/12 Wed [1]
As this seems to be a Big Thing, has anyone else seen the report by WTAE on their web site mentioning "multiple drops by air tankers" at a barn fire in Butler County on Monday, 4/9?
Air drops? In Pennsylvania?
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- Wake up, Trib Sports -- Sports Guy, 17:18:03 04/04/12 Wed [1]
Mike Milbury of NBC popped off about Crosby and the Pens on a talk show Monday. It was a huge topic. The Trib barely mentioned this in the middle of a notebook in Tuesday's paper. If you want to get noticed, you make a big deal of things like this. You use the sports tab for screaming headlines. Someone over there dropped the puck on this one.
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- PPG Beat-Writing for Colts? -- C.ompelling A.rgument (Curious), 05:18:49 03/30/12 Fri [1]
If Dulac or Bouchette had any sense, they'd do all-things-possible to insert themselves into the Indy Colts media market ASAP.
Not only would they get the luxury of covering the eventual drafting of Andrew Luck, but they'd also get to cover best buddy Bruce Arians once again.
Could you imagine all the inside information JD and EB would be able to fling from within the Indy confines? And they'd probably be able to disguise and uphold a level of secrecy for at least a while about the relationship. It will be too bad that the PPG crew will have to resort to some old fashioned journalistic work this spring now that fly-on-the-wall is no longer O.C. Again, why Ed and Jerry don't go west and re-coup, we can only guess - it'd be the perfect setting for them.
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- Sheriff Alleges He Was Threatened By A BC Times Reporter -- Say What?, 17:48:58 03/26/12 Mon [1]
So now the Beaver County Sheriff is stating publicly he's being threatened by the paper:
http://beavercountian.com/content/daily/sheriff-david-beaver-county-times
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- More quality work from the BCT -- Yes, it's getting old, but..., 12:58:22 03/25/12 Sun [1]
http://www.timesonline.com/entertainment/local_entertainment/roach-clips-froggy-career-will-stay-on-pittsburgh-s-airwaves/article_df04fcb0-f073-5275-bef5-e8af132f78c3.html
Drug references? Really?
By the way, Tady, you don't look intellectual in the photo. Not even Lucy's THAT good.
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- Dennis Roddy leaves the P-G -- Mike, 18:56:38 02/01/11 Tue [11]
Effective next week. He's taking a communications post with Gov. Corbett.
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- P-G's new and improved (?) website -- Browser, 17:02:45 03/19/12 Mon [1]
First impression: It's harder to find things.
Then there's this: You go to Sports and High Schools are listed ahead of the Steelers, Pens and Pirates. Then the first story listed in the high school section also has the tag "17 Days Ago." They've found a way to make the website more stale than the actual newspaper.
I know there's widespread grief over the untimely passing of Clementine Robinson Block, but somebody has to have an idea over there.
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- Is it a NEWSpaper or Whirl magazine? -- Rob Johnson, 14:44:53 03/18/12 Sun [1]
This was in the news section of the P-G the other day. Thankfully, they didn't feel a need to run photos with it:
National briefs: PG publisher, wife attend state dinner
Friday, March 16, 2012
From staff and wire reports
WASHINGTON -- Obama intimates, big financiers, Democratic donors and Hollywood luminaries were among those feted at a state dinner at the White House, where President Barack Obama greeted British Prime Minister David Cameron in a classic melange of British and American culture.
Among the guests Wednesday night were John Robinson Block, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and his wife, Susan Jones Block.
The evening featured entertainment -- and entertainment stars -- from both nations, with "Downton Abbey" figures mingling with quintessential American figures such as George Clooney.
"In war and in peace, in times of plenty and in times of hardship, we stand tall, and proud, and strong together," Mr. Obama said as he toasted Mr. Cameron.
Even the menu emphasized both British and American elements: "The Main Course, Bison Wellington, is a perfect pairing of U.S. and U.K. cultures," the menu explained. "The Wellington is a classic English dish given an American twist with the use of buffalo tenderloin."
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- Luis Febregas' column -- Phil, 17:01:14 03/18/12 Sun [1]
I think he's been good so far and shows some real promise as a columnist.
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- Where's the Pittsburgh Power Coverage on The Fan -- Power Outage, 08:44:32 03/18/12 Sun [1]
I find it odd that there has been little to nothing in terms of the coverge that 93.7 The Fan gave the Pittsburgh Power this year.
Granted, the station doesn't have the games on, but since there was so much of it last year, you would think the station's PD would keep some sort of talk going with what they offered last year.
I guess when your not getting paid to do so, there is no incentive in promoting a certain product. Funny how ethics & obligations get skewed when the money dissapears.
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- Sheriff Pulls Notices From Beaver County Times? -- IsThisLegal?, 17:51:26 03/05/12 Mon [-1]
Looks like Beaver County Sheriff pulled their Sheriff Sale notices from the Times, and moved them to the Post Gazette.
Is this even legal?
As reported by the Beaver Countian blog site:
http://beavercountian.com/content/daily/beaver-county-times-sheriff-sales
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- Classic Shribman -- Just a reader, 23:08:25 03/07/12 Wed [-1]
This is from David Shribman's latest P-G column:
If Mr. Santorum is Bartleby, then Mr. Paul, the Texas congressman, is Aram Khachaturian, whose "Sabre Dance" from the 1942 ballet "Gayane," opens with 24 F-sharps in a row, a theme which is then repeated immediately, then transposed up a minor third for another iteration, which itself is also repeated.
1. What the hell is he saying?
2. Who does he think reads the paper?
This is so bad, so gratuitously obtuse that I thought he was spoofing. I hoped he was. Sadly, I think he was serious. Could this man possibly be more irrelevant?
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- Robinson quits AP? -- Sports Ed, 18:43:16 01/21/11 Fri [10]
AP has the Pittsburgh sports job posted. Apparently Alan Robinson had some sort of blow-up with management and quit on the spot after 30+ years with the company and more than 25 in Pittsburgh. The national NFL writers are in town, so they'll handle the AFC Championship game.
There's a plum job for someone, although I'll bet AP promotes someone from within the company.
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- Privacy + Trib = Does not compute -- Name Withheld, 14:02:03 03/08/12 Thu [0]
Way to go Trib, posting clearly identifiable photos online of shooting victim and Western Psych patient. At least ya beat the PG!
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- Trial and error -- Esquire, 11:30:49 01/23/12 Mon [1]
Post-Gazette reports this afternoon that "opening arguments" began this morning in the trial of Wm. DeWeese.
What we learn is the reporter has not spent much time in a courtroom.
Opening statements and closing arguments. Always.
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- The Pittsburgh Press -- Dave, 01:44:37 12/01/11 Thu [7]
Any thoughts on The Pittsburgh Press, the new P-G online afternoon "paper?"
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- Rossi out as Pens beat writer? -- Adam, 19:07:34 01/04/12 Wed [10]
What happened to Rob Rossi?
He is(was) suddenly on the Penn State beat.
Is he officially out as the Pens beat writer?
There are a number of rumors:
-The Pens had him removed from the beat after an argument with Pens staff
-Crosby didn't want him around (for various reasons)
-He said some disparaging comments about certain players (Crosby) on Madden's show
-He became frustrated with the lack of cooperation from Pens regarding the Crosby concussion issue
-He was "promoted" (to the Penn State beat? really?)
What is the truth?
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- Refresh my memory... -- Just a Reader, 02:09:54 08/28/11 Sun [5]
Why is it that the Tribune hates Rick Santorum so much? He gets blasted regularly in "Whispers" and ridiculed in editorials. Seems like he'd be the kind of guy the Trib would like.
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- Bob Hoover's status -- Booker, 14:49:29 12/22/11 Thu [10]
Is he still on staff? I don't see his byline as often and I noted he had a non-PG e-mail address on his latest.
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- Absolutely Awful -- Lazlo, 23:17:56 10/07/11 Fri [4]
You run a review of a lunch spot as a service feature. The idea is to let people know if the food and service are any good and whether there's value for the money spent.
For some reason, the P-G has a need to bury those basics in the most puerile prose to appear in any major newspaper:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11279/1179907-440.stm
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- BC Times Sports -- What Happened?, 06:58:50 09/06/11 Tue [29]
In sunday's Beaver County Times, there were two references to long time sports editor Ed Rose retiring. It also coincided with a different way that they covered high school football (which I kind of liked). Who is running the show in their sports dept now?
http://www.timesonline.com/columnists/sports/john_mehno/mehno-bring-on-the-regular-season/article_be48eed7-e9d3-53a3-81ee-f0514113f578.html
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- Pirates beat change at the P-G? -- Chilly D., 19:57:46 12/16/10 Thu [30]
Rumor is the tireless Dejan Kovacevic is tired of covering the Pirates and told the P-G he doesn't want to do it any more. Colin Dunlap to take over.
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- New Pirates beat writer for P-G? -- Tom, Not Jerry, 12:59:59 07/18/11 Mon [18]
I hear they're hiring John Delcos, who covered baseball in the NY suburbs and has most recently been writing for a Mets website.
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- Trib -- Brand X no more? -- Tom, 17:43:27 08/10/11 Wed [24]
Put aside the spooky editorial page and answer this question: Has the Trib become a better daily paper than the P-G? At minimum, I think it's a lot closer than it's ever been. The Trib shows more enterprise and has more experienced people able to pull off the stories. The P-G's staff cutting is apparent in the pages with too many inexperienced people.
Your take?
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- P-G U -- Reader but not subscriber, 18:02:57 10/12/11 Wed [2]
I don't work for the P-G or in the newspaper industry. Can someone please provide insight on "P-G U"? I applaud the initiative but laughed out loud when I saw the admission price.
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- Trib Radio -- Occupy Martindale Street, 03:24:50 10/20/11 Thu [10]
OK, so I've never listened to -- what's it called again? Trib Live Radio? Nevertheless, I just saw a commercial for it during the World Series and was curious:
Does anybody actually listen to it?
No, seriously, do they take calls and stuff? Or is it just several hours of stimulating conversation between Guy Junker (tolerable) and John Steigerwald (completely insufferable) every day?
Thanks in advance for your help, guys!
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- Is it spreading? -- Ice Man, 17:19:49 07/02/11 Sat [7]
The Trib made the Jagr/Pens saga the lead story on Page One. When Kovacevic was at the P-G he used to argue with the bosses that his stories had to be on Page One. Tell me the Trib isn't buying into this nonsense. Proper handling of the Jagr story was the P-G's -- do a page one box directing readers to the sports section. July hockey news above the fold in Colin McNickle's and Jim Cuddy's paper? Preposterous!
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- The Articulate Dead -- reader, 12:57:17 08/04/11 Thu [6]
Headline: Pedestrian killed by car was trying to commit suicide
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Opening Paragraph:
A man who was fatally struck by a car after stepping into traffic on Route 30 in North Huntingdon this morning told medics he was trying to commit suicide, police Chief Michael Daugherty said.
--Post-Gazette
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- Editorial or News? -- Balso Snell, 14:19:16 01/29/12 Sun [1]
Anybody else find this article to be bordering on editorial?
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12015/1203716-455.stm
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- Way to go, Trib! -- Irwin, 00:14:44 10/17/11 Mon [1]
Congratulations on the page one story about Andrew Conte's book on the Penguins. At least they're upfront about the conflict of interest this time. Usually they cite think tanks as expert sources and never mention that Scaife funds a lot of them.
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- New PD at KDKA-AM -- 50,000 watt blow stick, 18:35:57 12/07/11 Wed [2]
GM Michael Young announced today at 4pm that Marshall Adams won't be 'renewing' his contract as KD's PD.
Asst PD takes over for now as national search begins.
Thoughts?
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- Thank you, Keith Briscoe -- Really...I mean, REALLY???, 04:18:15 11/10/11 Thu [1]
Thank you for Wednesday's front page of the Beaver County Times, Keith Briscoe. The day after general elections, amidst the Penn State scandal that's engulfed the nation's attention....you have take up the entire top of the front page above the fold with a picture of an asteroid saying, "It missed."
What missed - and continues to do so on a regular basis - is your nose for local news.
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- Bob Smizik's P-G blog -- Marty, 22:03:51 09/14/11 Wed [8]
Do you think he's noticed the same 25 people commenting on his posts say the same things every day?
If crap like that is "the future of journalism," we're all doomed.
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- Wasted resources? -- Not a Blockhead, 11:59:01 01/16/12 Mon [1]
Does the P-G really need THREE staff-written stories on the Golden Globes, all covered from TV?
Does it really need Robert Dvorchak waxing nostalgic about old sports stories on video?
When a paper has a limited number of people and a limited amount of money, it really ought to use those resources more wisely.
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- PG hed -- Heddy Lamarsky, 20:14:16 11/04/11 Fri [3]
PG headling 11/4:
Erie man arrested in death of Pittsburgh man found along highway
What was the arrested Erie man found doing along the highway? Had to read the story to find out that the dead Pittsburgh man was found in a car along the highway. Just saying!
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- Trib news judgment -- Bob, 21:33:01 10/23/11 Sun [1]
On the front page of the Metro section, they had a story about the father of the slain police officer in Lower Burrell getting a condolence call from the father of the man who shot the officer. It turns out the fathers knew each other and had done business together in the past.
So why wasn't that story on page one of the Sunday paper?
It was much more relevant than the page one story about people who keep exotic animals. Bottom line from that one: It isn't a good idea to keep lions and tigers in your back yard. Yawn.
Somebody was asleep at the switch on this one.
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- Fly Like An Ego -- Oh My, 18:08:55 12/30/11 Fri [11]
Gotta love this. Trib's Dejan Kovacevic asks blog readers to pick their favorite columns by him. Yes, unleash the love on him one more time. He is shameless:
Could use a little help. I'm supposed to whittle down what I think are the better columns I've done from 2011, and I got the list down to six. For those of you who can call reading these, I'd ask that you rank them 1 through 3. That's all. Those of you who haven't, by all means, don't feel compelled.
And don't be nice here. I'm not looking for nice. It's just that what a writer likes in his or her own work often isn't the same as what a reader likes.
Here they are :
Oct. 26, 2011: Put away Sharpie and shake hands
Nov. 22, 2011: Crosby 'magnifique' right away
Nov. 9, 2011: At Penn State, they all must go
Dec. 9, 2011: Big Ben makes big stand
Nov. 23, 2011: Baseball sticks it to Pirates
July 18, 2011: Pirates' fans merit salute
I appreciate this.
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- This actually made a paper -- Hey, nice Beaver County Times., 22:32:01 08/13/11 Sat [1]
http://www.timesonline.com/columnists/j_d_prose/does-the-sheriff-know-there-s-an-election-to-win/article_34deb54a-b45f-5a01-a537-991b6cc971de.html
The what the f--k was particularly classy.
Why anyone wastes money on this out of control piece of junk anymore is beyond me.
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- Chardon school shooting -- Dewey defeates Truman, 17:17:59 02/29/12 Wed [1]
I think this supplants Russ Grimm as the Trib's biggest screw-up.
http://jimromenesko.com/2012/02/29/pittsburgh-paper-mum-on-alleged-rampage-error/
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- Trib advertising campaign -- John Q. Publick, 09:22:51 03/04/12 Sun [1]
The lead story in Sunday's Trib shines a little light on the advertising claim that its news pages are balanced. Crap masquerading as investigative reporting, the story would have you believe that pay-to-play corruption was rampant in the award of stimulus-funded highway and bridge projects because contractors who got them made political donations. Those contracts were awarded through sealed, competitive bidding and the article provides no evidence that any contract was improperly awarded or given to other than the lowest qualified bidder. Since all Penndot contracts are bid this way, one wonders why the Trib singled out the stimulus-funded ones in the first place. It certainly couldn't have been a premeditated effort to heap further discredit on an Obama initiative, because as the Trib commercials say ....
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- Musselman leaving P-G -- Phil, 04:19:24 02/02/12 Thu [1]
Ron Musselman has turned in his notice at the P-G. He's going to work for some Penn State sports website.
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- Is It True -- Inquiring Mind, 17:26:48 02/19/12 Sun [1]
Did a wack job part-time radio host really send the administrators of this board more than one obscenity-filled e-mail that included a threat of physical violence?
That's the story making the rounds.
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- Jim Wexell is an Objective Writer with Journalistic Integrity -- Matt (Relaxed/calm), 09:41:52 02/21/12 Tue [1]
In what seems like the time frame in which the Steelers decided not to retain Bruce Arians, there has been an obvious conflict between Jim Wexell and the writers for the post-gazette. I have been reading the gazette, tribune, and pit.scout.com for several years now. I have understood for quite sometime that what you read doesn't necessarily make it fact. Unfortunately, some journalists can have their own agendas and write based on what is best for their job rather than their professional obligation to their readers.
Wexell has been my favorite journalist covering the Steelers for quite some time (3 or 4 year approximately). The main reason is he seems unafraid to give an honest, objective opinion...inspite of what that might do or not do to his contacts within the lockeroom. I also think he's a tremendous interviewer. When he interviews a player, it comes off more as a genuine conversation. Players then tend to open up and talk about some personal things, which I find interesting (A recent interview Wexell had with Chris Hoke being an example). I think Wexell is genuine and cares about the players as people, and it comes off in his interviews and makes for a great read. Wexell also treats his readers with respect. He makes them feel important, or more connected with what is going on with their favorite team... and that to me a special.
The writers at the P-G do not come off as objective. There are writers there that never seem to have a negative thing to say about any player or coach, which is a great way to keep things smooth in the locker room with whomever they choose to talk to. When Arians was not retained, a few writers seemed to go on a crusade to defend him. They wrote about all these individual statistics while failing to mention the Steelers finished tied for 21st in scoring, inspite of having a frachise QB and weapons all over the field. One writer mentioned a large reason for the lack of scoring had to with the Steelers causing only 15 turnover...while conveniently failing to mention the Saints created only 16 turnovers this past season. Apparently that one extra turnover the Saints created caused them to score 222 more points than the Steelers this year.
The Post Gazette writers gave their opinions as do what happened with Arians not being retained and who made the decisions, which in my opinion indirectly insulted Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney II in the process.
So why then, did Ed Bouchette feel the need to make snide comments about Wexell when Wexell gave an objective opinion about Jim Caldwell's potential candidacy for OC? My initial thought when I read Bouchette's comments on Wexell's Caldwell opinion was "classless".
Followers of Wexell have also posted at Pit.scout.com about how Bouchette was extremely disresectful to Wexell on a radio spot they did together prior to Bouchette's comments on Wexell's Caldwell article...So I guess Bouchette's remarks about the Caldwell connection was the tipping point for Wexell.
I can't speak on what happened on the radio I didn't hear the spot. I don't necessarily think that Wexell should have responded to any slights the P-G slung his way. I've had enough life experience to know that when you do things the right way, people who don't have the strength or integrity to do the same will take shots at you to try to drag you down to their level. In my opinion it might be best to not acknowledge them.
But I also respect someone who stands up for himself. Sometimes, when someone reacts emotionally, it means thay have a big heart. I think Wexell isn't afraid to be honest about was has been going on and realizes he will receive heat for it. But again, he isn't afraid to express the truth and what he believes is right. I respect that too.
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- Has Wexell burned another bridge -- No Static At All, 20:23:51 02/16/12 Thu [1]
I heard that Jim Wexell has been bounced from 93.7 The Fan after a tiff with one of the part time show hosts.
Wexell has been using his Twitter feed to fire some major shots at P-G Steelers beat guys Bouchette and Dulac.
Wexell has already been dumped from a couple of radio jobs in town for dust ups with Madden.
Wexell is a tough SOB with a lot of confidence in his opinions, but he's being self destructive and running out of places to work.
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- Tribune-Review Enemies List -- Don Segretti III, 03:54:02 02/15/12 Wed [1]
Here's what I have:
Rick Santorum
Tim Murphy
John Kerry and Teresa Heinz
Port Authority Transit
Climate change believers
Obama administration
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- My Trib, so light and fluffy! -- Not really a Skynyrd fan, 14:30:38 02/11/12 Sat [1]
Today's paper has a cotton-soft feature on how the WDVE morning show is better than ever with the recent addition of Scott Paulsen. How do we know this? Great ratings? Raves from listeners? Positive reviews from experts in trade publications?
No, we know this because the people who work on the show say so. Oh yeah, the station program director agrees with them! So that makes it official.
And where does this feature run? Why, right next to Scott Paulsen's weekly column in the Tribune!
Good work, people!
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- Scott Tady -- RIP Beaver County Times, 11:49:02 02/12/12 Sun [1]
The fact that mess called a paper would actually let him take that pic let alone run it...well, all you need to know who's running that place.
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- Keith Briscoe, leader of morons -- Boycott the BCT, 22:49:48 02/03/12 Fri [1]
The 911th air base is closing, many jobs going with it.
What sensitive headline does the BCT go with?
Air Force drops a bomb on 911th
Can you, for once, report the damn news without trying to be cute and funny?
That paper sucks. Period.
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- Beaver County Times Scooped By A Blog -- LaughingSoHard, 22:13:09 02/04/12 Sat [1]
Looks like the Beaver County Times got scooped by a blog, on one of the biggest stories to come out of their area in a long time.
"Investigators quiet about details in decades old homicide"
http://www.timesonline.com/news/local_news/investigators-quiet-about-details-in-decades-old-homicide/article_192d4be3-9a3f-5a71-a368-3245c964fb5a.html
vs the Beaver Countian Blog site
http://beavercountian.com/content/featured/gregory-scott-hopkins-catherine-walsh-murder
Sad.
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- Briscoe has ethics -- Beaver County Blue (He knows his market!), 10:05:33 01/28/12 Sat [1]
Keith Briscoe's ink stained hands have produced a number of changes at the Beaver County Times. Among the changes: "reporters" covering events they promote.
One of Briscoe's new "students" (I hear she's actually a copy editor) wrote this story that appeared in a Sunday edition, but as we find out in the second link, she was actually one of the fight promoters:
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/local_sports/local-boxer-to-compete-in-last-amateur-fight-before-turning/article_05c686f5-db65-5b4e-8ed7-cfb8e8cc6581.html
Here's what the Beaver Countian had to say: http://beavercountian.com/content/daily/editorial-sometimes-its-just-propaganda
Editor Briscoe claims high ethical standards (he also claims to know what he's doing), but as you can see, his "standards" are about as credible as the rag he's created. It's just another Andy Warhol Sunday down here in Beavertown.
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- Trib Promotion -- Ire Newt, 20:41:45 01/22/12 Sun [1]
Interesting insert in this week's Pennysaver:
WE'VE BEEN RIGHT ALL ALONG
Conservative views. Objective news.
Yes, we lean to the right with our editorial opinion but when it comes to hard
news, we're right down the middle. Honest. Objective. Fair.
So, if you're looking for the right newspaper,
make the right choice and look to the Trib.
Get it right now at the right price.
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- Bob Black, RIP -- Berky, 05:01:12 01/15/12 Sun [1]
Former Pittsburgh Press sportswriter:
http://blog.pennlive.com/patriotnewssports/2012/01/retired_patriot-news_sportswri.html
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- Freeh, ethics -- Ben Bernankerchief, 22:29:55 11/21/11 Mon [5]
So the PG has Freeh and Penn State and pablum quotes from committee chief Frazier like society is rightly outraged (DUH). And we caught all this all day long via tube, etc. And the only thing I am thinking throughout is: Do we pay? Who pays? Do taxpayers pay for this investigation? How much? Is Louie and his firm doing it pro bono (I don't think so). And the PG has no answer, no stonewall sentence, no nothing. So I figure the Times, so I look around the net for stories and find a few and nobody has the dough. Doesn't anybody know how to play this game anymore?
------------
One other thing: I have been seeing on TV the Trib is the official newspaper of the Penguins. What the heck does that mean? The sports news people are now pr people for the Pens? The news people are pr people for the Pens? Are ethics dead? At least at the Trib? Were they ever alive? Don't they even want to take a swipe at looking like they have no conflict of interest in covering the Penguins? Is it just me or is it getting harder and harder to see where the news stops and the ads start and vice versa in the 2011 "media."
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- Briscoe erases history -- Why? (Cleansing the BCT), 16:33:38 12/20/11 Tue [10]
Keith Briscoe has erased all evidence of the BCT’s legacy of journalistic excellence.
Word out of Beaver is that Briscoe trashed dozens and dozens of plaques and awards dating to the 1950s that hung on a newsroom wall and sat in a prominently displayed case.
Those awards represented the hard work of several hundred newsmen and newswomen who passed through the BCT over the past half century; in other words, the history of journalism in the Beaver Valley.
They built the BCT into a great local newspaper. Briscoe tore it down. Now he’s cleansed the walls of their memory.
The motive is pretty clear.
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- Trib bests PG in Todd Graham story -- Just a Reader, 13:44:55 12/15/11 Thu [12]
It's not really news anymore, but I though the Trib did a much better job than the PG with the Todd Graham-goes-to-Arizona State story.
Both papers had a good main bar and the obligatory column (Rossi vs. Zeise and Starkey vs. Collier), but the Trib went the extra mile (PG Sports hasn't done that in a looooong time) with a timeline, reaction from the usual Pitt suspects and Joe Rutter compiled an interesting list of some of Graham's quotes about loyality, honesty, etc. while at Pitt.
None of these extras are great ideas. Newspapers have been doing timelines, reax and quote compilations forever. But, the suddeness of Graham's departure made the timeline and Graham quotes particularly effective.
I didn't think the PG necessarily did a bad job, but I found myself wanting more. But, I have come to realize that PG Sports doesn't believe in giving its readers much beyond the minimum.
But, this story required some extra effort and you rarely see that in the PG beyond the overkill of Steelers coverage.
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- If it bleeds in Mt. Lebanon ... -- CudBud, 11:16:44 12/14/11 Wed [3]
Irish-style pub Molly Brannigans closes in Mt. Lebanon
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
By Bill Toland, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11348/1196759-100.stm#ixzz1gXQCTX2C
Is this really newsworthy, or at least worth such relatively in depth reporting, or is it just another case of too many reporters and editors living in Mt. Lebanon and staring at their navels?
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- Further Proof the P-G Is Delusional -- J. Robinson Blah, 16:14:30 12/08/11 Thu [1]
This is on their website:
Get a weekly dose of sports history and wiseacre wit from the chairman emeritus of Pittsburgh sports journalism and one-liners with Bob Dvorchak's Sports n'at.
The chairman emeritus?
Wiseacre wit?
Good Lord, they don't have a clue.
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- Ron Cook, Wonder Years -- Jiminy Olson, 08:06:38 10/27/11 Thu [3]
Why does the P-G insist on running a 25-year-old photograph of Ron Cook? Unless he has a son who is 45 that they plan to make a sports columnist, could they please retire the shot they took when he was hired and run one that looks like the guy I see on TV nearly every Sunday night.
Is a little truth in journalism that much to ask? That's all. (Thanks for entertaining my rant.)
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- Changes at BCT? -- Will It Change, 03:57:12 12/06/11 Tue [4]
New leadership at parent company of Beaver County Times. Will there be changes at the BCT? Does Briscoe stay? Will the sports page actually have sports stories and not gigantic photos supplimented with brief features?
http://www.timesonline.com/news/local_news/calkins-media-names-chief-executive-officer/article_008a11fe-11aa-5ae4-bd46-62d945206924.html
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- No copy editors at the P-G? -- Strunk, 14:47:49 11/18/11 Fri [2]
The usually reliable Gerry Dulac hacked this one up today:
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger does not know how or when he injured the thumb on his throwing hand, but it could have come from trying to count all the times the offense has started quick.
Started quick? Not quickly? First paragraph of the lead story in the sports section and it has that.
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- Madden on Sandusky -- Toledo, 10:29:08 11/10/11 Thu [11]
Madden gets ripped a lot on this board and the TV/Radio one. I don't have feelings either way about him--don't watch TV and don't listen to sports radio. But it looks like Madden was on to something back in April. Even if he was following on the Patriot-News, I don't remember anyone in Pittsburgh touching this
http://www.timesonline.com/columnists/sports/mark_madden/madden-sandusky-a-state-secret/article_863d3c82-5e6f-11e0-9ae5-001a4bcf6878.html
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- Mark Madden reality check -- Disgusted beyond belief, 17:57:11 11/10/11 Thu [6]
Let's get a grip about what a "great" journalist Mark Madden has been through this Penn State mess. First, Madden did NOT break the story, despite the crowing of idiots all over the Internet. His April column in the Beaver County Times ran several days AFTER the Harrisburg Patriot-News had a great story saying who testified before the grand jury, etc. Madden just ran with what the Patriot-News had, without citing them as his source, and speculated that Sandusky may have retired because of it. No, REALLY? That's some groundbreaking investigation there.
Second, what in the name of all that's holy are other media doing making him the SOURCE of the RUMOR about "pimping" out the kids? Even Madden says it's just a rumor, he's heard that two columnists are working on it. Madden has no inside sources, hasn't investigated this, but he's being trotted out as the source of this "information" all over the place.
Is this what we've come to? Makes me want to say "30" to my journalism career.
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