The people that ask this Tribune reporter for help are people that can't get a problem solved by another means because the company is uncooperative or in denial about the problem.
So when someone calls the business and says "Hi, I'm calling from the Chicago Tribune, where I'm going to write a story about you that will be read by half a million readers", do you think that will get a better outcome to the problem than the individual calling again for the 25th time?
Sure it will. But if the business had done nothing wrong, journalistic ethics (which play no role in the "moderating" position taken by Yelp between "customer reviews") would stipulate that the newspaper could not report anything other than verifiable fact.
But the business owner (or government agency in most cases with Trib/WYP) see it as "if I don't fix this issue, it's going to be in the newspaper where my boss will see it".
The reporter doesn't have to be unethical in the slightest. The message is implied and, in most cases from what I've read in the Tribune over the years, very effective.
So when someone calls the business and says "Hi, I'm calling from the Chicago Tribune, where I'm going to write a story about you that will be read by half a million readers", do you think that will get a better outcome to the problem than the individual calling again for the 25th time?