January 18, 2014
A nifty little criss-cross has religion and politics switching places in the local dailies today.
Boston Herald front page:
Inside the story gets two pages: a news report that seems to be mostly AP material, and his ‘n’ her columns from Ray Flynn and Margery Eagan.
On page 3 of the feisty local broadsheet, there’s this piece:
Mitt aide rues blocking doc
Right off the top, the documentary “Mitt” shows a defeated Mitt Romney teary-eyed and searching for help in crafting a concession 
speech — and the personal number for President Obama.
“By the way, someone have a number for the president?” a dejected Romney asks on election night Nov. 6, 2012, in his hotel suite in Boston.
“What do you say in a concession speech?” he adds.
Seriously? Anyway, the point of the piece is this: “[A] top Romney adviser and friend admitted the campaign blew it by repeatedly opposing the release of the documentary, which could have helped Romney shed his stiff, robotic image.”
Crosstown at the Boston Globe, Romney moves up to the front page.
This “Mitt” piece has Romney’s son Tagg doing the lamenting:
“I was frustrated that we were not able to get an accurate portrayal of who my dad was out there,” Tagg said in an interview Friday, as he discussed the film. “The campaign team wanted to present a very controlled image. . . . The movie shows a very real human being: a flawed person with weaknesses but someone who is much more real and understandable.”
Meanwhile, it’s the Pope who gets page 3 in the stately local broadsheet, also via the AP.
Pope said to defrock 400 priests in 2 years
VATICAN CITY — A document shows Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests over two years for sexually molesting children.
The statistics for 2011 and 2012 show a dramatic increase over the 171 priests removed in 2008 and 2009, when the Vatican first provided details on the number of priests who have been defrocked. Before that, it had only revealed the number of alleged cases of abuse it had received and the number of trials it had authorized.
While it’s not clear why the numbers spiked in 2011, it could be because 2010 saw a explosion in the number of cases reported in the media in Europe and beyond.
Here endeth the criss-cross.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: "Mitt", AP, Boston Herald, defrocked priests, Greg Whiteley, Margery Eagan, Mitt Romney, Netflix, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Ray Flynn, Sundance Film Festival, Tagg Romney, Vatican | 
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January 17, 2014
More ad-versity for the Boston Herald: Yesterday it was bypassed by two advertisers who took out full pages in the Boston Globe.
Ad #1 (page A8):
Ad #2 (page A10):
Neither ran in the funky local tabloid.
That’s a problem, yeah, Heraldniks?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston flu, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Heraldniks, James Taylor, Puffs, Tanglewood | Permalink
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January 15, 2014
Once again, Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy is the skunk at the garden party.
Today’s stink bomb:
Sorry, the Patriots are going to lose
The Broncos are going to beat the Patriots Sunday.
Sorry, that’s just the way I see it. I am not rooting for the Broncos. I am not into Satanic worship. Please do not kill my whole family. I am often wrong 
(remember the 2013 Red Sox, destined for last place?) and hopefully for New England fans, I will be wrong again.
The Patriots have proven folks wrong time and again. Overcoming doubters is the foundation of the Patriot franchise.
Doubting the Patriots this weekend is hardly a daring position. They are significant underdogs in Vegas. Most of the national TV panel guys will pick against New England. Some of the handicapping local car dealers will pick the Broncos. There might even be a footy-pajama fanboy or two with doubts about the Patriots’ ability to beat Peyton Manning.
So I am a doubter . . .
A doubter? Not in Denver, Danny Boy. There you’re a hero. You even made the homepage of the First-and-Orange BroncoBlog (look lower left).
You don’t see the Boston Herald being fêted in the Mile High City, do ya Danno?
No.
Final word goes to Roger Bournival at Dan Shaughnessy Watch (“We read him so you don’t have to”):
For what it’s worth, Tom Brady is 10-4 in head-to-head matchups with Peyton Manning. If Shank thinks the Patriots are going to lose, that’s all I need to take the Patriots.
‘Nuf ced.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dan Shaughnessy, Dan Shaughnessy Watch, Denver Broncos, Denver Post, First-and-Orange, New England Patriots, Peyton Manning, Roger Bournival, Tom Brady | Permalink
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January 14, 2014
Who’s the hottest guy in town? The hardreading staff votes for Mike Sheehan, who does a daily double in today’s Boston Herald.
Sheehan, the former CEO and current part-time chairman of high-octane ad agency Hill Holliday, is first Heralded here.
One Fund organized in mere hours
Menino reached out to Hub leaders day after bombings
The morning after the April 15 marathon bombings, former Mayor Thomas M. Menino started calling local business and community leaders. He told them they had seven hours to create what would become The One Fund before he announced it at 5 p.m. that night.
“There was an immediate understanding of the urgency at hand,” said James Gallagher, executive vice-president of John Hancock, at an advertising conference in Boston yesterday. “We got underway right away.”
“The number one thing we had was a deadline,” Hill Holiday Chairman Mike Sheehan said, adding he has never worked on a project with the scale or urgency of what would become The One Fund.
“It took 15 minutes to design a logo,” Sheehan said — a blue “1” on a yellow background, modeled after a marathon bib.
“Everybody knew how to do their job, and we just did it,” he said.
The next day, Sheehan added, they had “a pile of checks 5 feet high, wide and long.”
Since then Sheehan has been hired as a consultant by the Boston Globe to help improve advertising sales. It’s in that capacity that he does his second turn in the feisty local tabloid.
Adviser: Globe no hobby for John Henry
Former Hill Holliday CEO Mike Sheehan said yesterday his new gig as an advertising adviser to Boston Globe owner John Henry is focused on maximizing revenue, and didn’t rule out a rebranding of the broadsheet, while emphasizing Henry is treating his own 
role as a “full-time job.”
“The Globe has a very attractive audience,” Sheehan told the Herald. “Like any media operation, they have to be vigilant about making sure their advertisers know that and that they have great opportunities to reach them.”
Sheehan said there’s no set timetable for how long he’ll be advising the broadsheet. “To be perfectly frank, I just want to help where I can help for as long as it takes to really make this place start humming,” said Sheehan, who is chairman of the Hub ad agency.
Of course saying the stately local broadsheet is not a Henry hobby only makes people think it is.
Clever those Heraldniks, eh?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Marathon bombings, Hill Holliday, James Gallagher, John Hancock, John Henry, Mike Sheehan, One Fund, Thomas M. Menino | Permalink
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January 13, 2014
As the hardwalking staff set out on its post-prandial promenade last night, we happened upon WBUR’s rebroadcast of Boston Red Sox/Boston Globe owner John Henry’s address to the local Chamber of Commerce last week. Most news reports mentioned that the Globe would explore new ways of attracting advertisers and sponsors to help build its revenue base, but the Boston Business Journal was a bit more forthcoming:
[Henry] heralded the Globe’s ongoing roll-out of a new, sponsored sports product — The Score — while saying little about how the new section will differ from the newspaper’s traditional sports coverage or why advertisers might direct their marketing dollars toward one option versus the other.
Question #1: Where is the sponsored content in The Score? We’re looking at Sunday’s edition of the “sponsored sports product” and all we see is an ad for Sullivan Tire, an ad for Jaguar Woburn, and a whole lot of nothing else.
Question #2: What exactly will Globe sponsors – assuming there are any – get for their money?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Business Journal, Boston Globe, Boston Red Sox, Globe sponsor, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, iTunes, John Henry, The Score, WBUR | Permalink
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January 11, 2014
What’s newsworthy about new Boston Mayor Marty Walsh? Judging by today’s local dailies, it’s all relative.
From the Boston Globe’s front page:
Walsh vows steps to aid those hurt by Alzheimer’s
Mayor says his own experience will help to shape his plans
Martin J. Walsh walked in the door to visit his grandmother at her Irish farmhouse, and she did not know who he was.
Mary Ann O’Malley did not remember her own daughter, either. By the time she had reached her early 80s, O’Malley had forgotten much of what she once knew intimately.
“We would walk in the house,” Walsh said in an interview, “and she would ask who we were . . . ”
While Walsh’s struggles with cancer as a child and alcoholism as a young man became well known during the campaign, his family’s history with Alzheimer’s was news to many, who learned of it during his inaugural speech Monday.
So Walsh will be placing a high priority on “improving services for people with Alzheimer’s and their families.”
Crosstown at the Boston Herald, Walsh’s family news is less heart-warming than heartburn-y.
Walsh defends choice of cousin for driver
Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he picked his cousin, a Boston police sergeant, to be his official driver — a plum job that usually bodes well for the career of the cop selected — because she was qualified and he wanted someone he could trust in the position.
The administration confirmed Thursday that the driver, Sgt. Winifred Cotter, is the new mayor’s cousin.
“It’s not nepotism. Winny is a police officer who has an extensive career in the police department,” Walsh said yesterday. “She’s a sergeant. She’s somebody I completely trust. She’s worked in city government a lot longer than I have.”
Yes, well, keep this Crony Hall act up (paging Eugene O’Flaherty!) and she’ll work in city government a lot more than you will too, Mistah Mayah.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Alzheimer's, Barbara Leahy, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Crony Hall, Eugene O'Flaherty, Marty Walsh, Mary Anne O'Malley, Mary Walsh, official driver, Sgt. Winifred Cotter, Walsh cousin | Permalink
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January 10, 2014
From our Walt Whitman desk
Say, the feisty local tabloid is on some awards run, yeah? A mere one week after garnering a coveted Today’s Top Ten Front Pages award from the Newseum, the Boston Herald has done it again!
“Bridge-Gate” Day 2: The Apology
If you like your state politics with a touch of scandal, it’s a good week to be reading the newspapers. As “Bridge-Gate” continues, today’s headlines focus on Gov. Chris Christie’s epic, apologetic news conference.
The Big 10:
Look for tomorrow’s Herald to devote meaningless real estate in the news hole to this precious award.
Or is that vice versa?
P.S. That’s two Top Tens in two days of Christiepalooza for The Courier News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Star-Ledger, and New York Post. Something to shoot for, eh, Heraldniks?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: "Bridge-Gate", Boston Herald, Chris Christie, New York Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Star-Ledger, The Courier News, The Newseum, Today's Top Ten Front Pages, Walt Whitman | Permalink
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January 10, 2014
Both local dailies reported yesterday about Boston Red Sox/Boston Globe owner John Henry’s plans for his new newspaper acquisition, which he detailed at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Wednesday.
And both local dailies reported about Henry’s philanthropic plan to support local non-profits.
From the Herald:
[Henry] spoke vaguely about finding new ways to recruit sponsors and advertisers for Globe content, and unveiled a gift-voucher program for subscribers to support their favorite charity.
From the Globe:
Henry said the Globe will employ new approaches aimed at increasing advertising and will encourage companies and organizations to use ad pages in different ways. He also unveiled a program to give Globe subscribers vouchers they can direct to their favorite nonprofits. Those charities will be able to cash in the vouchers for advertising space with the Globe.
What the piece in the stately local broadsheet failed to mention was this:
That full-page Globe ad (page A12) signed by Mrs. John Henry says more about the Mister’s plans for the Globe than any news story.
Can Tonya Mezrich, Arts Editor be far behind?
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: 501(c)(3), Arts Editor, Boston Globe, Boston Globe Media Partners, Boston Herald, Boston Red Sox, Globe Readers and Non-Profits Together, GRANT, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, John Henry, Linda Pizzuti Henry, Tonya Mezrich | Permalink
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January 9, 2014
Boston Red Sox/Boston Globe owner John Henry made a rare public appearance at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast yesterday and made news with his announcement that he might sell the Morrissey Boulevard property and will appoint a new COO of the Globe 
now that publisher Christopher Mayer has stepped down.
The question is, what is a COO?
The Globeniks better hope it’s nothing like the chief content officer position Time, Inc. recently established for its publications.
As the hardtracking staff at Sneak Adtack noted last fall, Time, Inc. CCO Norman Pearlstein is now the person that both the business side and the editorial side report to, “leading some to wonder whether business interests would now trump those of edit.”
According to New York Times columnist Joe Nocera, Pearlstein “praised the model being developed by Forbes magazine, which includes ‘sponsored’ content alongside the work of its staff writers. He said that the business side would not be able to hire an editor unless he went along with it.”
Be afraid, Globeniks. Be very afraid.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Red Sox, chief content officer, Christopher Mayer, COO, Joe Nocera, John Henry, Morrissey Boulevard, New York Times, Norman Pearlstein, Sneak Adtack, Time Inc. | Permalink
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January 7, 2014
Both local dailies did a good job covering Marty Walsh’s inauguration as Boston’s 48th (or 54th or 58th) mayor.
The Boston Globe gave it it nearly four full pages in the A section, along with the requisite sonorous editorial.
The Boston Herald seemed to throw its entire newsroom at the torch-passing: eight columnists, seven reporters, twelve pages, and a cautiously optimistic editorial.
But, not surprisingly, it was in the boldface coverage of the day-long shindig where the Herald proved superior, especially in noting the less-than-luminaries who attended.
The Globe pointed out the Big Three:
Even some whose political legacies are shadowed by controversy showed up. Dianne Wilkerson, a former state senator, who was released from prison last fall after serving time for a bribery conviction, was in the audience. So, too, was Thomas Finneran, the former House speaker who pleaded guilty to obstructing justice in 2007, and former state treasurer Tim Cahill, whose trial on public corruption charges ended in a mistrial, probation, and a fine.
Howie Carr also gave a nod to the if-you’re-indicted-you’re-invited set. But the Inside Track had a little something extra:
Score one for the feisty local tabloid. Don Forst must be smiling somewhere.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Billy Bulger, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston mayor, Dianne Wilkerson, Don Forst, inauguration, Inside Track, Marty Walsh, Peter Gelzinis, Thomas Finneran, Tim Cahill | Permalink
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It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 