College Basketball 1/9-1/15

[Crimson's Ghost]

The AP typically handles articles and headlines not the Tribune writers, and Pitt's play in the final ten minutes of the game didn't really earn them a friendly headline.

[DragonsDoExist]

The PSU article was also AP written and the exact same article is on ESPN that appears in the Altoona Mirror. So makes sense that they all say the same thing.

[El-Moldo]

Crimson: But Penn State's DID warrant a friendly headline? And irrregardless of who wrote the article and headlines for the Tribune, it was still biased and appeared in the local sports page. Just like the cartoon on the editorial page. No one at the tribune draws it, but they select it and submit it in the paper.

[PsuDfense30]

So the AP shouldn't bias in favor of Penn State basketball (because they have SO many reasons to do so) and local writers should wait and see if national articles are biased in case they need stay up to write a second, unbiased article for the local paper..... that sounds easy enough.

[Crimson's Ghost]

I just don't know what a suitable headline would be for playing well for 30 minutes, and getting run off the court for the last ten minutes and losing by 16, but someone from Pitt hit a meaningless three at the buzzer to make it look like a little more respectable.

I think we're confusing WJAC's Penn State obsession with the Tribune, who really doesn't cover either team aside from including AP articles in their papers. As far as I know, none of the Tribune writers have covered either team live on-site any time recently. And for what its worth, the current editor and previous two editors of the Tribune Democrat Sports Department are all Pitt fans.

[abpk2903]

I feel like we go through this same song and dance every few years. Of course local headlines are going to put a positive spin on the local teams. Remember the goal of local newspapers is to sell papers. If they bash consistently bash Penn State and Pitt, they are going to lose subscribers.

I live between DC and Baltimore and all these papers trend lightly on Maryland, Georgetown, Towson, ect. headlines because they realize a ton of fans, employees, students, and alumni buy their papers and pay for ads in their paper.

As much as you would love a headline that reads "Ohio State Rips Through Penn State in a 20 Point Thrashing," you're not gonna see it in Johnstown. Maybe in Columbus.

[lhacbigfan]

I find it funny that someone actually cares about whether a headline in a local newspaper was or wasn't harsh enough.

[El-Moldo]

I'm not complaining that a headline isn't harsh enough. Where did you infer that? I just want equal treatment between local schools. We all know that Channel 6 favors PSU. Matt Maziel came on here and told us so. At least our local paper should not be as biased. And as far as the Tribune is concerned, even if they don't write their own stories, they are the ones who decide WHERE articles are placed in the paper, who gets the bold print, how big the headlines and articles are, etc etc. That, of course, is just another form of bias favoring one team over another.

[abpk2903]

Well unless you want government funded media (like North Korea or Russia), media is always going to favor to what ultimately attracts subscribers and advertisers. Believe or not news stations and print media do a lot of research on what attracts to their audience and target viewers. Even though Pitt may be geographically closer to WJAC or the Trib, Penn State still has a massive following and it's supporters seem (generally) to be more loyalty than other local universities. If this wasn't the case, they wouldn't get near as much biased coverage.

Penn State has the largest Alumni network in the nation, it shouldn't be surprising that media less than 90 minutes away cover them.

If Pitt fans want more local and national attention, then get more than 40,000 to home conference games. Not trying to be mean but when it comes to which programs are more supported regionally, the proof is in the pudding.

[El-Moldo]

Media is going to favor advertisers? Really? Isn't that what Channel 6 is doing with Penn State right now? You'll pay us and we'll slant the sports news in your favor. We'll bring your sports news into the forefront. Unless it's bad news (such as a loss in basketball).