Soon after Michael Ferro took over the Sun-Times, the paper ran a full-page picture of his son, Trey, throwing out the first pitch at a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. A few pages away, the same edition carried a picture of the entire Ferro family hanging out with the owner of the Cubs behind the scoreboard.
This e-mail is also worth quoting. It was sent to Ryan and to editor Davan Maharaj. It noted that competing newspapers received far fewer tickets—the New York Times and Hollywood Reporter, for instance, each got two—but passed them on to reporters. With six, the Times had none to spare for the newsroom. The e-mail concluded:
According to several sources in and around the Times, the passes went to the Tribune Publishing’s new brass. Tribune Publishing Chairman Michael Ferro and CEO Justin Dearborn reportedly used the passes, each along with a guest.
The last two were earmarked for publisher Tim Ryan, who was persuaded to do the right thing and gave up his seats after receiving a flabbergasted email from the Times’ film desk.
Entertainment coverage is a bedrock of this paper’s identity. To fail to send a single reporter on a year when the Oscars are at the center of a cultural debate over diversity is not only embarrassing, it’s bad journalism. Would the LA Times ever cover a political convention or a sporting event this way?
Please tell us that you will reconsider, and distribute at least one of the Times’ Oscar tickets to a reporter.
