HERALD INTERESTED IN BUYING of GLOBE

June 27, 2013

The Boston Herald always delights in any adversity visited upon the Boston Globe. So it was no surprise that Wednesday’s Schadenfreude Gazette framed the upcoming sale of the stately local broadsheet in the least promising way possible.

Boston GlobeIt’s time to sell the Globe

Bids due tomorrow for daily as experts say price won’t be high

Tomorrow is D-Day at The Boston Globe, as bids for the newspaper’s pending sale are closed by parent company The New York Times, and analysts tell the Herald their expectations for a blockbuster selling price are low.

“I can’t believe it’s making much money, if any money,” said Edward Atorino, a media analyst with the Benchmark Company. “Circulation is declining. Advertising is struggling. Boston online hasn’t really set the world on fire.”

Media expert Ken Doctor of Newsonomics predicted the Globe could sell for between $75 million and $150 million — a far cry from the $1.1 billion the Times paid for the paper in 1993.

 

Oh, and on the way out, don’t forget to tweest:

[T]he Globe has frequently been little more than an afterthought to Times brass, said Atorino.

“I just don’t think Arthur Sulzberger spends a lot of time worrying about the Globe,” said Atorino.

 

Wednesday’s Financial Times also reported on the impeding sale, but in a slightly more positive tone (tip o’ the pixel to Jim Romenesko).

1599e14e-5ef8-4aec-be72-373b829fab46.imgBidders line up for Boston Globe sale

Bids for the Boston Globe and related New England media properties are due Thursday, bringing its owner the New York Times Company one step closer to shedding the big city newspaper that has long been a drag on its business.

A handful of local financiers and Boston personalities are expected to submit bids for the group of assets in the $100m range. Evercore Partners, which is managing the sale of the unit, has told people close to the talks that as many as eight parties have expressed interest.

 

Helpful – if startling – chart:

 

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The Globe itself had nothing to say about the subject on Wednesday. We’ll keep you posted.

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Battle of the Bulger: The Mutter of All Trials

June 25, 2013

The trial of reputed mobster James “Whitey” Bulger proceeds apace this week with the prosecution opening up FBI informant files detailing what came out of Bulger’s  rat trap as he sold out friends and enemies alike. But today’s local dailies have – wait for it –  different versions of Bulger’s reaction to the revelations.

Start with the Boston Globe’s report:

Jurors see FBI files describing Bulger as informant

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James “Whitey” Bulger fed the FBI information for 15 years about everyone from New York Mafia don John Gotti to some of his closest South Boston associates, sometimes blaming others for his own alleged crimes, according to detailed reports presented in court Monday.

FBI informant files shown to jurors at Bulger’s racketeering trial indicate that in 1980 he warned his handler that “an armored car score is going down in the very near future” and named six men involved, including his longtime friend Patrick Linskey of South Boston.

“They expect the score to be in excess of a million dollars,” top echelon informant 1544, code for Bulger, advised the FBI, according to the report. “[Bulger] advised that the weak link is Patty Linsky [sic] and although crafty, Linsky [sic] is a drinker and would be the logical one to tail.”

 

Then the Globe story adds this:

The files appear to contradict Bulger’s assertions that he was never an informant. The 83-year-old gangster seemed visibly annoyed as he sat between his lawyers in US District Court in Boston, reading portions of the reports as they were displayed on screens.

 

Actually, not just visibly according to the Boston Herald’s Howie Carr, who relates this (second-hand) story:

Top Echelon Informant? Low Echelon Informant is more like it. Whitey’s official number was BS-1544-TE. Fill in your own joke about the BS.

According to people sitting near the White Rat in the courtroom yesterday, he mumbled, “I am not a (expletive) informant.”

 

All righty, Whitey. You just keep muttering that.

 

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Arresting Developments in Aaron Hernandez Case

June 25, 2013

Today’s Boston Herald features this report about faulty reporting in the ongoing murder investigation involving New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez:

Ronald C. Meyer DriveAaron Hernandez attorney slams media on false arrest claim

The lawyer for Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez blasted the media last night for “relentless” reporting of a false rumor of an arrest warrant issued against the 23-year-old, when only search warrants were filed with the courts.

Several outlets did report continually last week an arrest warrant had been issued. The Herald was not one of them.

 

Plug “Aaron Hernandez arrest warrant” into the Googletron, and you get this:

 

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Note the “CBS Local” included in the search results. Here’s a recap from the Huffington Post:

Conflicting reports surfaced on Friday morning over whether a warrant had been issued for the arrest of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez in connection with the shooting death of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd.

Citing an unnamed source, WBZ News Radio in Boston first reported early Friday morning that a warrant had been issued and that the NFL star would be charged with obstruction of justice. Hours later, the Boston Globe would report, citing its own law enforcement source, that no arrest warrant had yet been issued in the case.

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And another local player:

Also citing an unnamed source, Bob Ward of FOX 25 had reported earlier on Friday that a warrant has been issued for Hernandez’s arrest. Ward also reported that Hernandez faces an obstruction of justice charge.

 

Neither today’s Herald piece nor a similar one in the Globe name any names in the false arrest claims. That’s why we’re here.

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Globe Doubles Up on Stephen Minehan Memorial Ad at Herald’s Expense

June 25, 2013

Nineteen years ago yesterday, Boston Firefighter Stephen Minehan of Ladder 15, Engine 33 died in a fire on Boston’s waterfront.

On June 24, Lt. Stephen Minehan of the Boston (MA) Fire Department died after leading his company in a successful search for two other trapped firefighters at a blaze in a vacant waterfront warehouse. Minehan apparently became disoriented in the heavy smoke conditions and was separated from his company as they rescued the trapped firefighters. He radioed that he was trapped but several rescue efforts to find him were unsuccessful. He died of smoke inhalation and his body was recovered by his company several hours later.

 

Boston.com remembrance:

 

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Yesterday’s Boston Globe featured this ad on page A5 honoring Minehan’s sacrifice:

 

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Living in a two-daily town, you’d expect a companion ad in the Boston Herald, right?

Wrong.

Instead, the same ad – inexplicably –  ran in the Globe’s Metro section:

 

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What’s the connection to the Residence Inn Marriott? Tudor Wharf is where Stephen Minehan died, and where a memorial to him was established in 2003.

But, apparently, that’s of no interest to Herald readers.

 

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Hark! The Herald! (Lame Subscription III)

June 23, 2013

The Boston Herald is still desperate to build on its current base of 17 home subscribers, so today it once again ran this recruitment ad:

 

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Always Relevant, eh? So why did the hardreading staff get a sports page this morning that didn’t have the results of last night’s Stanley Cup Finals game?

The newsstand buyers of the Herald got the story. The electronic edition readers got the story. Home subscribers, though, got the shaft.

On top of that, the heisty local tabloid rubs our face in it with that ad.

Not right. Not right at all.

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Globe Floods the Zone with Hernandez Coverage

June 22, 2013

Both local dailies are on the Aaron Hernandez whodunit like Brown on Williamson. The Boston Herald devotes half its front page to it:

 

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Inside are double-barreled columns from Ron Borges and Joe Fitzgerald (the latter a Never Mind to a piece Joe Fitz wrote about what a great guy Hernandez was upon his arrival at Gillette Stadium.

 

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There’s also an editorial expressing the appropriate level of outrage (and actually quotes the Boston Globe and agrees with it – stop the presses!).

Meanwhile, today’s Globe also devotes half of Page One to L’Affaire Hernandez:

 

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But it’s what’s inside that elevates the Globe coverage to obsessive levels.

Here’s how they list the reporting of the main story:

 

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They had someone down in Hernandez’s hometown of Bristol, CT talking to his high school friends, and they sent Brian MacQuarrie to Florida to report on a shooting last winter that allegedly involved Hernandez.

And the best part of the Globe’s coverage is this Page One subhede: “Hernandez is largely out of view as rumors outdistance real news.”

Can’t wait for real news to catch up.

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Herald Duels Globe on Aaron Hernandez Story

June 22, 2013

The hardbeating staff was out most of Friday punishing the Glen Ellen golf course, so we’re a bit late to this story. But yesterday’s local dailies had a very interesting sports smackdown.

First, the Boston Herald totally pwned the Boston Globe on Aaron Hernandez being kicked out of Gillette Stadium:

 

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Then again, the Globe totally pwned the Herald on this story:

 

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Let the wild Aaron Hernandez rumpus begin!

P.S. The hardreading staff apologizes for lagging. Back up to speed later.

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Baby I Won’t Drive Your Carr (Peter Gelzinis Edition)

June 20, 2013

All the while self-styled vigilante John Martorano has occupied center stage in the James “Whitey” Bulger trial this week, he’s been joined at the hit – sorry, hip – with Boston Herald scribbler Howie Carr, who split a six-figure advance with Martorano for the book Hitman.

But in his Herald column today, Peter Gelzinis writes Carr out of the picture.

New England MobBlood money only motivation for Johnny Martorano

“Other than the 20 people you killed, Mr. Martorano, is there anything else notable in your life?”

The 72-year-old henchman of Winter Hill decked out in a light blue suit seemed a bit bewildered by the question Hank Brennan, co-counsel for Whitey Bulger, tossed at him.

After momentarily wrestling with it, much like a bear might grapple with a camper’s jar of peanut butter, Johnny Martorano said, “I can’t change it.”

No, he can’t. But that hasn’t stopped him from trying to squeeze every nickel he can from the loathsome life he’s lived.

 

Gelzinis writes further, “[y]esterday, we learned that in addition to the $250,000 Johnny pocketed for the movie rights to his life story, he stands to make another 250 grand if such a film ever makes it into production. And that’s not counting the $70,000 or so he says he’s made from his book.”

What Gelzinis chooses not to mention is that Carr was Martorano’s partner in Murder, Ink.

Conveniently, the Boston Globe’s Kevin Cullen fills in the blanks in his column today:

Brennan nailed Johnny when he got him to talk about how he has made money since being released from custody.

“Are you remorseful, Mr. Martorano?” Brennan asked.

“Yes,” Johnny replied.

But, Mr. Martorano, you wrote a book with Howie Carr and made money off the blood of your victims, Hank Brennan suggested. You split the $110,000 advance for the book with Carr, Mr. Martorano.

 

So, wait – Martorano got $70,000 and Carr got $40,000? Sounds like someone got strong-armed.

 

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Baby I Can Drive My Carr (Hair Mail Edition)

June 19, 2013

Talk about mailing it in: Apparently Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr can cover the James “Whitey” Bulger trial without actually attending it.

First, today’s third-class piece:

Johnny’s bad, but not the real rat

The worst word you can ever use against Johnny Martorano is “rat,” so you can bet that Whitey Bulger’s lawyers will be throwing it up against him again this morning within 30 seconds or so of resuming their cross-examination.

They’ll be trying to make him lose his cool. Good luck with that.

Stipulated, I wrote a book with Martorano, and we split the profits. I get along pretty well with him. So does just everybody else I know who knows him, believe it or not.

 

Carr’s readers? Not so friendly. Representative (if ungrammatical) sample:

 

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And it gets even worse when it turns out Carr was a no-show yesterday:

 

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Unless the hardreading staff is misreading this, Howie’s reporting telepathically.

Meanwhile, crosstown at the Boston Globe Kevin Cullen has his daily bookend to Carr’s whatever.

Pretty sure Cullen was even in the courtroom.

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Baby I Can Drive My Carr

June 18, 2013

From our Walt Whitman desk

By now it’s clear to the hardreading staff – as it should be to everyone – that the trial of mobster James “Whitey” Bulger is about one thing and one thing only:

Howie Carr.

The Boston Herald columnist previously milked his presence on Bulger’s witness list for some bulk-mail pieces. Now it’s John Martorano’s turn to get a Carr ride.

From today’s piece:

061713evidence 007Martorano’s ‘career’ nothing to be proud of

Johnny Martorano seems a little more subdued these days. He’s 72 now, but it’s more than that.

I think it’s the fact that unlike during the earlier Zip Connolly trials, he’s been back in Boston for a while now. He sees his family, they can read the papers, and even though “hit man” is a fearsome job 
description, obviously it’s not anything to brag about.

And by the way, Johnny was absolutely correct on the witness stand yesterday. I did name the biography about him “Hitman” — actually, it was one of my neighbors in Florida. And yes, it is named “Hitman” because I thought that title would sell more.

 

And etc.

Crosstown at the Boston Globe, Kevin Cullen also addressed what label should be attached to Martorano:

[A]ccording to Johnny Martorano, he was no hitman. He murdered people. Many people. But he didn’t do it for money. He did it for friendship. He did it for honor. He did it for blah, blah, blah.

Seriously, I don’t know what’s more ridiculous: Whitey’s claim that he was never an informant, or Johnny Martorano’s insistence that he was never a hitman.

 

Hey, Kevin, don’t you know:  That’s “Hitman” with a capital Howie. Just ask ‘im.

 

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