April 10, 2016
Well tomorrow is the Red Sox home opener and, say, there’s rejoicing throughout the land – including in today’s Boston Globe Sports section, which features this full-page ad.
You know what comes next: The ad did not run in today’s Boston Herald, sports section or otherwise.
Well, you might say, that’s because the flimsy local tabloid has managed the improbable feat of having a circulation that’s smaller on Sunday than on weekdays. The Herald claims 96,403 daily and 75,405 Sunday circulation, but here’s what the Herald published last fall:
Note the Total Paid Distribution: 60,212. And that was on a Friday.
So let’s use the Herald’s own ratio and estimate Sunday circulation around 50,000. That should make a Sunday ad in the Herald less expensive, not less likely.
But apparently NESN has all the viewers it needs.
So nothing for the thirsty local tabloid.
That’s just sad, with a capital A-D.
Leave a Comment » | 
Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Red Sox, flimsy local tabloid, Home Opener, NESN, Sunday circulation, thirsty local tabloid, weekday circulation | 
Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 10, 2016
What’s with the Boston Herald?
As the hardreading staff noted last month, the Herald resolutely refused to cover the Boston Globe’s Chernobylesque home delivery meltdown earlier this year. The Globe itself labeled it a “delivery debacle,” which we wrote “should be mother’s milk to the thirsty local tabloid but . . . nothing.”
Now comes the juicy memo from Globe editor Brian McGrory (first reported on Thursday in the redoubtable Dan Kennedy’s Media Nation) announcing a “no-sacred-cows analysis of our newsroom and what the Globe should look like in the future.”
McGrory framed it this way: “If a wealthy individual [who, presumably, is not John Henry] was to give us funding to launch a news organization designed to take on The Boston Globe, what would it look like?”
Regardless, don’t you want to hear the flamey local tabloid’s answer to that question? But over the past few days the Heraldniks have given us . . . bupkis.
Some speculate that the Herald has been laying off the Globe because the Globe prints the Herald. But that deal’s been in effect for three years and didn’t keep Herald columnist Howie Carr from lambasting the Globe for its Tsarnaev brothers coverage.
So why is the feisty local tabloid AWOL now?
All suggestions gladly accepted.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Brian McGrory, Chernobylesque, Dan Kennedy, feisty local tabloid, flamey local tabloid, Heraldniks, home delivery meltdown, John Henry, Media Nation | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 9, 2016
When we last saw Alan (Claus von Bugle) Dershowitz in the local press, he was passing judgment on a judicial nomination.
Alan Dershowitz rules in favor of Sarah Palin as TV judge
There’s been some guffawing about Sarah Palin’s prospective job as a TV judge — the former Republican vice presidential candidate has a production deal to preside over a courtroom a la “Judge Judy” — but Alan Dershowitz, for one, thinks it’s a great idea.
“There are judges all over the country who make Sarah Palin look like Oliver Wendell Holmes,” the Harvard Law professor emeritus told us last week. “The point is we have an elevated — and false — impression of how judges behave in the courtroom. So many of them scream and yell and are abusive.
Not Dersh’s most judicious opinion, eh? But the Star Bucks Barrister is faring better in today’s Boston Globe.
Sex allegations against Dershowitz called mistake
Two plaintiffs’ lawyers admitted Friday that they made “a mistake” when they accused famed attorney Alan Dershowitz of having sex with their client when she was a minor.
The admission came in a joint statement released by the lawyers, Paul G. Cassell and Bradley J. Edwards, and 
Dershowitz to settle defamation suits the two sides filed against one another in state court in Florida.
“Edwards and Cassell acknowledge that it was a mistake to have filed sexual misconduct accusations against Dershowitz,” the statement said. “[A]nd the sexual misconduct accusations made in all public filings … are hereby withdrawn. Dershowitz also withdraws his accusations that Edwards and Cassell acted unethically.”
Glad we got that sorted. Crosstown, however, the Boston Herald reported nothing of the sort.
Hey, Dersh – so sue them, yeah?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Alan Dershowitz, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Bradley J. Edwards, Claus von Bugle, Judge Judy, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Paul G. Cassell, Sarah Palin, Star Bucks Barrister | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 7, 2016
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Ain’t Sayin’) is unquestionably a political force on the national scene. But now she’s a comic book “Force” as well, although that means very different things in today’s Boston dailies.
Boston Globe:
Nice little promo for the book and the senior senator.
Crosstown at the Boston Herald, columnist Howe Carrtoon mails in – predictably – a very different take, which you can read if you like, although we don’t recommend it.
Liz and let Liz, eh?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Carrie Fisher, Cher, Condoleeza Rice, Elizabeth Warren, Female Force, Gabrielle Giffords, Howie Carr, Howie Carr(toon), Storm Entertainment | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 7, 2016
As the hardreading staff has previously noted, the BostonGlobe.com search box is the ultimate digital black hole.
Exhibit Umpteen: Yesterday the Missus said, “Hey – remember that self-portrait of Ellen Day Hale we saw at the MFA the other day? Sebastian Smee wrote about it today in the Boston Globe.”
So we scurried over to BostonGlobe.com to check it out. And got this from a search for “Sebastian Smee.”
Seriously?
So we hied ourselves to Google News and got this.
Hale’s magnetic, mesmerizing ‘Self-Portrait’
There’s blood in that pale, sinewy hand. Blood and resolve. Idle for now, it won’t stay that way for long. It’s poised for action.
The hand belonged to Ellen Day Hale, who painted it herself in 1885.
It’s part of a self-portrait, one of the best in the Museum of Fine Arts, where it hangs in the Art of the Americas Wing, in a gallery devoted to the so-called Boston School.
It is, as we’ve come to expect from Sebastian Smee, a thoroughly smart and insightful piece. It’s also a piece you’ll never find via the Globe’s online search engine.
Are we the only ones who think that’s a travesty?
Not to mention an actionable case of media malpractice.
Hey, Sebastian Smee – you feelin’ this?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: 'Self-Portrait', Boston Globe, Boston School, Ellen Day Hale, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, search engine, Sebastian Smee, the Missus | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 5, 2016
The ride-hailing service Uber isn’t exactly getting great press these days, even in Boston, where an Uber driver struck a pedestrian in the Fenway area last night.
That’s good news for local cab drivers, who take to the front page of today’s Boston Herald to flag Uber’s problems.
Interestingly, there’s no indication of who paid for the ad.
Travis Bickle, maybe?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: "Taxi Driver", Boston Herald, Boston taxi drivers, Martin Scorcese, Robert DeNiro, Travis Bickle, Uber | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 4, 2016
From our Local Dailies DisADvantage desk
The much-heralded arrival of GE headquarters in Boston has been all about the money, and today’s headlines are no different. From the Boston Business Journal:
GE to donate tens of millions to Boston schools, health care centers
General Electric committed Monday to donating $50 million over the next five years to Boston public schools, workforce training programs and local health care centers, ahead of an event this afternoon with politicians and business leaders welcoming the global conglomerate to the city. 
The company’s foundation (NYSE: GE) will give $25 million to Boston Public Schools for computer science courses, classes to prepare students to enter college and the workforce, and the creation of a program called GE Brilliant Career Labs that gives students access to manufacturing technology and software.
Another $15 million will go toward training workers at 22 community health centers around Greater Boston in the areas of technology, leadership and specialty care, while GE will reserve $10 million for programs for “diverse students,” including training and externships for students in Lynn, Fall River and other cities and towns outside of the Boston metro area.
Not to mention tens of thousands of dollars for this full-page ad in today’s edition of the Boston Globe.
The small type: “GE and Boston are the perfect combination to usher in a new digital industrial revolution. We’re proud to call the city that never stops making history our new home.”
But, apparently, not proud enough to run its ad in the Boston Herald.
Hey, GEniks: You’re moving to a two-daily town. Show the thirsty local tabloid some love, eh?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Business Journal, Boston Globe, Boston headquarters, Boston Herald, Boston Public Schools, GE, GE Brilliant Career Labs, General Electric, Local Dailies DisADvantage, tax breaks, thirsty local tabloid | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 1, 2016
From time to time the hardreading staff issues credit reports on the stories the Boston dailies appropriate from one another. For example, yesterday we noted that Boston Globe reporter Joshua Miller’s Political Happy Hour gave a credit and a link to Herald columnist Joe Battenfeld’s scoop on the latest dustup between Suffolk University trustees and President Margaret McKenna.
We’re dismayed to report, however, that the frosty local tabloid declined to return the favor today in Donna Goodison’s piece about the redevelopment of the Seaport District’s Pier 4.
Pier 4’s peerless design
Tishman Speyer released new renderings for its Pier 4 project in the Seaport District that will include a nine-story, 100-unit luxury condo building and 13-story office building, both with ground-floor retail and restaurant space.
The New York company plans to demolish the former Anthony’s Pier 4 restaurant next week to make room for a one-acre park and half-acre public plaza as part of its development on the South Boston waterfront.
That piece comes in the wake of Tim Logan’s far superior one that appeared in Wednesday’s Globe.
No mention of the Globe’s piece in today’s stingy local tabloid, though.
C’mon, Heraldniks: Be a mensch, eh?
P.S. Boston Magazine’s Kyle Scott Clauss also picked up on the story today, but – to his credit – he did give credit to the Globe.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Andrew Meyer, Anthony's Pier 4, board of trustees, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston magazine, Donna Goodison, firsty local tabloid, George Regan, Jim Morris, Joe Battenfeld, John McDonnell, Joshua Miller, Kyle Scott Clauss, Laura Krantz, like Brown on Williamson, Marty Walsh, Monica Barrett, Pier 4, Political Happy Hour, Rasky Baerlein, Regan Communications Group, Regan-omics, Seaport District, stingy local tabloid, Suffolk University, Tim Logan, Tishman Speyer | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
March 31, 2016
As the hardreading staff has duly noted, Boston Herald communist Joe Battenfeld has been on Suffolk University’s slow-motion defenestration of President Margaret McKenna like Brown on Williamson.
Exhibit Umpteen: Battenfeld’s piece today on the newest salvo in the McKenna rumpus.
New Suffolk offensive
In a new escalation of the nasty war over control of Suffolk University, the school’s trustees are launching an independent probe into allegations of misspending by 
President Margaret McKenna after she balked at cooperating with an internal investigation, sources told the Herald.
The trustees’ decision to investigate came after another attorney engaged by the board concluded the school had to “thoroughly investigate” charges of fiscal impropriety against McKenna brought by public relations maven George Regan after she terminated his longtime contract with Suffolk.
Yeah – those lessons in Regan-omics will get you every time. Turns out in this case, McKenna is collateral damage in the PR poobah’s gold rush.
[Board of Trustees Chair Andrew] Meyer told trustees last week that the school’s executive committee sought an outside opinion from a New York attorney, Monica Barrett, on how to respond to Regan’s charges and his demand for compensation for being fired.
Barrett’s advice to conduct a serious investigation prompted trustees to approach McKenna, sources said, but she didn’t immediately give them access to her expense records. But sources close to McKenna strongly deny she’s refusing to cooperate.
Crosstown, the Boston Globe had nothing on the story in today’s print edition, but reporter Joshua Miller picked up on it in his Political Happy Hour blog post this afternoon:
UNENDING SUFFOLK U BOARD DRAMA, by Joe Battenfeld on page 3 of today’s Boston Herald: “In a new escalation of the nasty war over control of Suffolk University, the school’s trustees are launching an independent probe into allegations of misspending by President Margaret McKenna after she balked at cooperating with an internal investigation, sources told the Herald. …” http://bit.ly/21UJqyL
Hey – a credit and a link?
They must be pretty happy at the firsty local tabloid, eh?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Andrew Meyer, board of trustees, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, firsty local tabloid, George Regan, Jim Morris, Joe Battenfeld, John McDonnell, Joshua Miller, Laura Krantz, like Brown on Williamson, Marty Walsh, Monica Barrett, Political Happy Hour, Rasky Baerlein, Regan Communications Group, Regan-omics, Suffolk University | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
March 31, 2016
From our Late to the Party of the First Part desk
James “Whitey” Bulger has always been two different people in the Boston dailies. See: Mike (Jimmy didn’t allow heroin in South Boston) Barnicle for details.
But that was then. And this is now, when it’s all over but the routing of Bulger’s assets to his victims.
From Wednesday’s Boston Globe:
Bulger assets added to victim fund
Stanley Cup ring, cash, benefits seized
James “Whitey” Bulger’s Social Security benefits, his replica Stanley Cup ring, and $50,000 he stashed in a London safe deposit box have been added to a growing pile of assets that were seized from the gangster and will be divided among the families of his victims, according to court filings.
Federal prosecutors urged a judge Monday to issue an order paving the way for an auction by the US Marshals Service of dozens of items seized from Bulger’s Santa Monica, Calif., apartment following his capture in June 2011.
It’s a very different picture in Wednesday’s Boston Herald:
Bulger victim: Auction will give me ‘peanuts’
The widow of Revere nightclub owner Richard Castucci — who rubbed elbows with Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack until James “Whitey” Bulger ordered him shot in the head 40 years ago — will reap “peanuts” from a class-action settlement with the feds and little more from an auction of the mob kingpin’s worldly possessions, her lawyer claims.
“Mrs. Castucci just wanted to get this chapter in her life closed,” Sandra Castucci’s lawyer Michael Laurano said yesterday after the Herald reported U.S. Attorney Carmen M.
Ortiz had petitioned a federal judge to order the sale of “any and all other personal property” the FBI seized from Bulger’s Santa Monica, Calif., hideout in 2011. The lots are to include a replica ring from the 1986 Stanley Cup championship, art, furniture, electronics, clothing, books and coins, but not dozens of firearms, a grenade, a stun gun, eight knives and ammunition fated to be destroyed.
Back at the Boston Globe, another widow was more . . . measured.
Patricia Donahue, whose husband, Michael, was shot to death by Bulger in 1982, said she was pleased that the government was continuing to track Bulger’s assets and surprised to hear that the notorious gangster was eligible for Social Security.
“I never knew the man worked,” Donahue said. “Nothing surprises me when it comes to ‘Whitey’ Bulger.”
Or when it comes to Whitey Bulger coverage, eh?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Carmen Ortiz, FBI, James "Whitey" Bulger, Michael Donahue, Michael Laurano, Mike Barnicle, Patricia Donahue, Richard Castucci, Sandra Castucci, Stanley Cup ring | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 