PTATC: I guess my only response to your comments would be this.
If money and team performance now determines coverage then the Sun-Times (whom I subscribe to as well as donate) needs to announce that Ben Pope will no longer be covering the Blackhawks full time including covering road games. That franchise has been garbage, among the worst in the NHL for the past several years...and the Sun-Times needs to announce that they are stripping down coverage of the Bears, they don't need three or four full time writers covering again one of the most dysfunctional, awful franchises in the NFL for decades, not years...the Bears last sustained run of success was 1984-1991.
Fair is fair right?
They can easily transfer say one of the full-time Bears beat writers, already a salaried employee so no additional expense, to the White Sox and say, "you're it this is your beat full time."