July 25, 2015
Yesterday the hardreading staff noted the failure of the Boston Herald to cover – or even acknowledge – the (Not So) Great Boston 2024 Debate sponsored by FOX 25 and the Boston Globe.
Coincidentally, we had also received this note from a splendid reader:
Just a thought: Fox25 used to partner often for debates with the Herald. Not last night. The Herald used to partner with Suffolk to run [David] Paleologos polling. That’s gone.
Why won’t anyone partner with the Herald anymore? Afraid of catching something?
Well, another splendid reader subsequently sent this:
I’d just like to offer a tiny factual correction to your “splendid reader’s” premise that no one partners with the scrappy tabloid anymore for fear of [Herald] cooties. Or maybe Andy Card is a thrill seeker who likes to stare the danger of catching acute Heraldylococcus in the face:
http://franklinpierce.edu/about/news/Herald-Pierce-Innovative-Partnership.htm
Not to get technical about it, eh?
On a sad side note, this went out on the Twitters yesterday afternoon.
No reporters affected, but bad news regardless.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: @dankennedy_nu, @HeraldWorkers, @reillyadam, Andy Card, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Olympics Debate, Fox 25, Franklin Pierce University, Romenesko | 
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 24, 2015
Last night’s less-than-Olympian debate on Boston 2024 gets lots of coverage in today’s news media.
Co-sponsor Boston Globe, of course, has it top of Page One.
The other cosponsor, FOX 25, showcases viewer reactions on its website. (Video of debate here.)
Other local news outlets also provided debate coverage.
But not the Boston Herald. The hissy local tabloid had only some limp piece about area mayors feeling left out of the process.
Sort of like the Herald.
Coincidentally, we just received this from a splendid reader:
Just a thought: Fox25 used to partner often for debates with the Herald. Not last night. The Herald used to partner with Suffolk to run [David] Paleologos polling. That’s gone.
Why won’t anyone partner with the Herald anymore? Afraid of catching something?
Good question.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Andrew Zimbalist, Boston 2024, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Chris Dempsey, Daniel Doctoroff, David Paleologos, Fox 25, No Boston Olympics, Steve Pagliuca | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 22, 2015
As you splendid readers no doubt already know, Massachusetts General Hospital has topped this year’s U.S. News and World Report rankings after being relegated to second place for the past two years.
Now that Mass General has been restored to its former glory, it’s all over but the touting. Joining in the celebration is this full-page ad in today’s Boston Globe.
Crosstown at the Boston Herald, no love from the Kraft Family. But the Herald did have this quarter-page ad exclusive.
Of course, the Herald is one of the sponsors, so the ad – like the concerts – is free.
Hey, can’t have everything. Or in the case of the thirsty local tabloid, much of anything.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Brigham and Women's Hospital, hospital rankings, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mayor Martin J. Walsh, New England Patriots, New England Revolution, Robert Kraft, The Neighborhood Concert Series, thirsty local tabloid, U.S. News and World Report | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 14, 2015
As the hardreading staff has disclosed elsewhere, we did seven years in Ohio during a former life. Specifically, we were in Cincinnati from 1967-1974, and . . .
the one thing that kept us sane was this miniature Brooklyn Bridge across the Ohio River to Kentucky.
It’s known as the Singing Bridge because of the hum you hear as you drive across its metal grid roadbed. More important, it was John Roebling’s starter bridge before he (and his son and – especially – his daughter-in-law) built its lookalike in Brooklyn in the waning years of the 19th century. The Brooklyn Bridge was, at its opening in 1883, the tallest structure in the Western hemisphere and the longest span in the world: 1,600 feet from tower to tower.
(Fun fact to know and tell: On May 17, 1884, P. T. Barnum led 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge to prove that it was stable. For the whole fascinating story, read The Great Bridge by David McCullough, who was once described as “the Herodotus of Hydraulics.”)
Anyway, the thing that drove us most insane during our exile in Porkopolis was The Big Red Machine, that insufferable 1970s incarnation of the Cincinnati Reds, which “a number of baseball historians [have claimed] were the second greatest team ever, after the famed 1927 Yankees.”
Nonsense. Everyone knows that was the 1961 Yankees.
Regardless, the Big Red Machinist we despised most was the reptilian Pete Rose, who’s back in the spotlight this week because the disgraced betmeister has been given a pass to tonight’s All Star game in Cincinnati by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who’s also said he’ll consider lifting the lifetime ban of Rose, which could make him eligible for the Hall of Fame. Support is also coming from some of the current MLB All Stars, and from Boston Globe sportswriter Nick Cafardo, who writes sympathetically about Rose in today’s edition.
Rose issue thorny
CINCINNATI — There is no debate in this neck of the woods. Pete Rose should be reinstated. Pete Rose is a Hall of Famer. Pete Rose is “Our Bad Guy.”
Despite revelations by ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” last month that Rose also bet on baseball as a player-manager in addition to the Dowd Report saying he bet as a manager, Cincinnati has forgiven him for transgressions that got him banned from baseball 26 years ago.
So, apparently, has Cafardo.
When Rose is announced Tuesday before the All-Star Game as one of the Reds’ Franchise Four (along with Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Barry Larkin) the ovation likely will be spine-tingling.
And one wonders whether this might be the last baseball public appearance Rose will ever make.
Isn’t it time to forgive?
No it’s not. Never will be.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: 1927 Yankees, 1961 Yankees, Big Red Machine, Brooklyn Bridge, Bud Selig, Cincinnati, Craig Calcaterra, David McCullough, Hardball Talk, Herodotus of Hydraulics, history.com, John Roebling, Jon Heyman, Made Yankee Fan, NBCSports, Nick Cafardo, P.T. Barnum, Pete Rose, Porkopolis, Rob Manfred, Singing Bridge, The Great Bridge | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 13, 2015
Donald Trump – the GOP’s one-man clown car – had a good weekend, as this piece from New York’s Daily Intelligencer notes.
A Guide to Donald Trump’s Weekend Circus
Donald Trump, who is ahead or tied for the lead in three recent polls tracking GOP presidential candidates, had a very busy weekend. At campaign events Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona, Trump delivered separate but equally rambling speeches that touched upon everything from legitimate national issues to Trump’s self-assessed intelligence to a joke about ISIS trying to compete with him by building a hotel in Iraq. Said Trump, who seemed to be improvising the speeches, “You know I don’t use TelePrompTers like the president — I speak from the heart.”
Right – a heart that’s filled with the buttermilk of human kindness.
On top of his good weekend, Trump is having a good Monday in the Boston Herald. Start with Joe Fitzgerald’s column.
The Donald adds something vital to ’16 prez race
Admit it, if he walked away from the presidential race this morning there is something about Donald Trump you would miss.
Perhaps not his politics.
Maybe not his temperament.
And certainly not his hubris.
Yet, there’s something refreshing about a candidate who doesn’t measure every word, who doesn’t wait to be told by parasitic handlers what his or her positions ought to be, and who doesn’t curry favor by pretending to embrace what special interests want to hear.
In her Lone Republican column today, Holly Robichaud sounds a similar note:
At a time when Republican candidates should be talking about the economy, the national debt, cyber-security and so much more, PC police have hijacked the 2016 Republican presidential primary.
They are having a collective hissy fit over Donald Trump’s candidacy and his comments about illegal immigrants. They have falsely accused him of being a racist for having the courage to speak out against
illegal immigrants and the results of porous borders.
When Trump would not retract his statements, the media turned their focus on other GOP contenders, asking them to respond to the Donald’s comments. Now there is a push to kick Trump out of the debates.
As if it is dangerous to have free speech on the stage!
Free-of-common-decency speech, that is.
(The Unsinkable Adriana Cohen has also weighed in on Mr. We Shall Overcomb, but that reading is optional.)
One oasis of sanity in today’s Herald: Jerry Holbert’s editorial cartoon.
Any way we can ground him until Election Day?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Adriana Cohen, buttermilk of human kindness, Daily Intelligencer, Donald Trump, Holly Robichaud, Jerry Holbert, Joe Fitzgerald, Lone Republican, New York, one-man clown car, Reuters | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 10, 2015
From our Local Dailies DisADvantage desk
Departing Boston Bruins bruiser Milan Lucic sent a farewell note to Hub hockey fans in today’s Boston Globe.
The Bruins traded Lucic to the Los Angeles Kings last month for backup goaltender Martin Jones, defensive prospect Colin Miller, and the 13th pick in the 2015 draft. According to this piece by Sebastian Noren of Today’s Slapshot, the Kings have big plans for Lucic.
From all the talk that we’ve heard and read since the trade took place, Lucic will join Anze Kopitar and Marian Gaborik on the top line for the Kings. Having a wrecking ball like Lucic (that also has a knack for scoring goals) next to a playmaker of Kopitar’s caliber and a sniper like Gaborik could be a recipe for success.
In his Globe ad, Lucic thanked multiple people for his success here.
But apparently the people of Boston don’t include the Herald’s readers. No ad for the thirsty local tabloid. Again.
It’s tough playing the game shorthanded this much, yeah?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Anze Kopitar, Boston Bruins, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Local Dailies DisADvantage, Los Angeles Kings, Marion Gaborik, Milan Lucic, Sebastian Noren, thirsty local tabloid, Today's Slapshot | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 9, 2015
As the hardreading staff has noted on two occasions, the Boston Herald’s weekly Gretta Style column – written by fashion butterfly Gretta Monahan – is little more than free advertising space for Monahan’s retail store and hair salon. The problem is, it’s dressed up like editorial content.
Today’s edition:
And where would one go to seek proper hydration? To Grettacole Salon and Day Spa, of course, which gets two plugs in the piece. (This, by the way, is the third week in a row Grettasomething is the solution for all your fashion/beauty needs.)
As we previously mused, one of three scenarios is likely involved here:
1) The Herald is paying Monahan to produce these features, which is a crime against common sense.
2) Monahan is paying the Herald to produce these features, which is a crime against journalistic ethics.
3) No money is changing hands, which is a crime against Herald readers.
To discern which option is at play, we called Ms. Monahan and emailed Herald Lifestyle Editor Sandra Kent to ask two simple questions: Are there guidelines for how often Gretta Monahan can feature her store and/or salon in the column? And, is Gretta Monahan paid for producing the weekly column?
We have heard back from neither. Nor do we expect to. But the selfie local tabloid should really stop pimping out its pages this way.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Herald, Gretta Monahan, Gretta Style, Grettacole, Grettaluxe, Grettasomething, Lifestyle Editor, Sandra Kent, selfie local tabloid | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 8, 2015
From our Late to the Pill-Popping Party desk
The Scott Brown AdvoCare Rumpus just keeps getting curiouser and curiousier.
Back story, via the Boston Globe‘s Stephanie Ebbert.
Salesman Brown pursues a weight-loss constituency
It was not the sight of their former senator bare-chested that shocked Scott Brown’s Facebook followers.
They were used to that.
It was the sales pitch accompanying the before-and-after photos of his physique, crediting his recent, dramatic weight loss to a commercial nutrition and fitness plan.
Brown’s testament to the merits of AdvoCare’s “24-day challenge” was met with so many guffaws that within two hours, he posted another note, saying he is not a paid spokesman for the supplement company.
What he didn’t explain is that he’s a salesman.
Except he’s not, according to Brown’s wife Gail Huff.
From the Boston Herald’s Inside Track yesterday.
Gail launches weighty defense of hubs Scott
The wife of former Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott Brown leaped to his
defense yesterday, saying her husband was never a salesman for a controversial diet program, never intended to sell it and was only listed as a distributor of AdvoCare in order to get a 20 percent discount.
“He was never a salesman, he never made a penny from it,” Gail Huff told the Track. “At no point did he ever suggest anyone ever purchase it. He is not selling diet pills.”
That’s actually correct. Scott Brown is not selling diet pills – he’s selling diet pill distributorships.
At least according to The Daily Beast’s Olivia Nuzzi, who got this response when she asked Brown for an interview about AdvoCare.
“Olivia … Thanks for emailing me about your interest in Advocare . . . I am here to help you get started. As you can see from my story and pictures, these products from Advocare really do work.”
Further, Nuzzi wrote:
Brown is offering me the following: “20-40% off products” if I become an AdvoCare distributor; “Nutrition and Fitness guidance to maximize your results”; and “product regimens to help you reach your goals.”
Not to get technical about it, but Nuzzi’s only goal was to expose Scott Brown as a cheap grifter. Which he sorta seems to be.
Exhibit Umpteen:
I asked Brown if he had ever experienced any side effects while taking the product, and he responded, “Not at all I’ve been taking the products with Advocare for 10 years and they have treated me great. Thanks.”
10 years? On Facebook and in his email advertisement, Brown said he had been introduced to the products recently and they are what caused his weight loss.
“Keith has been taking them for 10 years through his baseball career,” Brown said when I told him his response didn’t match the rest of his story. “He turned them on to me a few months ago. Thanks.”
Yes – thanks.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: AdvoCare, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Gail Huff, Inside Track, Olivia Nuzzi, Scott Brown, Stephanie Ebbert, The Daily Beast | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 7, 2015
From our Walt Whitman desk
As the hardreading staff noted last week, the Boston Herald is plumbing new depths of journalistic malpractice with its weekly Gretta Style column, in which fashion butterfly Gretta Monahan gets to plug her retail store and her hair salon.
And as we promised, we contacted both the selfie local tabloid and Herself for comment. (We waited until yesterday because, really, how stupid is it to contact anyone on July 3rd?)
And . . . nothing.
Curious, because our email to Herald Lifestyle Editor Sandra Kent seems innocuous enough.
Dear Ms. Kent,
[We are] the author of the blog It’s Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town. [We’re] hoping you might give [us] some information about the weekly Gretta Style column in the Herald.
Are there guidelines for how often Gretta Monahan can feature her store and/or salon?
Is Gretta Monahan paid for producing the weekly column?
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[The Hardreading Staff]
Likewise, we left a message for Ms. Monahan asking for an interview.
So far, no interview.
But, as always, we’ll keep you posted.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Herald, Gretta Monahan, Gretta Style, Lifestyle Editor, Sandra Kent, selfie local tabloid | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 3, 2015
From our Walt Whitman desk
As the hardreading staff has relentlessly chronicled, the Boston Herald is excessively adept at promoting itself in the guise of news reporting. But the selfie local tabloid is blazing new trails in its weekly Gretta Style features.
Stylish logo:
Yesterday’s edition:
Soup to nuts graf:
As for what to wear, I’m all about Barbara Biu’s metallic slides ($340) paired with a Lemlem patio dress ($245), both of which you’ll find on shelves at Grettaluxe in Wellesley now . . .
And as an ode to the holiday, make sure to bring Chloe’s red, small Faye bag ($1,390, also at Grettaluxe), a perfect summer statement to match the fiery show.
Oh, yeah – don’t forget the photo caption:
So, to recap: This particular Gretta Style feature is all about Gretta Monahan’s Grettaluxe store in Wellesley.
On the other hand, last week’s feature was all about Gretta Monahan’s Grettacole hair salon in Copley Square.
Drive you nuts graf:
So, to recap again: The Boston Herald is giving over its news pages to Gretta Monahan every week so she can promote her various enterprises.
Inevitable conclusions:
1) The Herald is paying Monahan to produce these features, which is a crime against common sense.
2) Monahan is paying the Herald to produce these features, which is a crime against journalistic ethics.
3) No money is changing hands, which is a crime against Herald readers.
The headscratching staff will make some phone calls today to sort out those options, but we don’t expect anyone will talk to us.
Regardless, as always, we’ll keep you posted.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Herald, Copley Square, Gary Croteau, Gretta Monahan, Gretta Style, Grettacole, Grettaluxe, selfie local tabloid, Walt Whitman, Wellesley | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 