The old reasons for not liking the Tribune were legion: it was too gray and fat and rich and powerful and conservative, and its heritage was dominated by a madman, the colonel, Robert R. McCormick. Besides, its coverage of the nation and world didn’t measure up to the New York Times and Washington Post. Then Sam Zell and Randy Michaels took over, and most of the top editors and a lot of very good writers flew the coop. The foreign staff disappeared; the list of first-rate journeymen laid off was as long as your arm. In addition to the Times and Post, the Tribune no longer measured up to itself.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
A lot of the Tribune is consistently really good. Here’s its little problem. Every time the Tribune plows up the middle for seven yards it struts like a rookie who ran a punt back 80 yards into the end zone. It should leave self-celebration to Walt Whitman. The Trib Nation conceit—it’s a blog site name that leaches into the printed Tribune—is silly; and so is the way in which the paper, which after slashing its news hole restored some of it, keeps milking the gesture. As my wife admired the entertainment section I was wincing at a story on the risk run by Iraq’s immature democracy as American troops depart; it was a solid piece of journalism but it was neither a Tribune exclusive nor even a Tribune Company (i.e. LA Times) exclusive—it was a wire story from Reuters. Yet the Tribune insisted on my gratitude. The top left of the page was pretentiously labeled “FOCUS Leaving Iraq,” and the top right announced “A new page added to the Chicago Tribune Nation & World report.” Not to get all metaphysical on you, but isn’t a new page a new page only when it’s new? That page was added five months ago.
Almost nothing in a newspaper these days is actually “breaking.” Besides, no one pays attention to this kind of empty crowing but other journalists keeping score, and what it does to them is make them mad.
On November 8 the Tribune wrote about the trials and tribulations it’s faced getting information out of Rahm Emanuel’s office. It gave this example:
“Maybe all’s fair in the news business,” says Mihalopoulos—but he doesn’t actually think that. “You keep trying to do stories before other people do them,” he muses; but he likes to think that when you don’t, you give credit where it’s due.
Trying to be helpful, I suggested at the time that the Tribune sell itself as the Chicago daily that chooses page one stories pretested for newsworthiness. Instead, it’s apparently decided to pretend nothing is newsworthy until the Tribune waves its wand.
