In my latest column for the National Sports Journalism Center site at Indiana University, I look at what is in store for the Boston Globe sports staff in the wake of Red Sox owner John Henry purchasing the paper. I write from my experience at the Chicago Tribune during its ownership of the Cubs.
Here are some excerpts:
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Upon hearing the news that Red Sox owner John Henry plans to buy the Boston Globe, I reflected back to the first time when I directly encountered the issue of the Tribune Co. owning the Cubs.
In the winter of 1987, as the Chicago Tribune’s beat writer for the White Sox, I joined manager Jim Fregosi and a few players for a caravan through Central Illinois. Nothing like Peoria in February.
Fregosi was doing a Q/A for a group when someone asked, “Why does the Tribune favor the Cubs over the White Sox?”
Fregosi, one of my all-time favorite guys in 32 years covering the sports, knew he had just been served a hanging slider. Turning in my direction, with a very mischievous grin on his face, he said, “Yes, Ed Sherman, tell us why the Tribune favors the Cubs over the Sox?”
Now Fregosi wasn’t trying to make a point; he never complained about the Trib’s coverage as it related to the Cubs. Rather, he enjoyed putting me on the spot and watching me squirm.
I tried to plead my case, saying the Tribune, not the Sun-Times, had made the trip on this cold winter night. I insisted there wasn’t any pro-Cubs bias in the sports department and the Sox got a fair shake in terms of coverage.
The Sox fans in Peoria didn’t want to hear it, responding to my response with a collection of non-believing groans. I’m fairly sure it made Fregosi’s night.
It was the first time I had to deal with the perception issue between the Tribune Co. and Cubs. And it wouldn’t be the last.
The sports staff of the Boston Globe is bracing for a new day when Henry officially takes over ownership of the paper. Several writers voiced their apprehension in an article that ran over the weekend in The New York Times.
“This was the last circumstance anyone would want,” said longtime column Bob Ryan, who still works as a contributor to the Globe. “It’s nothing anyone would wish. It’s scary, to say the least, for all involved.”
Indeed, it is difficult to think of a larger conflict of interest. Not even if the Mayor of Boston bought the Globe because the Red Sox are much bigger in the Hub. From this point forward, the Globe now will be covering the team owned by the paper’s owner.
Welcome to our world, Boston.
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I worked as an associate sports editor for the Tribune during a period in the 90s. If anything, my recollection is that we almost bent over backwards to give the Sox better play over the Cubs at times.
When I would hear about a Cubs bias, I used to tell people that the Tribune sports desk had many more Sox fans than Cubs fans. I was among a South Sider legion that included Bob Vanderberg, who continues to write books about the Sox. We all have fond memories of Dan Moulton, a cranky but beloved character nearly popping a vein after a Sox reliever blew a save.
Yet despite my protestations, people always thought the Tribune was in the bag for the Cubs. The paper owned the team. Hence, whenever the Cubs won (rarely, I might add during the Tribune‘s main ownership tenure), the newsroom surely exploded in a chorus of “Go, Cubs, Go…”
No matter what you say, people are going to believe what they want to believe. Perception easily was the biggest issue the Tribune sports staff encountered when it was the main owner of the Cubs.
The perception wasn’t just limited to fans. Malcolm Moran, director of the National Sports Journalism Center, recalled he had questions when he left The New York Times to join the Tribune during the 90s.
“When I started at the Tribune, I had to sign a series of documents, many of which related to ethical requirements,” Moran said. “As I signed one after the other, I remember thinking, ‘You own the Cubs, and you’re telling me about ethics?’ There is a fine line between a conflict of interest and a perceived conflict, and both are dangerous. I never saw any evidence of favoritism. But I did wonder, in that tainted home run summer of 1998, whether the assignment of writing about Sammy Sosa’s hop was the result of a corporate agenda.”
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And there’s more. Here’s the link to the entire column.
Ed as we talked over the years and when I interviewed you both you and I know that perception becomes reality. I absolutely believe what you say from your perspective about this but there’s also no getting around the facts… say of the infamous ‘incident’ with Dan McGrath, Paul Sullivan and their ‘meeting’ with Cubs brass over the way Sully was writing about the team, that “happened” to be part of the Tribune business empire.
Even Sully admitted in radio interviews the discussion was ‘heated’ and was about the way he was covering the team.