Local cartoonist Darby Conley submitted this in yesterday’s Boston Sunday Globe. (Click to enlarge.)
Full frontal rudity.
The state bird is a human hand.
Oh yes.
That’s the Bay State all over.
But especially Boston.
P.S. Just for the record, the Sunday Boston Herald has zero worthwhile comic strips. Representative sample:
Don’t bother clicking to enlarge. Something short of the Real McCoy.
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
From our One Town, Two Different Worlds desk
It all started in the Boston Globe two weeks ago with this report.
Trying to put a tribute to William Bulger in the books
South Boston’s Branch Library would be renamed for the neighborhood’s legendary politician, William M. Bulger, under a proposal by City Council President Bill Linehan.
“Bill Bulger’s advocacy and commitment to the Boston Public Library system is unquestionable,” Linehan said in a statement Tuesday. “His commitment to service, to the people of South Boston, Boston, and the Commonwealth are well documented and heralded.”
Uh-huh. Like this Boston Herald column from two days later?
Regardless, all’s been quiet on the Bulger front until this editorial popped up in yesterday’s Globe.
Linehan stirs up resentments with proposal to honor Bulger
THERE AREN’T clear standards for naming a Boston public building after a former political leader. But there should be obvious
reasons why not to make such a designation: To rehabilitate a tarnished reputation; to reward supporters of a deeply divisive figure; to score political points by sticking up for a neighborhood bigwig. All these bad reasons seem to be underlying the proposal by City Council President Bill Linehan to name the South Boston library for his neighbor William M. Bulger, the former Senate president and University of Massachusetts president. It’s a mischievous proposal designed to stir up old loyalties and resentments, and the City Council should reject it out of hand.
And etc.
As night follows day, the Globe’s sonorous editorial turned into the Herald’s screaming front page.
Today’s story in the feisty local tabloid gives you everything you want: drama, conflict, blood feuds, political waffling, Bulgerite weaseling – you name it.
All in a two-dailies work.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Bill Linehan, Boston City Council, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Public Library, Bulgerite weaseling, James "Whitey" Bulger, Marty Walsh, Michael Burggren, South Boston Branch Library, William M. Bulger | Permalink
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As the hardreading staff noted a couple of weeks ago, Boston GlobeSox owner John Henry is having a fling with his crosstown rival in a series of email exchanges with Herald sports scribe Michael Silverman.
First he used the frisky local tabloid to dopeslap his star sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy over his dismissal of Red Sox Nation’s unswerving devotion to the Olde Towne Team.
Yesterday, Henry opened the kimono a bit more in Silverman’s Baseball Notes column. About meddling with the Globe’s sports coverage, Henry said this:
“I don’t get involved at all with baseball coverage,” Henry said. “That would be completely inappropriate. I did get involved in pushing for Score, which was a standalone NFL section we created, and they did a terrific job on that. I’d like to see more coverage of the
Revolution because I think they are becoming a more important part of the community. Soccer is becoming more important as evidenced by the reception Liverpool [the soccer club Henry owns] received here (at Fenway) this year. But I haven’t said anything to our editor or sports editor . . .
“I have not initiated a single discussion on the Sox, Liverpool or baseball. There are other areas I attend to; it’s a complicated, diverse business that is radically changing. It’s an important asset of the community.”
Translation: I don’t want to control sports coverage – I want to control sports coverage advertising.
Silverman’s Globe-go-nuts grafs:
Boston remains a two-newspaper town, a vanishing species around the country. The healthy competition between the Globe and the Herald, including but not limited to local and regional news and sports, is a boon for readers. That the Globe now uses its excess printing capacity to print the Herald highlights the changing economic realities of the two newspapers. Each strives to give its readers the best coverage possible, from the Red Sox to Beacon Hill. When it comes to sports coverage, Henry sees ESPN as the Globe’s chief competition — but with a caveat.
“In sports, the Globe competes on the Web with everyone,” Henry said. “You are one click away from the best in the world in every area. ESPN is what we are up against in sports. But you also have the damn Herald.”
You’re welcome.
Hey, Globeniks: Flirty local tabloid on Line 1.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Ben Cherington, Boston Globe, Boston GlobeSox, Boston Herald, Dan Shaughnessy, ESPN, Fenway Park, flirty local tabloid, frisky local tabloid, John Henry, Larry Lucchino, Liverpool, Michael Silverman, Red Sox, Revolution, Tom Werner | Permalink
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Last week, as you splendid readers might – or, more likely, might not – recall, the hardreading staff noted the yin and yang of State House renovation coverage in the local dailies. Today comes the latest installment in the form of this piece by Boston Herald political scribe Matt Stout.
Treat the Press
Renovation costs for Globe at State House near $30G
New six-figure “blast” windows, $120,000 in floor repairs, $26,000 to move wall sockets because of “revised furniture layouts” — the extra $2.3 million spent to repair the State House’s gubernatorial suite ran the gamut of changes.
Count The Boston Globe among those added costs.
Work connected to the broadsheet’s fourth-floor State House office is sprinkled throughout the project’s so-called change orders, thanks in part to its place in the building’s cozy southwest corner.
Mee-ow. The final tally? “All told, the state credited $29,550 in unforeseen work in connection with the paper’s digs.”
Funny, but that fact went unmentioned in both Akilah Johnson’s report last week (which was entirely uncritical) and Joan Vennochi’s follow-up column the next day (which was reasonably critical of the “museum quality” makeover).
Big deal, you say? Thirty grand is lunch money compared to the total $11.3 million tab? Just sour grapes on the part of the Herald?
Roll your own.
Last graf of Stout’s piece:
The Herald’s fifth-floor office was unaffected by the monthslong construction. (Though, if anyone over there is reading, our A/C has been making weird noises.)
Buck up, Matt – summer’s almost gone.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Akilah Johnson, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Deval Patrick, Joan Vennochi, Matt Stout, State House renovations | Permalink
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It’s been a couple of months since the Boston Globe launched its weekly section Capital, and for the most part it seems pretty fat (12 pages) and happy (exuberant layouts). The only thing even vaguely controversial about the sections is the spelling of its name.
Globe editor Brian McGrory has a running gag with Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on WGBH radio about why it’s Capital with an a not an o. McGrory keeps wriggling out of revealing the paper’s reasons, but here are three possible ones from today’s edition.
Would those ads likely have run in the A or B section if there were no Capital? Probably. But you have to believe a section geared toward political junkies is a more appealing environment for all three advertisers. For the first two, it’s obvious. For Steward Health Care, it’s a bit more oblique.
From Bruce Mohl’s CommonWealth piece last month on why Steward “is missing from the group of health care competitors that have banded together to fight the consent agreement negotiated by Partners HealthCare and Attorney General Martha Coakley”:
Some think the company decided to sit this one out because of its close ties to Coakley. The attorney general in 2010 approved the acquisition by Cerberus/Steward of six Caritas Christi hospitals owned by the Boston archdiocese. Coakley also retains some regulatory oversight over Steward, including a say in whether the health care system can shut down any of its hospitals.
Steward executives, led by CEO Ralph de la Torre, gave big to Coakley when she ran for the US Senate in 2010 and ponied up again earlier this year as she mounted her run for governor. Campaign finance records indicate de la Torre and his wife Wing led a group of Steward executives and spouses who made $500 donations to Coakley on February 26. More Steward officials contributed to Coakley in late March.
In all, Steward executives have contributed more than $18,000 to Coakley since late last year. No other health care system has taken such an interest in the gubernatorial campaign, which may help explain why Steward is less interested in the legal fight over the Partners expansion plans.
Interesting. But back to the original question: Why Capital with an a? Maybe because that’s what it hauls in.
P.S. Needless to say, none of the above ads ran in the Boston Herald.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Brian McGrory, Bruce Mohl, Capital, Christians United for Israel, CommonWealth Magazine, CUFI, Everett, Hamas, Israel, Jim Braude, Margery Eagan, Martha Coakley, Massachusetts casino, Mohegan Sun, Revere, Steward Health Care System, WGBH, Wynn Resorts | Permalink
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From our Walt Whitman desk
It’s been one year since the feisty local tabloid launched Boston Herald Radio, and the paper is celebrating the anniversary in its accustomed style.
Start, as usual, with Page One.
“Best yet to come”? That’s good to hear.
Inside, the firsty local tabloid devotes a full-page, Joe Battenfeld-bylined piece to the anniversary bash.
Our favorite part:
Herald Radio’s launch was named to the prestigious Frontier Fifty list of outstanding talk media webcasts in the nation by industry bible Talkers Magazine.
Which got the headscratching staff to wondering: How many talk media webcasts are there in the nation?
We couldn’t find the answer on the Googletron (we’re guessing it’s a lot), but we did locate BHR on the Frontier Fifty:
Let’s hope Boston Herald Radio’s second anniversary headline is, We’re Number 35! We’re Number 35!
Good luck, guys, and happy anniversary.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Ann Romney, Boston Herald, Boston Herald Radio, firsty local tabloid, Frontier Fifty, Gary Sinese, Joe Battenfeld, Joe Sciacca, Leonard Nimoy, Megan Fox, Pat Purcell, Rand Paul, Stephen Lynch, Talkers Magazine, Walt Whitman | Permalink
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Exhibit Umpteen in the Boston Herald’s perpetual dis-ad-vantage appears in today’s Boston Globe. (In two parts for legibility.)
So why would’t the fine folks at UFCW Local 1445 run the same ad in the feisty local tabloid? The harddialing staff called to ask just that and . . . we got voicemail. We’ll keep you posted.
Meanwhile, the union snub come in the wake of Nike’s giving the Herald the air (but not the Air) on Tuesday when it ran this ad in the Globe to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Joan Benoit’s groundbreaking run in the first women’s Olympic Marathon.
Man, the thirsty local tabloid can’t get any love, can it?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Arthur T. Demoulas, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Celine Blaisdell, first Women's Olympic Marathon, Joan Benoit, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Linda Giacobbe, Market Basket, Nike, Stop and Shop, thirsty local tabloid, UFCW Local 1445, United Food and Commercial Workers | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
The screenshots say it all today.
The stately local broadsheet:
(Headline on the jump: “Overdue renovations give State House splendor.”
The feisty local tabloid:
That’s all, folks.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Deval Deluxe, renovations, State House | Permalink
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From our You Never Call, You Never Write desk
There’s been a lot of hoopla about the Super PAC called Mass Forward, which has been ad-whacking gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley (D-The Weeds) on behalf of gubernatorial hopeful Steve Grossman (D-Everywhere Else). State lawmakers passed a law last week forcing independent expenditure groups to disclose their donors, and the latest ad from Mass Forward does.
Freeze-frame with disclosure:
Of course the name that jumps right out at you – and the local dailies – is Shirley Grossman. Subsequently this Matt Stout piece appeared in the Boston Herald delivered to the hardreading staff this morning.
A woman with the same name as the mother of state treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Steve Grossman is among the top donors to a Super PAC backing his candidacy.
But the Grossman campaign is refusing to confirm whether the Shirley Grossman listed as a leading contributor to the Mass Forward Super PAC is Grossman’s mother, whose name is also Shirley Grossman . . .
Grossman’s campaign acknowledged that the candidate’s mother has the same name, but otherwise declined comment.
But here’s what’s on the Herald website (and in later editions of the paper) now, complete with That’s Just So Mean! photo:
Steve Grossman’s mom a top donor for Super PAC
State Treasurer Steve Grossman’s 92-year-old mom is a leading donor to a super PAC backing his gubernatorial campaign, the candidate confirmed last night.
“I can tell you, having had the first and only conversation I’ll have with my mother about her contribution this afternoon, she said, ‘Yeah, it was me. I do what I believe is appropriate with my money.’ I said you’re entitled to do what you want, I don’t want to know anything else.”
Grossman said he made the call after donor names were released in a PAC ad, and news broke on Bostonherald.com that his mother was a donor. He said neither he nor his campaign aides were previously aware of her donation, which prompted their cryptic response yesterday, when they would only confirm that Shirley Grossman is his mother’s name. He said he didn’t ask how much she donated.
Crosstown, the Boston Globe had the bright idea of going straight to the source from the start, resulting in this Akilah Johnson piece:
New law identifies Super PAC donors
A new state campaign finance law forced the release of the top five donors to a political action committee supporting state Treasurer Steve Grossman’s gubernatorial bid. Among them: his mother.
“I’m not young. I’m old, and I haven’t been able to do anything for the campaign, and I believe in Steve,” Shirley Grossman said in an interview. “I thought it over. I’m 92 years old. What could I do? I can’t go house to house.”
So, she decided to write a check to the Mass Forward political action committee.
On Monday, she wouldn’t say how much she had contributed, describing it only as “a lot of money.”
The moral of this story: Call your (or someone else’s) mother.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Akilah Johnson, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Colette Phillips, Martha Coakley, Mass Forward, Matt Stout, OCPF, Shirley Grossman, Steve Grossman | Permalink
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Well the hardreading staff opened up our costly home-delivered Boston Globe this morning and here’s what we found on Page One of the Sports section:
Seriously? A thumbsucker on Clay Buchholz? All due respect to Nick Cafardo, but where the hell’s the game report?
Answer: In a later edition than the one we got this ayem.
Usually, it’s the Boston Herald that’s missing the action, but today the feisty local tabloid was on the money for a change. Back page:
And it wasn’t just last night’s ballgame where the Globet was a day late.
From our Late to the Wedding Party desk comes this item from today’s Names column:
Right, “as reported over the weekend” – IN THE BOSTON HERALD. ON PAGE ONE.
New slogan for the late-ly local broadsheet: Half the News That’s Fit to Print.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Cheryl Hines, Clay Buchholz, Hyannis Port, Inside Track, Jeremy Sisto, Julia Louis-Dreyus, Larry David, New York Yankees, Nick Cafardo, Red Sox, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Romona Keveza, Taylor Swift | Permalink
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It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 