Pittsburgh Trib debacle

Tell you what, henri. Once the industry gets some basic standards and stops displaying the lack of standards as some sort of badge of honor, then you'll have a gripe.

Until then, your claim of "maximum risk" is ludicrous. Right now, the only risk is that someone might have to wake up and read the stuff a little more closely for the next week or two in Pittsburgh. Then it's back to blissful slumber.

 

explain "basic standards".

 

Come on HH,

This was a BIG mistake: I dare say comparable to the "Dewey defeats Truman" magnitude.

Prisuta wasn't working the weekend metro desk and someone said: "Hey, we're short-handed. Can someone check into this SI report on the Steelers coaching situation?"
This guy's beat was the (in-part) Steelers. He didn't make a mistake, an error or an omission. He flat-out got it wrong.
The city's biggest (sports) story of the year and he (they) got it wrong. Not only do they - and the P-G - get scooped in their own backyard, when they do their own investigation and reporting it's incorrect!?
The guy's job - I don't care what he's being paid - was to report on the Steelers.
You took the job, you do it as best you can. I'm sure Prisuta did his best ...
I feel sorry for the guy. I really do. But this a screw up of major proportions at a paper that already has credibility issues.
I don't think I'd fire anybody for this, but I our girls high school basketball coverage would be off the charts for the next month or so.

FWIW: I don't buy the Trib's argument that the Rooneys had a change of heart on Grimm. I think Tomlin has been the man for a few days now.

 

This is why it's better to be scooped than to be wrong...

The thing with coaching searches is that everybody lies... In those circumstances, unless you have the story from the coach himself, the owner or the GM or someone on the record, you don't go with it.

I feel terrible for this guy. Is it a fireable offense? I don't know, but this is really bad....

 

If this was a "mistake" by the reporter -- which would be along the lines of "Oh, my source said Tomlin but for some reason I wrote Grimm -- he should be fired.

If Pittsburgh is at least a semi-normal newroom, then there would be discussions among the writer and editors and someone above the writer would make the call about how they proceed. So -- assuming the writer did not mislead anyone -- he would have been simply following orders.

Don't know how it went down, but that's embarrassing.

 

The best case for abortion yet.

 

Did anyone hear if Prisuda said anything about it on DVE this morning? That would have been his perfect opportunity to say, "Well, what ha-happened was, well, I uh..., well..."

 

Reporters covering the University of Alabama made a similar mistake when they reported that Rich Rodriguez would be the Alabama coach, but they did what you do when -- like mizzou says -- you don't have it from the head honcho -- they left themselves an out like "Sources say Rich Rodriguez is expected to be the next Alabama coach. An announcement could come as early as today, unless Rodriguez changes his mind."

If someone high up told the Trib guy it was Grimm, he's got some splaining to do and should go on record (which of course will never happen).

 

I'm curious, and I'm not saying anyone's wrong here.

But anyone who believes somebody should lose their job over this, I'd like them to spell out why that should be the action taken.

 

If the reporter misled his bosses over his information or if the bosses pushed so hard they refused to believe they didn't have the story, heads should roll.

Otherwise, it seems its the typical cart before the horse stuff that happens all the time.

 

I find this peculiar, too. Wouldn't the reaction of people on staff be to take no chances and wait for the official announcement instead of risking their jobs by trying for a scoop?

 

You shouldn't take chances, Frank. You either have the story or you don't.

You don't slap type on the page and cross your fingers that you are right.