February 6, 2019
The Great Comic Strip Follies at the Boston Globe continued yesterday. As the hardreading staff previously noted, right before Christmas the cheapskately local broadsheet announced that it had “discontinued several strips and two puzzles” from its daily editions.
By “several strips,” of course, they meant 11.
Two weeks later, the Globe moonwalked from its comic strip mining.
And yesterday the results were in, as we learned from this editor’s note.
They gotta be nuts graf:
Seriously? Rose Is Rose instead of Get Fuzzy? Adam @ Home instead of Zippy? We’re sorry to say this, but Globe readers are idiots.
(Then again, restoring the Jumble is a good call. The old man used to toss it on the breakfast table to see who could be first to solve it without any writing implements. It was good clean American fun.)
Regardless, the Great Globe Comic Strip Tease is now officially over.
Badly done, Globeniks. Very badly done.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Adam @ Home, Arctic Circle, Arlo & Janis, Bizarro, Bliss, Boston Globe, cheapskately local broadsheet, comic strip mining, comic strip tease, Curtis, DNA correction, DNA test, Dustin, Elizabeth Warren, For Better Or For Worse, Get Fuzzy, Great Comic Strop Follies, Jumpstart, Mother Goose & Grimm, Mr. Boffo, Pinheads, Pooch Cafe, Red & Rover, Rose Is Rose, The Pajama Diaries, Zits | 
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
February 5, 2019
From our never-ending Local Dailies DisADvantage desk
In the wake of the New England Patriots’ victory in Stupor Bowl LIII, yesterday’s editions of the Boston dailies marked Celebration Day for the six-time champions.
Begin with the Boston Globe, where the Kraft Family bought page 3 of the Score section.
From there the congradulations took an oddly retail turn, starting with this sort of oblique Hood full page.
Next up was this 7-Eleven full page ad offering some Hangover Relief Specials.
Representative copy:
And then the back page of Score, brought to you by Pepsi, the Official Soft Drink of the New England Patriots and Super Bowl LIII.
Yes, that is the Chris Hogan of six targets, zero receptions, and zero yardage in the Big Game. But why get technical about it.
Finally, the A section of the Globe featured this full-page shoutout from Bank of America.
Of all the ads above, only that last one ran in the Boston Herald.
Today it’s a different story – it’s Tchotchke Day in the local dailies! Here’s a sample of the Patsabilia you can find in today’s Globe.
And here’s what the Herald is offering.
Not for nothing, but the hardreading staff gravitates toward the Levitating Football.
One final, poignant note: The thirsty local tabloid, after being passed over by so many advertisers yesterday, was finally reduced to running a congratulatory ad from . . . “the entire staff at the Boston Herald.”
That’s just, well, sad.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: 7-Eleven, Bank of America, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hood, Kraft Family, New England Patriots, Patsabilia, Stupor Bowl, Super Bowl LIII, Tchotchke Day | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 14, 2019
As the hardreading staff noted earlier today, Digital First Media – the hedge-fund-fueled conglomerate that strips newspapers like cars left overnight on the Cross Bronx Expressway – has stepped up its news sharing among the chain’s Massachusetts dailies.
Yesterday it was Lowell Sun reporter Rick Sobey’s heart-rending front-page story of Anna Aslanian’s taking her own life to escape bullying. That piece wound up on Page One of the Boston Herald as well.
Today the papers criss-crossed: Herald reporter Alexi Cohan’s Special Report on bullying and the nine-year anniversary of South Hadley High student Phoebe Prince’s suicide migrated from the splicey local tabloid to the Sun’s front page.
Cohan’s reporting also appeared in Fitchburg’s Sentinel & Enterprise, another DFM kissin’ cousin.
Given Digital First Media’s neutron bombing of its newsrooms and recent consolidation of its “Northeast Cluster” under a Regional Editor in Chief, it’s fair to assume that we’ll be seeing a lot more of this carbon copycatting in the future.
Not sure, however, that we’ll keep our subscription to the Eastern Massachusetts Herald-Sun-Sentinel.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Alexi Cohan, Anna Aslanian, Boston Herald, Cluster Buck, Digital First Media, Digital Worst Media, Eastern Massachusetts Herald-Sun-Sentinel, Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise, Joe Sciacca, Lowell High School, Lowell Sun, Oneida Daily Dispatch, Rick Sobet, splicey local tabloid, the Daily Freeman in Kingston, The Record of Troy, The Saratogian of Saratoga Spring | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 14, 2019
This was bound to happen.
Last month Digital Worst – sorry, First – Media, the hedge-fund-fueled conglomerate that strips newspapers like cars left overnight on the Cross Bronx Expressway, made this announcement.
Herald editor named head of Digital First Media’s Northeast region
Boston Herald Editor in Chief Joe Sciacca has been named to oversee the editorial operations of seven daily newspapers in Digital First Media’s Northeast Cluster, the media company announced today.
As Regional Editor in Chief, Sciacca will oversee DFM’s papers in Massachusetts and New York. Those papers include the Boston Herald; The Lowell Sun; Sentinel & Enterprise of Fitchburg; the Daily Freeman in Kingston, The Record of Troy, The Saratogian of Saratoga Springs and Oneida Daily Dispatch.
Logical conclusion?
Mixmaster!
Cue the Lowell Sun’s front page yesterday, which featured the heart-rending story of Anna Aslanian’s taking her own life to escape bullying.
Then cut to the splicey local tabloid’s Page One piggyback on that same story.
Clearly, this is the wave of the future for “Digital First Media’s Northeast Cluster.”
Sort of a cluster buck, no?
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Anna Aslanian, Boston Herald, Cluster Buck, Digital First Media, Digital Worst Media, Joe Sciacca, Lowell High School, Lowell Sun, Oneida Daily Dispatch, Sentinel & Enterprise of Fitchburg, splicey local tabloid, the Daily Freeman in Kingston, The Record of Troy, The Saratogian of Saratoga Spring | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 7, 2019
As the hardreading staff noted at the time, last month the Boston Globe announced that the cheapskately local broadsheet had “discontinued several [comics] strips and two games.”
By “several,” of course, they meant 11.
(The Globe’s math skills leave much to be desired, as we discovered when the paper played DNA newsletter for Elizabeth Warren last year.)
Regardless, that relegated the comics to a single anemic page.
Cut to today’s edition of the Globe, where the editor moonwalks on his strip mining of the comics pages.
We’ve already indicated our choices: Zippy, Get Fuzzy, Mother Goose & Grimm, Bliss, and Bizarro.
Make sure to weigh in on yours as well.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Adam @ Home, Arctic Circle, Arlo & Janis, Bizarro, Bliss, Boston Globe, cheapskately local broadsheet, Curtis, DNA correction, DNA test, Dustin, Elizabeth Warren, For Better Or For Worse, Get Fuzzy, Jumpstart, Mother Goose & Grimm, Mr. Boffo, Pinheads, Pooch Cafe, Red & Rover, Rose Is Rose, The Pajama Diaries, Zits | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
December 31, 2018
The hardreading staff has noticed – as perhaps you splendid readers have also – that the Boston Globe’s Names column tends to be a weak carbon copy of Olivia Vanni’s Inside Track at the Boston Herald.
Latest case in point: Rob Delaney’s blue Christmas without his son Henry, who died at the age of 2 1/2 earlier this year.
Vanni’s Herald piece on Friday.
Rob Delaney publicly grieves loss of son
While the holidays are meant to be a time for all that’s merry and bright, Rob Delaney gave everyone a friendly reminder that grief doesn’t take a break. The Marblehead-raised comedian/actor/writer recently got real on Twitter, opening up about his family’s first Christmas since the passing of his toddler son, Henry, in a series of emotional posts.
“Our first Christmas without Henry came & went,” he wrote. “The day itself was okay, maybe because there were so many horrible, painful days leading up to it; we must have hit our quota or something. We talked about him a lot & included his memory throughout the day.”
Boston Globe Lames – sorry, Names – item yesterday.
Rob Delaney shares experience of first Christmas without son
The day after Christmas, Rob Delaney tweeted about what the holiday was like without his son Henry, who died at age 2½ earlier this year. The “Catastrophe” actor and Marblehead native wrote that he talks publicly about Henry to help “destigmatize grief” for other families who have experienced loss. Henry was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2016 and died in January.
“Our first Christmas without Henry came & went,” Delaney wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “The day itself was okay, maybe because there were so many horrible, painful days leading up to it; we must have hit our quota or something. We talked about him a lot & included his memory throughout the day.”
The daily Herald costs two bucks. The Sunday Globe costs five. You tell us which is worth your gossip dollar.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Blue Christmas, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Inside Track, Names, Olivia Vanni, Rob Delaney | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
December 26, 2018
From our Late to the Christmas Party desk
Hobby Lobby, the Supreme Court’s favorite toy store, ran double-barreled holiday ads in both local dailies yesterday.
First, this after-Christmas ad appeared in the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald.
The Hobby Lobbiacs also advertised some soul saving in the papers.
Gift with Jesus: A free Bible app for your phone.
No surprise that the Herald would be the local Amen Corner, but the Globe as well? Will wonders never cease.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Amen Corner, Bible download, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hobby Lobbiacs, Hobby Lobby, Supreme Court | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
December 24, 2018
Are we having none yet?
The powers that be at the Boston Globe have continued their assault on the comics pages, as this note in today’s edition indicates.
Before:
After:
Let’s call the roll of the “several” strips that have been dumped. First, the good ones: Zippy (second time the Globe Pinheads have dropped him), Get Fuzzy, Mother Goose & Grimm, Bizarro, Bliss.
Then the no-great-loss ones – Rose Is Rose, Jumpstart, Pooch Cafe, Adam @ Home, Dustin, Mr. Boffo.
That would be 11 dropped comics if you’re keeping score at home.
Worse yet, consider some of the dogs they’ve kept: Red & Rover, Zits, Arctic Circle, The Pajama Diaries, For Better Or For Worse, Curtis, Arlo & Janis – all mind-numbingly either a) stupid, or b) unfunny.
Of course, the stately local broadsheet doesn’t care what old fogeys like the hardreading staff think. It’s too busy chasing the millennial crowd that it will likely never get.
But as Don Seiffert reported last week at the Boston Business Journal, “[a]s of Sept. 30, the paper had 109,409 weekday subscribers and 190,787 Sunday-only subscribers — down year-over-year by 11 percent and 13 percent respectively.”
And that, of course, is no joke.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Adam @ Home, Arctic Circle, Arlo & Janis, Bizarro, Bliss, Boston Business Journal, Boston Globe, Curtis, Don Seiffert, Dustin, For Better Or For Worse, Get Fuzzy, Jumpstart, Mother Goose & Grimm, Mr. Boffo, Pinheads, Pooch Cafe, Red & Rover, Rose Is Rose, The Pajama Diaries, Zits | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
December 23, 2018
The hardreading staff gave the local dailies two days to piggyback on Jo C. Goode’s dustup with Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia in his increasingly desperate attempt to hold onto his office.
But the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald got nothin’.
So let’s repair to The Herald News for the story (tip o’ the pixel to Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources newsletter).
Herald News backs reporter as Mayor Jasiel Correia admits to creating website pushing ‘fake news’ meme
FALL RIVER — The Herald News is standing behind its reporter Jo C. Goode as Mayor Jasiel Correia II has repeatedly attempted to discredit her reporting through a website he created.
For the second time in a month, Correia posted the link to jogoode.com on Twitter, which brings people to a website displaying a meme of President Donald Trump declaring “You are fake news.”
The latest link came in response to a Tweet from Goode that a crew affiliated with HBO and Mark Wahlberg was filming Correia in Government Center Thursday afternoon. The first instance came after Goode posted a question on Twitter on Nov. 24 asking if Correia was moving from his Bank Street apartment. The Herald News previously had reported that Correia had been served a notice to quit by Dec. 1, sharing the document on heraldnews.com.
When asked about the site, Correia told the Herald News ““It just is what it is. Jo reports fake news and I stand by it.”
Not even sure what that means, but clearly the guy has issues. They just have yet to register with the Boston dailies.
(For those of you keeping score at home: Here’s the link for jogoode.com and here’s Correia’s Twitter feed. Enter at your own peril.)
Two Daily Town Official Prediction ™
Jo C. Goode will land at at major metro daily right soon. Maybe even the Boston Globe.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Brian Stelter, fake news, Fall River, Jasiel Correia, Jo C. Goode, Reliable Sources, The Herald News | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
December 19, 2018
From our Late to the Going-Away Party desk
The hardreading staff apologizes for failing to note earlier that Wednesday’s Boston Herald front page touting Michael Silverman’s Hall of Fame votes featured Roger Clemens in a New York Yankees uniform.
Drive purists nuts graf:
Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens — Their supposed sins seem to be evaporating right in front of the eyes of once suspicious voters. I can’t figure out how four more voters — 242 — voted for Clemens than Bonds last year, but at least last year’s voting showed the two above 50 percent for the second consecutive year, at 57.3 and 56.4 percent respectively. They have four more years on the ballot. We can only hope the two most impactful players of their generation will get their due.
The hardjudging staff does not agree, and – as a Made Yankee Fan in Boston – we resent the shifty local tabloid’s shunting off Steroid Roger to the Bronx Bombers-in-numerous-postseasons.
Your resentments go here.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Barry Bonds, Boston Herald, Bronx Bombers, Made Yankee Fan in Boston, Michael Silverman, Roger Clemens, shifty local tabloid, Steroid Roger | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 