WTAE news anchor Scott Baker didn't like the story in Wednesday's Post-Gazette about the Web log post he titled "I'm the Guy Who Taught Jeff Gannon Everything He Knows About Journalism" mostly because it didn't ferret out his intent in making the post.

"I would say it misses the forest for the trees, and in the most basic of ways," Baker wrote in an e-mail. "It takes the actual truth of the tone of my piece and makes it a lie."

Baker says he wrote a humor piece mocking the ridiculousness of Gannon having been in a seminar he taught. But once you make a post online, your intent is left to others to interpret (or misinterpret), and therefore largely irrelevant. What matters is how the post is perceived and the reaction it engenders.

Baker's blog entry began: "I'm the guy who taught Jeff Gannon everything he knows about journalism. Okay maybe not everything.... But I suppose I bear some responsibility for having lectured at the two-day journalism seminar Gannon attended."

Gannon was a conservative online reporter who covered the White House using a pseudonym (his real name is James Guckert).

He resigned after liberal blog writers dug up embarrassing information about his background.

"Just when it seemed like the Gannon/Guckert story was about to fade away for lack of interest (something slightly less than the interest in 'Topic A with Tina Brown'), along comes the new Vanity Fair to re-energize the matter when Gannon himself couldn't even pull an invite to the White House Correspondents Association dinner," Baker writes. "This is what I get for trying to teach a simple little seminar on media career strategies? Jeff Gannon as my star student? I had more modest goals. Most kids trying to dive into media careers fail miserably. So maybe I can nudge them with a few helpful ideas. Hoped for result: entry level job in, say, a small market television station. Not so hoped for: center square of odd journalism scandal."

He goes on to scold Vanity Fair for describing his seminar as one for "aspiring right-wing journalists."

"My mantra to the students involves getting rid of the 'right-wing' and esteeming the value of solid day-to-day journalism. Good old-fashioned storytelling."

Perhaps the most pointed reaction to Baker's post came from Philadelphia Daily News senior writer William Bunch, who cobbled together what seems to be to be an overblown conspiracy theory.

"The highly rated news anchor for the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh (in a key battleground state, you'll recall) admits in his very first post that -- in so many words -- he's a conservative mole in the mainstream media, that he's actively helping a Karl Rove acolyte to train new right-wing journalists, and that one of his 'star pupils' is none other than the notorious 'Jeff Gannon,' the gay-hooker-turned-bogus-pro-GOP journalist."

Baker has taught a seminar on media careers under the aegis of Leadership Institute's Broadcast Journalism School, described by Bunch as "a conservative propagandist training school that was founded and is run by Morton Blackwell," a member of the executive committee of the Republican National Committee.

Baker said he's taught the same course at West Virginia University and the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg and maintains that his class is ideologically neutral. He said he's never been asked to skew it in any political direction.

Do I honestly think Baker is incapable of reporting a story objectively? No more or less than the many reporters in TV and print who come from liberal backgrounds. But what made Bunch's accusations newsworthy was that they raised legitimate questions about the appearance of impropriety.

In the current climate of political partisanship, it seems at least questionable that a mainstream journalist who adheres to objective journalistic standards would choose to conduct seminars for an organization with a political bent left, right or center. That's what made Baker's post and the ensuing reaction newsworthy. That Gannon was in Baker's class ultimately doesn't matter, albeit it's necessary in telling the story. The class itself is far more relevant, which is why Wednesday's story concentrated on the ethical question it begged. Baker and Channel 4 news director Bob Longo, who was aware Baker taught the course, answered that question well.

"What makes us professional is our ability to leave our opinions and any biases we may see or experience or be part of and write an objective report," Longo said, "and Scott is fully capable of doing that and does it daily."

In the end, Baker created this tempest because he was unable to contain himself. This should come as no surprise to viewers who are accustomed to his frequent interjections in Channel 4's 5 p.m. news. Baker isn't shy about sharing the breadth of his knowledge on a variety of subjects.

In the case of the blog post, his intentionally provocative subject line was just more of the same.

Comcast channel changes

Beginning on or around June 1, Comcast will add CN8, its Delaware-based mid-Atlantic regional cable network, to area systems as Channel 188. CN8 will not have a bureau to cover news in Western Pennsylvania, but area experts and elected officials will be featured on CN8 programs.

Market-specific original programming may be developed in the future.

Comcast will also add Tennis Channel (Channel 277), and some systems, including the City of Pittsburgh, will see the addition of WCWB-HD (Channel 214) and new channel positions for Style (from 118 to 66), G4 (162 to 67), Discovery HD (205 to 225), and ESPN-HD (202 to 252).

TV editor Rob Owen can be reached at rowen@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2582. Ask TV questions at www.post-gazette.com/tv under TV Q&A.