Different Cos and Effect in Boston Dailies

February 7, 2015

From our One Town, Two Different Worlds desk

The Boston Herald has been making hay-hay-hay over the Bill Cosby rumpus in advance of his two performances this weekend at the Wilbur Theatre. Yesterday the not-so-funnyman got front-page treatment in the feisty local tabloid.

 

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And today Cosby gets his say in Gayle Fee’s Page 2 piece:

Bill Cosby has defiant message for foes

Bill Cosby

Accused sexual predator Bill Cosby yesterday responded to Boston critics who plan to protest his shows at The Wilbur Theatre tomorrow, saying “Hey, Hey, Hey — I’m far from finished,” igniting even more anger from advocates calling for him to cancel the appearances.

“Dear Fans: GOD has Blessed me with a wonderful gift to share with all of you,” Cosby said in a statement released to the Herald. “For 53 years I have continued to master this gift, which heals the soul and warms hearts. Laughter! I thank you, the theatre staff (Wilbur Theatre), the event organizers and the Boston Community for your continued support and coming to experience family, fun entertainment. Hey, Hey, Hey — I’m Far From Finished.”

 

Oy Oy, Oy.

Beyond that, Herald scribe Joe Fitzgerald gives the protestors a bit of a dressing-down in his column today.

Angry mob wrong to try to go after easy target in Bill Cosby

While Bill Cosby is preparing for a couple of shows at The Wilbur Theatre tomorrow, a group of protesters is making its preparations, too, putting final touches on placards it intends to wave along busy, snow-packed Tremont Street.

They want us to know how very upset they are about violence toward women.Bill Cosby

Please. Who isn’t? They’re not the only ones on that high road.

But they could have made more of a statement and been less of a nuisance just a few days earlier when a Superior Court judge, E. Susan Garsh, had the audacity to lecture a mother — “Maintain your emotions. You are not to cry!” — when the latter was about to view a photo of her murdered son’s lifeless body displayed on a table.

 

Fitzgerald’s bottom line:

He’s been accused of bad stuff, but never charged, much less convicted, which doesn’t seem to matter to those who’ll gather to pass judgment tomorrow . . .

Cos has a right to be on that stage tomorrow, and those who still find him amusing and admirable have a right to enjoy the show.

What is so complicated about that?

 

Don’t even know where to begin . . .

Crosstown at the Boston Globe, meanwhile, there has been zero coverage in the print edition over the past few days.

 

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There is, however, this posted on the web:

Activists to protest Bill Cosby performance at Wilbur

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Activists are gearing up for protests at the two Bill Cosby shows at The Wilbur Theater, hoping to call attention to allegations that Cosby sexually assaulted more than two dozen women throughout his career.

“We plan on protesting as long as the show is scheduled to continue,” said Brandie Skorker of Boston, who began organizing the demonstration in January and now has the backing of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.
Cosby is scheduled to perform two back-to-back shows at the Tremont Street venue, beginning at 5 p.m. Tickets are still on sale. Wilbur officials could not be reached for comment.

 

Huh – ’cause theater owner and promoter Bill Blumenreich had plenty to say to the Herald’s Fee yesterday. We’ll see which paper gets the last laugh after tomorrow’s shows.


Boston Globe Is in the Tank for Bill Belichick

February 6, 2015

Actually, that’s not entirely accurate (hey – we all need clicks). Today’s Boston Globe features this in the Tank McNamara comic strip:

 

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Haters gonna Hatriot, eh? They’re the New England Cheaters for as long as Brady/Belichick are around. Not to mention the Kraft family.

Then again, now that we have mentioned them, the Krafties finally did the right thing and ran this ad in today’s Boston Herald.

 

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The thirsty local tabloid plastered it on Page 3. Cheers, yes?


Steve Buckley Is Dan Shaughnessy’s Caddy

February 6, 2015

From our Late to the Victory Party desk

In the wake of the New England Patriots’ improbable Super Bowl win, it’s all over but the touting . . . of Boston as Titletown.

The Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy on Wednesday.

How do Boston’s nine 21st century championships rank?

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Fifteen years. Nine duck boat parades. All four sports.

The New England Sports High Renaissance of the 21st century continues.

So many memories. So many datelines: New Orleans, Houston, St. Louis, Jacksonville, Denver, Vancouver, Glendale, and, of course, right at home in Boston.

No city has ever enjoyed a period of sports success like this. So let’s do what no one else can do: Let’s rank them.

 

And so he does.

And so does the Boston Herald’s Steve Buckley . . . a day later.

 

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Close-up:

 

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The Boston Herald: A day late, a dollar-fifty short.


Robert Kraft Hates the Boston Herald

February 5, 2015

Boston’s collective hangover after yesterday’s Patriots Victory Parade is even more headpounding at the Boston Herald, which got stiffed today by the entire Kraft family.

Here’s what the Super Bowl champs ran in today’s Boston Globe:

 

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And here’s what they ran in the thirsty local tabloid:

 

 

 

 

 

At least the Krafts spread the love on Monday, running this ad in both local dailies:

 

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Dunno what the Herald did to tick them off in the interim but once again, Dis-advantage: Herald.


Snow Difference in Hub Cartoonists’ Pats Congrats

February 4, 2015

From our late to the Super Bowl Party desk

As the hardreading staff . . . Two-Cartoonist Town . . . and etc., it’s always interesting when the Wasserman/Holbert-Industrious Complex addresses the same topic on the same day.

Exhibit Umpteen was Tuesday’s post-Pats Super Ball.

Boston Globe’s Dan Wasserman:

 

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Boston Herald’s Jerry Holbert:

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Let the Duck Boat Rumpus begin!


Boston Herald: Our Business Is Catchin’ Kerry

January 30, 2015

Another day, another snow job in the frosty local tabloid.

And – special bonus – it’s about one of the Herald’s favorite punching bags: Long Jawn Kerry.

Start, as usual, with Page One:

 

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A story this monumental, of course, deserves the high-priced spears inside the paper.

 

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(Is it just us, or does Kerry always look like his head was pasted on his shoulders by a cross-eyed graphic artist?)

We’ll spare you Howie Carr(toon)’s lame jokes and tired insults, as well as the pious musings of Fr. Flynn. Suffice it to say, it’s a pile alright – just not of snow.

Crosstown at the Boston Globe, the story got the play it truly deserved: Metro page 5.

 

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File under: Snow big deal.


The Fix Is In? No Love for Boston Herald in WashPost Top Political Reporters List

January 28, 2015

Washington Post reporter Chris Cillizza posted this on his political blog The Fix today.  (Tip o’ the pixel to Dan Kennedy at Media Nation.)

The Fix’s 2015 list of best state political reporters

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The most under-appreciated reporters in the political world are the scribes covering state and local politics. They rarely get the attention of their colleagues at the national level but are often covering the very politicians and national trends that come to impact the broad political landscape.

Every two years (or so), I like to honor these reporters with a look at the best of the best from each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. The list below was built almost entirely on recommendations from the Fix community — here on the blog, on Twitter at #fixreporters and on Facebook. A few of my personal favorites are included as well.

 

Skim down about halfway and here’s what you find:

 

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Conspicuous by its absence? That’s right – the Herald. Granted, this was a beauty pageant judged by political junkies who gravitate toward the Washington Post, but it’s unlikely ideology was the driving force here. It just might be that people fail to take the flighty local tabloid seriously anymore.

As for us, we don’t know Jim Hand’s work, but there’s no one here we’d pull to plug a Heraldnik into the mix. They just don’t really belong. Then again, that’s pretty much how they like it.


Boston Dailies Cover Themselves in . . . Snow

January 28, 2015

From our Late to the Snowball Party desk

The hardreading staff did not, understandably, receive its daily papers Tuesday morning and we’ve been otherwise occupied until now, but we figured we should at least give a nod to the local dailies’ front pages on Day One of Boston’s latest snowmageddon.

Boston Globe:

 

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Boston Herald:

 

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Further details might – or might not – emerge.

Stay warm and dry.


Boston Globe Coverage ‘Palin’ vs. Herald Sarahfest

January 26, 2015

From our One Town, Two Different Worlds desk

Well the GOP had its first 2016 Iowa Presidential Cotillion over the weekend and say, it was . . . swill.

All the GOP kids were there (but not the adults: Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney), including Sarah Palin (R-Drunken Brawl), who got this coverage in James Pindell’s Boston Sunday Globe piece.

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin got a standing ovation for a speech in which she referred to President Obama as “a little boy.”

 

Versus this play in the Sunday Boston Herald, starting with Page One.

 

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Then the high-priced spread inside:

 

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Read it at your own peril. (But notice the do-me boots lower left.)

Just for scale, this New York Times piece by Ashley Parker and Trip Gabriel buried Palin in the 29th – and final – graf.

The gathering, called the Iowa Freedom Summit and held at the Hoyt Sherman Place theater, represented a return of the full political roadshow to the state. The forum drew more than 100 out-of-state journalists and a long list of Republican figures. On Friday, Sarah Palin ran into Newt Gingrich; his wife, Callista; and Mr. King in a hotel lobby, where onlookers quickly mobbed them.

 

Not to get technical about it, but Donald Trump got higher play than Palin in the Times. Draw your own conclusions.

Back in Boston, leave it, as often, to Herald columnist Kimberly Atkins to restore some sobriety to the tipsy local tabloid. Under the headline “Entry Trumps all silliness,” Atkins writes today that a Palin presidential campaign is only slightly less absurd than a Trump run.

[A]s absurd as a Palin candidacy sounds, at least her name has appeared on a national ballot. Not only has Trump never run a successful political campaign, his multiple corporate bankruptcy filings belie his claims of robust business acumen, which I assume would be his main presidential selling point.

 

Crosstown, the Globe’s Pindell has this follow-up story on the web (we couldn’t find it in our print editions). Apparently, the Palindrone won’t be stopping anytime soon.


University to Boston Herald: Suffolk You!

January 21, 2015

As the hardreading staff has dutifully chronicled, the Boston Herald has been a satellite campus of Suffolk University for years now, including – but not limited to – their joint Press Party Wayne’s World webcast, their Race for Governor tag-teaming of the 2014 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, their Inside the Race for Mayor for the 2013 Boston mayoral race, the John Nucci Connection (sounds like a ’60s British Invasion band, no?), and etc.

So imagine our surprise when this ad turned up not in the bestie local tabloid, but in the Boston Globe.

 

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Inspire that, Heraldniks. Right where it hurts.

Some success story . . .