As you splendid readers might recall, the hardreading staff noted yesterday the Boston Herald’s promotion of its new feature, The Chic Sheet, which promises to “give readers an inside look at Boston’s most giving, gracious and stylish individuals who have mastered the art of being chic.”
We ended yesterday’s post this way:
Raise your hand if you can’t wait for tomorrow.
Same here.
Apparently someone at the frosty local tabloid took offense at that, because exactly zero Heralds were delivered to the Global Worldwide Headquarters today.
Undaunted, we hereby present said Chic Sheet from today’s edition of the Herald.
So much for trying to freeze us out. Hey, Heraldniks: Don’t try pulling this sheet again, eh?
The hardreading staff has long been dedicated to bringing all you splendid readers what’s most distinctive in the local dailies, and today we have a twofer in the ad department.
Start with the Boston Globe, which featured this sixth-page ad on paste A5 (it also ran in yesterday’s Metro section).
We count eight names overall between the two in the happy couple. That’s a lotta class, eh?
But why run the ad in the Globe? The lede supplies a lead:
Plug Renata von Tscharner into the Googletron and you get this: Renata von Tscharner, founder andp resident, Charles River Conservancy. Mystery solved.
Crosstown at the Boston Herald, though, the mystery lingers in this ad, which has run several times in the past month, including today.
We count zero eyes between the two in the happy couple. Plug The Chic Sheet into the Googletron and you come across this Herald promo, which seems to have appeared only online.
The Chic Sheet launching June 9
The Chic Sheet is the Herald’s new annual celebration of style and spirit.
Launching on June 9, the feature will give readers an inside look at Boston’s most giving, gracious and stylish individuals who have mastered the art of being chic.
The selfie local tabloid also includes this informative video.
Our Walt Whitman desk is normally the sole province of the Boston Herald, but today it’s not the selfie local tabloid that’s celebrating itself and singing itself.
It’s the Boston Globe that’s passing off promotional material as bylined news.
The Boston Globe has announced plans for a sports awards program that will honor the best of Boston and New England sports. The Globies Presented by Mercedes-Benz will be held Oct. 6 at House of Blues in Boston.
Awards will be given in a variety of categories, including MVPs of the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, Celtics, and Revolution, the Boston Pride Award, Community Hero, and Best Female Athlete.
“New England has one of the world’s most passionate sports fan bases and we want to create a new tradition to celebrate the teams and individuals that fuel our passion while forging a stronger connection with those fans,” said Globe CEO Mike Sheehan.
Not to mention with Mercedes-Benz.
Globe staffer Matt Pepin drew the short straw and had to write the puff piece, which includes more slop from Sheehan: “We are grateful to our principal partner, the Boston Area Mercedes-Benz Dealers, for leading the efforts to make this vision a reality, as well as our presenting sponsor MGM Springfield, a company with deep roots in sports and entertainment.”
Ah, that explains it – the Globies are a vision. All the more regrettable that it blurs the line between news and marketing.
Perhaps the stately local broadsheet should consider hiring a VP/Optometry for just these visionary occasions.
As the masthead warned us, the Boston Globe has freshened up its editorial/opinion pages for whatever reason (maybe a focus group?).
From yesterday’s edition of the stately local broadsheet:
Modern! Easy! Excellent!
Today’s edition of the Globe features the great unveiling. Left-hand page:
Right-hand page:
So, for example, Decoder, the explainer with a point of view, quite logically starts out with the umpteenth example of Boston as the Can’t Do city.
Under the Bridge
IT WAS BORN of the Big Dig, so perhaps it’s no surprise that it has taken so long for the Lynch Family Skatepark to break ground. The Charles River Conservancy first announced the project in 2004, with seed money from skateboarder Tony Hawk and a sense that Boston’s skateboard underground, maligned and sometimes misunderstood, deserved a concrete paradise of its own.
One thing that struck the hardreading staff: Only one editorial instead of the two or three in the old, unfreshened format. That, of course, might change. We’ll see.
But this also strikes us: The hardy few readers who actually do venture onto the opinion pages of the Globe are almost assuredly more interested in the content than the packaging. We’ll see about that as well.
Talbots, Adriana Cohen help unemployed women find Success
Fashion is all about looking good. Who knew it can be used to do good, too?
Starting today, I’m going to be wearing stunning spring ensembles provided by Hingham-based retailer Talbots on my Boston Herald Radio show, “Boston Herald Drive.”
Each day, a new outfit, and you can view every one right on the Herald’s homepage. And after I’ve worn these fabulous dresses, jewelry and accessories generously donated by Talbots, I’ll be giving them to Dress for Success in Boston.
Put aside for a moment the whole concept of showcasing “stunning spring ensembles” on radio. And ignore the factory-installed bromides such as “There’s no doubt that the fastest way out of poverty is a good paying job. It’s the surest path to prosperity and achieving the American Dream.” (Ya think?)
Why the hell is this occupying a full news page in the flouncy local tabloid?
(To be sure graf goes here)
To be sure, this is a good cause and all involved should be applauded.
In a house ad.
Not in a bylined piece by (God help us all) a newspaper columnist.
Well the hardreading staff was perusing the Boston Herald the other day when we stumbled upon this ad from Mr. Upward (Auto)Mobility Ernie Boch Jr.
That auto-promotion (a regular feature in the Bochy local tabloid) reminded us of the late, great Zareh Thomajan, the self-styled Thief of State Street.
Step up your game, son. And maybe, instead of chronicling other fabulously wealthy guys, write about the car-selling business in the same humanizing way Zareh (and Greg) wrote about the rag business.
The Fight of the Century (five years late?) is on tonight, with Floyd Mayweather Jr. facing off against Manny Pacquiao in the squared circle at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
As for the Fight of the Century advertising, the Boston Globe seems to have won the early rounds of that tilt between the local dailies.
From Friday’s edition of the Globe:
No such ad ran in Friday’s Boston Herald.
In terms of news coverage, yesterday’s fighty local tabloid did feature this Ron Borges piece.
While the stately local broadsheet ran this Callum Borchers Page One take on the fight.
The hardfighting staff looks forward to both of today’s bakeoffs. But we’re only paying for one.
The newly minted girlfriend of New England Patriot tight (usually) end Rob Gronkowski hit the highly coveted dailies double today: Inside Track in the Boston Herald, Names in the Boston Globe.
Begin with the stately local broadsheet.
She’s cheering for Benrus (and Gronk) now
Former Patriots cheerleader Camille Kostek has had a busy week on the Internet.
On Monday, TMZ broke the news that the Connecticut native was dating Patriot Rob Gronkowski. Meanwhile, it was also announced Monday that she’d been named the new ambassador for the Rhode Island company Benrus. By Tuesday afternoon, the military-inspired fashion brand had launched a new website with Kostek all over it.
And how does she feel about putting away the pompoms?
“I kind of relate myself to Vince Wilfork,” she said, of her last big gig being the Super Bowl. “There wasn’t a better way to close it out.”
Wonder if Wilfork is feeling like the Camille Kostek of Houston?
Probably not, eh?
Crosstown at the frothy local tabloid, the former communications major at Eastern Connecticut State showed that she has her priorities straight.
Former New England Patriots cheerleader Camille Kostek would like to be known as more than just the girl who has been out on a few dates with Pats one-man party Rob Gronkowski!
“I know the stuff about Rob has been in the headlines, but I’m super excited to talk about myself and my career,” Camille told the Track. “I’ve really been working hard and was working hard before I was ever able to meet him.”
Absolutely.
In contrast to the Globe, the Herald associates Kostek with the polar opposite of Vince Wilfork.
So does she take inspiration from the most famous supermodel of all: Mrs. Tom Brady?
“Oh my goodness, do I aspire to be like Gisele?” she said. “I just turned 23, I’m enjoying being young and focusing on my career. This is a super-exciting moment, but I’m just starting to blossom.”
Ouch.
So it’s not just the boyfriend who knows how to hit.
For those of you keeping score at home, that’s Herald reporters Matt Stout and Erin Smith who won a Non-Deadline Reporting award for their coverage of the state’s dreadful foster care system. Congrats to both.
Crosstown, the Boston Globe’s David Abel won a Feature Reporting award for his piece, For Richard family, loss and love. Abel has yet to get a shoutout from the stately local broadsheet, but we’ll give him one here.
When the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots went to the White House for the customary presidential pat on the back, here’s what they got to kick off the festivities.
Pats coach Bill Belichick isn’t the only one who gave Obama’s lame joke the thumbs down. Today’s Boston Herald is in Full Snit over the Deflategate dis.
It was a day that should have belonged to the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, but in a reversal of last February’s fortune it came to a dramatic and sudden halt.
Interception, Obama.
The president called a very different play as the champs gathered at the White House South Lawn to accept an attaboy for their Super Bowl victory.
But the egotist in chief made it all about him.
“I usually tell a bunch of jokes at these events,” he mused, “but with the Patriots in town I was worried that 11 of 12 of them would fall flat.”
That one sure did.
Back at the frosty local tabloid, sports scribe Karen Guregian also weighed in.
Just like so many people at this point, the leader of the free world can’t help but chuckle at what this is, and what it’s become. So right out of the gate, he set the tone for the Patriots visit by taking a poke at Deflategate, and it became the theme of the day with Pats tight end Rob Gronkowski later piling on . . .
When Gronk was asked if he had enjoyed himself before the president’s speech, perhaps with a beverage or two, Gronk drew on Obama’s Deflategate remark.
“No, there was no drinking,” he said. “Maybe the president was wasted from his deflate joke. We’re still wondering as an organization about that, right?”
(To be fair graf goes here)
To be fair, Guregian’s column was mostly about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s foot-dragging in his investigation into the pigskin rumpus. Regardless, look for the umbrage-industrial complex to continue Obama-bashing for awhile.
Crosstown at the Boston Globe, Ben Volin’s piece about Pats players (as well as owner Robert Kraft and Belichick) visiting wounded vets at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center was the main story today:
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