Last week’s edition of the Watch Tower focused on the Tribune-Review’s John Harris’ assertion that the Steelers had been laying the ground work to bench starting corner Bryant McFadden.

At issue was whether Harris was implicitly leaking supposed-to-be confidential observations in practice or whether he was stoking the flames.

One veteran Pittsburgh journalist appears to believe it is the later.

In his weekly PG Plus Chat, Post-Gazette beat writer Gerry Dulac took the following question.

[Full disclosure, I’d submitted a similar question, but this one is not mine.]

Neither the questioner nor Dulac explicitly mention the Harris piece. But given the tone, perhaps neither needs to. After rejecting rumor mongering, Dulac’s clarification is interesting, as he say “especially unfounded rumors.”

One needs no leap of faith to assume that Dulac has read Harris’ and summarily discounted Harris’ article.

One of the interesting things about the whole “on-line chat” medium is that it gives readers a glimpse of what things are like in the press box.

Back in December Ed Bouchette similarly dismissed an argument circulating that Mike Tomlin had quit on his team. Likewise, the story in question also originated with, none other John Harris….

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