"Sometimes the conflict is matter of perception"

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: Sometimes the conflict is matter of perception : Phil Rosenthal : Tribune Media : October 28, 2009 : It would have been a lot simpler had Tribune Co. instead invested in the Weather Channel. : The reason given for not doing so is that the Chicago Tribune's parent had just plunked down $20.5 million in 1981 for the Chicago Cubs to ensure the ballclub remained on WGN-Ch. 9 and WGN-AM 720, even though the cable channel would have been cheaper. : The Cubs did in fact yield huge dividends for the media company's broadcast outlets, a legacy that will continue even now that the Ricketts family assumed control Tuesday in a deal worth $845 million. But the Weather Channel was sold last year to NBC Universal and a group of equity partners for an estimated $3.5 billion. : And if Tribune Co. had bought the Weather Channel, it's doubtful anyone would have accused this newspaper of a pro-weather bias or held it responsible when the weather was lousy. Even in October. Even this October. : Less than 24 hours before the Tribune got out from under the big blue shadow of the Cubs, the rival Chicago Sun-Times officially took on Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz as a benefactor. : Wirtz is among the 11 investors led by Jim Tyree who have saved the Sun-Times and its suburban sister titles from liquidation, and both Wirtz and Tyree have said they will not interfere with their papers' coverage. But people will think what they think. : At least they always have. : "The Wirtz stake in Sun-Times ownership will be similar to Tribune Co.'s ownership of the Cubs: There will no influence or effect on our coverage," Stu Courtney, the Sun-Times' sports editor, said by e-mail. : Take a business in which merely the appearance of conflict can be damning. Add something such as sports, which, as much as politics, excites passions. The fuse practically lights itself. : Those who believe the Tribune favored the Cubs over the White Sox because of the ownership stake forget that people were throwing around the accusation of favoritism -- rightly or wrongly -- for decades before Tribune Co. took over the team. : "I know it can be easy to enjoy a good conspiracy theory," said Mike Kellams, the Tribune's associate managing editor for sports. "But these are the facts: We did land a man on the moon, there was no second shooter on that grassy knoll and the journalists in the sports department of the Chicago Tribune cover the baseball clubs in town fairly. There's nothing to change now that one of them has a new owner." : On Sunday, Sun-Times sports columnist Carol Slezak suggested the reason Josh Mora is no longer on the Blackhawks beat and is on his way out at Comcast SportsNet Chicago was because of a blog post over the summer. CSN includes among its owners the Hawks and, until the Cubs deal closed, Tribune Co. Mora's post broke the news that general manager Dale Tallon was being demoted and critiqued successor Stan Bowman. : The blog post vanished from the CSN site after a few days, which fueled speculation that Mora had angered the Hawks organization enough that it was the beginning of the end. He has been told his contract will not be renewed by CSN when it expires in February. : "The decision that was made to let Josh go was an internal one and we didn't consult anyone with the team or outside Comcast," CSN News Director Charlie Schumacher said Tuesday. "The decision to pull the blog post off the site was made because I don't think that it was a good job of reporting. I don't think Josh did a good job of checking his sources before he published the article." : People may or may not choose to believe that. : What's curious is that Slezak never mentioned the implications for her own newspaper. If Mora's exit was greased by the Hawks because the team was unhappy with what he said, what kind of threat does she think the Sun-Times' new ownership might pose for the paper's sports department? : Rather than comment, Slezak elected to let her column speak for itself. Mora did not respond to a request for comment by deadline. : All any of us in journalism can do is the best, most honest, open and fair job we can in telling our stories. All we have is our content, and our content isn't worth nearly as much if consumers question its credibility, which would make our owners' investments worth that much less. : That said, when I visited Tyree's office on the day the Delaware bankruptcy judge approved his bid to rescue the Sun-Times, he took one look at the White Sox jacket I was wearing and asked if they really allowed me to wear that inside Tribune Tower.

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