January 19, 2015
As you might expect in the wake of yesterday’s New England Patriots blowtorching of the Indianapolis Colts, today’s Boston dailies both have full-page ads touting a wide variety of Patsaphernalia.
Boston Herald:
Boston Globe:
But only the feisty local tabloid has this:
What’s Alex and Ani? According to its website, just this:
ALEX AND ANI is pioneering its own definition of corporate consciousness with sustainable initiatives and the creation of high quality, thoughtfully manufactured pieces. We are committed to building a culture that focuses entirely on mindful actions. Our products are hand crafted in America. Our stores are purposefully located on main streets to encourage growth in local economies.
And this caught our eye especially:
What’s the NFL connection? This NFL Collection.
Representative sample:
As the hardreading staff has mentioned, the Globe consistently kicks the Herald’s ads, so it’s nice to see the thirsty local tabloid get some love. Even if it comes from unexpected places.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Alex and Ani, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, NFL Collection, Patsaphernalia, Super Bowl | 
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 19, 2015
From our newly launched Tale of Two Lizzies desk
As the hardworking staff duly noted, the Run Warren Run crowd ran ads in New Hampshire papers the other day promoting a rally to urge U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Sort of No) to enter the 2016 presidential bakeoff.
And how many Lizziacs showed up?
Hard to tell from the Boston dailies.
James Pindell’s Boston Globe Metro piece:
In N.H., activists back run by Warren
Democrats push populist message
MANCHESTER, N.H. – They gripped signs and took T-shirts with the words “Run Warren Run,” but the 50 Democratic activists who attended the New Hampshire kick-off of an organization hoping to persuade 
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to run for president came for different reasons.
Some had already publicly committed to Hillary Clinton, should she run again for president, but want Clinton to adopt a more populist message. Others said they like it when Warren speaks out on issues like income inequality but want to learn more about her personally before backing her as a presidential candidate. A handful were interested in a potential presidential bid from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont but wonder whether he is the best person to push a progressive message.
So . . . whatever.
But crosstown at the Boston Herald, the crowd was much larger.
From Lindsay Kalter’s report:
Hope was a recurring theme at the launch rally yesterday, hosted by Democracy for America and MoveOn.org, which have promised to invest $1.25 million in Iowa and New Hampshire to convince Warren to run for president. About 250,000 people have signed a petition asking Warren to run, even though she has repeatedly said she isn’t jumping into the race.
About 125 people attended, organizers said, many donning free red, white and blue T-shirts decorated with the “Run Warren Run” logo. Sixteen locals signed up to host house parties to spread the word and convince more people to join the cause.
To recap:
A crowd roughly the size of a) The Kardashians, or b) Mitt Romney’s grandchildren showed up for Lizorama.
Sounds more like Shun Warren Shun to us.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Bernie Sanders, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Democracy for America, Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, James Pindell, Kardashians, Lindsay Kalter, Lizorama, Lizziacs, Mitt Romney, MoveOn.org, New Hampshire, Run Warren Run, Shun Warren Shun, Tale of Two Lizzies, Warrenpalooza | Permalink
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January 18, 2015
As one of the up to 17 home subscribers to the Boston Herald, the hardreading staff naturally worries for the health of the feisty local tabloid. Especially since the paper’s Sunday circulation lags significantly behind the weekday circ, a reversal of the normal pattern for daily newspapers. Of course, the Herald is nothing if not abnormal.
Today’s edition of the Herald gives cause for even more alarm. The news section has only one full-page ad and the equivalent of maybe four more pages in bits and pieces. The Sports section has even fewer. Talk about ad-nemic.
Crosstown at the Boston Globe, meanwhile, these large display ads appeared in the A section alone.
Two for Macy’s:
One for Bloomie’s:
And one for some anti-abortion outfit called Project Rachel:
Oh, yes – plus about another dozen ads that total up to around six more paid pages.
And that’s not an especially good Sunday for the stately local broadsheet.
We know Bloomingdale’s is a stretch but, Hey! Macy’s! Show the thirsty local tabloid a little love, eh?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: ad-nemic, Bloomingdale's, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Macy's, Project Rachel, thirsty local tabloid | Permalink
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January 17, 2015
Only in the ditzy local tabloid could a character like Adriana Cohen have a regular column. But we’ll get back to that in a minute.
First, Page One of the New York Times:
Then, Page One of the Boston Globe:
Just for good measure, Wall Street Journal piece by Robert Lee Hotz (you can’t make this stuff up).
Now, back to Ms. Cohen’s piece today.
Glut of climate misinformation chilling
Is a thermometer a climate denier?
It must be because according to global-warming alarmists, the Earth is heating up, which will undoubtedly cause environmental “Armageddon.”
They demand our government (aka taxpayers) spend billions fighting climate change all while politicians pass job-killing regulations in the process.
And what’s her evidence? “My car thermometer registered negative 3 degrees last week! Pipes burst in homes and heating bills soared as the dreaded ‘polar vortex’ swooped down from the Arctic.”
Really. There’s ill-informed, and then there’s resolutely ignorant.
You pick.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Adriana Cohen, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, climate change, ditzy local tabloid, New York Times, Robert Lee Hotz, Wall Street Journal | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 16, 2015
As you would expect, the tsky local tabloid is on the Boston.com rumpus like Brown on Williamson.
From Jessica Heslam:
New Boston.com editor needs cred
Boston Globe’s beleaguered online sister site, Boston.com, is reeling from its latest viral blunder, and it’s high time the rudderless ship finds an experienced captain.
Boston.com yesterday fired Victor Paul Alvarez, an associate editor who posted a story making fun of death threats against House Speaker John Boehner and accusing the Ohio Republican of being a heavy drinker with a “pickled liver” who could survive being poisoned.
Globe CEO Mike Sheehan wouldn’t comment on Alvarez’s ouster but said no other Boston.com staffers were disciplined over the site’s latest mishap.
“It’s onward and upward,” Sheehan said.
As opposed to the last month’s downward, yeah?
Heslam also reports, “A contrite Alvarez took to Twitter to address his firing — and critics. ‘The story I wrote was awful. Tasteless. Mean. Bosses felt it was inexcusable. They fired me,’ Alvarez wrote in a tweet. ‘I did not pine for murder. I made a tasteless joke that I clearly regret. Before I was fired and now.'”
And then there’s this:
Crosstown at the Boston Globe, there’s only this:
Explanation? Boston.com GM Corey Gottlieb told Heslam, “We do not comment on individual personnel matters. Any decisions made are far less about one employee than they are about the collective Boston.com team and maintaining and strengthening the standards and values they share.”
But haven’t up to this point, eh?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Globe Media Partners, boston.com, Corey Gotlieb, Jessica Heslam, John Boehner, Mike Sheehan, tsky local tabloid, Victor Paul Alvarez | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 15, 2015
Boston Globe Media Partners should launch a new vertical – maybe Clux.com? – to house all their apologies for the Globe’s kissing’ cousin, Boston.com.
You’d think – after the t-shirt hit the fan the other week – there’d be some kind of moratorium on Boston.commentary down at Morrissey Boulevard. No such luck. Yesterday one of the Boston.comics posted a piece with the headline “Would Anyone Have Noticed if Bartender Succeeded in Poisoning John Boehner?”
It included this piece of sparkling wit (via Politico’s Hadas Gold):
The question is: Would anyone have noticed? Stories about Boehner’s drinking have circulated for years. His drinking inspired a blog called DrunkBoehner, and in 2010 he brought booze back to Washington. Had he been poisoned as planned, perhaps his pickled liver could have filtered out the toxins.
That led to this media culpa at Boston.com:
Last night, an opinion piece was published on Boston.com that has since been adjusted to what you’ll see below. The original column made references to Speaker Boehner that were off-color and completely inappropriate. It reflected the opinions of one of our writers; what it did not reflect, by any standards, were the site’s collective values. Rather than remove any reference to it or pretend it didn’t happen, we are handling with transparency and self-awareness. We are sorry, and we will do better. –Corey Gottlieb, General Manager, Boston.com
Right – “adjusted.” There’s also this: “Editor’s note: A previous version of this article made an unsubstantiated reference to the health of Speaker Boehner.”
Geez – any way they could have been a little vaguer?
Regardless, it was mother’s milk to the frisky local tabloid, which piled on with this high-priced spread (special bonus Inexplicable Green Numbers!):
The Globe, for its part, featured this blandish piece in today’s Metro section.
Look for Boston GlobeSox owner John Henry to lob a neutron bomb at Boston.com. When the dust settles, he might want to consider these recommendations from the redoubtable Dan Kennedy. Just for starters.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Globe Media Partners, Boston GlobeSox, Boston Herald, boston.com, Clux.com, Corey Gotlieb, Dan Kennedy, Dylan Byers, Hadas Gold, Hilary Sargent, John Boehner, John Henry, Media Nation, Michael R. Hoyt, Michael Sheehan, Politico, t-shirt, WGBHNews | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 14, 2015
Today’s local dailies feature very special Op-Ed ValPaks – columnist + editorial cartoonist – focused on the Last Temptation of Mitt.
Start with the Boston Globe’s Scot Lehigh, who provides this summary of Mitt Romney’s Sisyphean presidential history:
Romney has run twice now, and has twice failed to demonstrate convincing campaign competence or a genuine ability to connect. And though an occasional gaffe is inevitable in a long campaign, Romney spent an astonishing amount of time munching on his own shoe leather. Further, even in the GOP’s strange 2012 callithumpian parade of candidates, he had trouble closing the deal . . .
Even by political standards, Mitt’s malleability has left him looking opportunistic and inauthentic. And for good reason: He is.
Ouch.
Lehigh’s conclusion: “For Romney, this looks less like the road to redemption than the path to palookaville.”
Double ouch.
The Globe’s Dan Wasserman is slightly more graphic.
Coincidentally, the Boston Herald’s Jerry Holbert also goes the superhero route.
Uh-huh. On the facing page, though, syndicated columnist Jonah Goldberg isn’t so sure.
You know how superhero flicks often have an extra scene after the credits to hint at what the sequel will be like? Well, this would be the perfect end to the movie “Romney 2012.”
The problem is that “Romney for president” is now an art house film thinking it’s a blockbuster franchise and that there’s a huge market for another sequel. There’s not.
So third time’s not the charm? Goldberg’s conclusion: “[T]he idea that a one-term Massachusetts governor, who hired Jonathan Gruber to help design his health-care plan, is just what the Republicans need to run against Hillary Clinton is odd, particularly when the GOP has a much more talented, and fresher, field than it did in 2012.”
In other words, don’t bet the Mittfecta.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dan Wasserman, Jerry Holbert, Jonah Goldberg, Last Temptation of Mitt, Mittfecta, Scot Lehigh | Permalink
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January 12, 2015
Well the new Living section (which replaces the late, unlamented G section) debuted in the Boston Globe today, and here’s how the paper’s press release touted the launch:
The Boston Globe Launches New Living/Arts Section with Daily Themes and Fresh Content
Monday through Saturday section to feature everything from food to technology to parenting tips; debuts January 12
Boston (January 12, 2015) – The Boston Globe launched today the new Living/Arts section – a daily broadsheet section focusing on arts, culture, entertainment, and lifestyle. Previously the “g” section, Living/Arts is now bigger and bolder with a fresh design and collection of new compelling features and columns.
The Living/Arts section will include the Globe’s award-winning coverage of arts and culture, as well as family, events, books, style, restaurants, and nightlife, among other new features, in an engaging and eye-catching package.
The new section will revolve around daily themes, Monday through Saturday . . .
And etc.
There’s no mention in the press release of the comics pages, mainly because they’ve moved to the back of the Metro section. And, to all appearances, they’ve moved down in size as well.
G:
Metro:
It’s hard to tell from the Globe’s ePaper edition, but here’s an individual matchup.
G Zippy:
Metro Zippy:
The hardreading staff recycles so religiously, we don’t have an old G section lying around the Global Worldwide Headquarters for a paper comparison, but we’re searching elsewhere in hopes of putting an old-fashioned ruler to the strips.
Meanwhile, if any of you splendid readers can enlighten us further, please do.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, comics pages, G, Living, Metro, Zippy | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 12, 2015
From our Walt Whitman desk
The selfie local tabloid seems determined to run a Whole Foods/Herald story as often as possible.
It started with this piece last Wednesday.
Whole Foods design honors Herald legacy
In the South End landmark where ink once flowed and the Boston Herald’s presses roared, shoppers will now enjoy frangipane tarts, cooked-to-order ramen and a milk + honey spa at Boston’s newest and most innovative Whole Foods.
The 50,000-square-foot gourmet supermarket is part of National Development’s Ink Block project on the site that was home to the Herald for 53 years.
(Boston Magazine’s Eric Randall immediately had a smart piece chronicling the Herald’s “screeds against the half of the country that columnist Howie Carr sometimes collectively refers to as ‘Whole Foods nation'” along with a roll call of the Herald’s Whole lotta love.)
Then Saturday’s Herald featured this update from Donna Goodison:
It’s a Whole new story at
old Herald site
Whole Foods Market debuted its newest Boston store in the South End Friday — its second largest in the region and considered a flagship for its North Atlantic division — and co-CEO Walter Robb sees room in the Hub for another of its size.
“We’ve seen the city evolving, so we have lots of plans,” the Boston native said. “The opportunity to come in here and get 50,000 square feet — that’s hard to do these days, and I do think there’s another one (in the future pipeline).” . . .
Its South End supermarket is in National Development’s $200 million Ink Block project, the former Boston Herald headquarters site for more than half a century, and it memorializes the newspaper’s history throughout its decor.
Of course it does.
Then yesterday, there was this thoroughly readable piece from Peter Gelzinis:
From press to produce
The legendary author Thomas Wolfe was misinformed when he wrote “You Can’t Go Home Again.”
I’m here to say you can. But when you do, you’ll discover home has been transformed into the biggest Whole Foods store in Boston.
It’s a sweet trip down Memory Lane with Bert McNeil and Mike Bello, Danny and Dennis Messing, and especially Gelzinis himself.
But there’s also a subtext to all that Wholesomeness: “Herald publisher Patrick J. Purcell [is] a minority investor in the $200 million Ink Block project, which also will include luxury condos and apartments, retail shops and restaurants.”
So – a Whole lotta money involved.
And today?
Wholly absent.
But we don’t expect that to last long.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Bert McNeil, Boston Herald, Boston magazine, Danny and Dennis Messing, Donna Goodison, Eric Randall, Ink Block, Mike Bello, National Development, Pat Purcell, Peter Gelzinis, South End, Thomas Wolfe, Walt Whitman, Walter Robb, Whole Foods, Whole Foods Market | Permalink
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January 11, 2015
From our Late to the Party of the First Part desk
The savage 2013 murder of Danvers High School teacher Colleen Ritzer has finally wended its way into court, and yesterday’s local dailies presented very different pictures of the initial legal proceedings and their effects on Colleen’s mother, Peggie Ritzer.
Jessica Heslam’s column in the Boston Herald:
Voice connects moms in teacher tragedy
Peggie Ritzer’s face creased with anguish as the recorded voice of another mother on the other side of the 
courtroom — the mom of the teenager charged with raping and killing Ritzer’s beloved daughter Colleen — brought her to tears . . .
Diana Chism was at the Danvers police station. Her son Philip had been found, the cops told her, but he was under arrest and they believed he had hurt somebody — a teacher.
“Oh my God, please don’t tell me somebody’s dead. Oh my God, I’m going to pass out,” Diana said on the dramatic recording, played in Salem Superior Court yesterday at a hearing to determine whether the teen’s statements to police will be tossed out.
Peggie Ritzer shed many tears yesterday, often cupping her face in her hands . . .
From the Boston Globe piece:
Ritzer’s parents, Peggie and Tom, were also there. When details of her daughter’s death emerged, Peggie Ritzer sometimes wept or hunched over and hung her head low.
Not judging. Just noting.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Colleen Ritzer, Danvers High School, Diana Chism, Jessica Heslam, Peggie Ritzer, Philip Chism, Salem Superior Court, Tom Ritzer | Permalink
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It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 