Friends of Jack Connors Unfriendly to Boston Herald

June 12, 2017

Saturday night marked the 10th annual Beach Ball to benefit Camp Harbor View, a pet project of Boston macher Jack Connors.

Yesterday’s local dailies, however, featured very different versions of the shindig.

Start with this full-page ad that friends of Jack ran in the stately local broadsheet.

 

 

Oddly, there was no actual coverage of the Beach Ball in the Boston Sunday Globe.

Crosstown at the Boston Herald, there was of course no such ad-ulation from the FOJs. But there was this coverage of the event by the ubiquitous Erica Corsano.

 

 

(To be fair graf goes here)

To be fair, today’s Globe does have this day-late-nine-million-dollars-short item in the Names column.

That’s a lotta jack, eh?


Boston.com(merce) Shmushes Advertising & Editorial

June 7, 2017

From our State of the Cuisinart Marketing desk

In response to the hardreading staff’s post the other day about the Boston Herald auctioning off its editorial content to advertisers (and in the process conscripting its freelance writers into some sort of lend-lease program), splendid reader MM sent us this.

 

 

The Boston.com article in question: 

15 can’t-miss concerts in Boston this June

From Kiss Concert to Dead & Company, Hall & Oates to Megadeth.

An annual summer pop staple and pioneering jam band at Fenway are just two great music events hitting Boston in June.

Guitar gods

Rodrigo Y Gabriela
Flamenco guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela is celebrating 10 years of performing together with a U.S. tour that will stop in Boston. The Mexico City natives are acoustic guitar virtuosos, and bring intricate soloing and and an unrivaled dynamic to a genre that’s not often given the spotlight. The two have collaborated with many famous composers and have even performed at the White House for President Barack Obama. (Tuesday, June 6 at 7 p.m.; House of Blues; $39.50-$59.50; all ages; tickets available here)

 

And etc. – for 14 more events.

Every tickets available here links to a ticket-buying site such as the House of Blues or MLB.com or AXS.com.

And what MM points out as “the italicized line at the end”?

Boston.com will receive payment if a purchase is made through the article.

 

As MM notes, that might be the first such partnership for Boston.com, but it’s emblematic of the monetizing efforts newspaper companies like Boston Globe Media are scrambling to initiate as they battle dwindling circulation numbers and plummeting ad revenues.

(The New York Times Co. has been the hands-down leader in this mash for cash, as our kissin’ cousins at Campaign Outsider have dutifully chronicled.)

But Globe Media has been ramping up the money chase as well. In addition to the Boston.commerce gambit, there’s the Globe Live storytelling event last month, the ongoing Boston Globe Travel Show, and who knows what else to come.

(To be sure graf goes here.)

To be sure, the hardrooting staff is all for anything that keeps newspapers alive and well – and keeps the separation between advertising and editorial alive and well at the same time.

‘Nuf sed.


Boston Globe Still Won’t Disclose Total Wine Intere$t

June 1, 2017

As the hardreading staff noted earlier this week, the Boston Globe is raking in ad revenue from Total Wine & More while also reporting on the disruptive liquor retailer’s attempts to change state alcohol rules nationwide.

But the Globe has at the same time failed to acknowledge its financial relationship with Total Wine, which has spent tens of thousands of dollars on advertising in the $tately local broadsheet.

Latest example: Yesterday’s Page One piece on the pushback to relaxing alcohol regulations. Buried in the final grafs was this:

Businesses, meanwhile, are prepared to spend handsomely to push measures that benefit them. The Total Wine & More chain, for example, just launched a large public relations campaign urging the task force and the Legislature to allow alcohol retailers to issue coupons and loyalty cards.

 

At that point you’d think the Globe might mention this ad that ran three pages later.

 

 

But no.

Then again, not everyone finds the Globe’s non-disclosure problematic. After our initial post, the redoubtable Dan Kennedy sent us this message.

 

 

We yield to no man in our respect for Mr. Media Nation, but . . .

 

 

One final note: Before you pooh-pooh the hardtsking staff, consider the Globe’s totally egregious pom-pom reporting of the recent Citgo sign rumpus, during which the paper raked in easily a hundred thousand dollars in feel-good ads for the Kenmore Square icon without disclosing its financial interest in the matter.

But no matter?

Respectfully, we think not.


Boston Globe Fails to Disclo$e Total Wine Ad Conflict

May 29, 2017

As the hardreading staff perused yesterday’s Boston Sunday Globe, we happened upon this full-page A3 ad.

 

 

That called to mind the Globe’s recent Page One piece about Total Wine’s “total war against alcohol regulations.”

Total Wine uncorks new front in its war on rules

Big-box alcohol retailer targets Mass. regulations

Total Wine & More is waging total war on the nation’s alcohol laws — and Massachusetts is the new front line.

The largest retailer of beer, wine, and liquor in the country, Total Wine has successfully challenged longstanding alcohol laws in numerous states, tilting the marketplace to its advantage through a mix of litigation, lobbying, and rallying support from customers . . .

In Massachusetts, Total Wine has sued to invalidate a state regulation that prevents retailers from selling alcohol below cost, a common practice in other industries. The company is also about to launch a public relations campaign here challenging a state rule prohibiting alcohol retailers from issuing discount coupons and loyalty cards. It has submitted the proposed changes to a task force convened by Treasurer Deborah Goldberg to streamline the state’s alcohol laws.

 

Here’s the interesting part: Nowhere in the Globe piece is there any mention of the tens of thousands of dollars the $tately local broadsheet has raked in from Total Wine ads over the past few months.

That’s very much like the Globe’s recent non-disclosure of its financial interest while covering the rumpus over the fabled Citgo sign; the paper raked in more than a hundred thousand dollars in ads touting the Kenmore Square icon but never mentioned them in their coverage.

Memo to Globe editor Brian McGrory: We know you need the advertising revenue. But c’mon – at least be honest about it.


Globe Backs Wrong Horse in Belmont Stakes Preview

May 28, 2017

The hardreading staff is a longtime fan of thoroughbred racing’s annual Triple Crown bakeoff, although we prefer fewer rather than more threefers.

So, as we gallop toward the Belmont Stakes, chalk this up as a good year: Always Dreaming won the Kentucky Derby, then finished eighth in the Preakness to Cloud Computing.

Except in Boston GlobeWorld.

From Saturday’s edition:

 

 

Thankfully, the Boston Herald had the real racing form.

 

 

Hey, Globeniks: Saddle up, eh?


BG’s Mark Shanahan Stiffs Another Local Journo

May 16, 2017

As the hardreading staff has noted on multiple occasions, Boston Globe Names columnist Mark Shanahan regularly, er, re-curates the work of other Boston journalists.

Exhibit Umpteen: The Dennis Lehane/Emerson College Commencement Rumpus.

Monday’s Names column featured this Lehane interview with Emily Sweeney.

Representative sample:

What are some of the places you miss out here in Boston?

Oh God, I miss everywhere. I miss everywhere. The list is truly endless. I get jealous when my friends call me and bitch about [expletive] weather. Just the list of places is just too long to go into. I miss everything about that city.

Well, we miss you, too.

Aaaaw . .

 

But this Boston Magazine Daily piece by Spencer Buell yesterday presented a very different portrait of Lehane.

Dennis Lehane Apologizes for Using the N-Word in His Emerson Speech

“I should have known better.”

Author Dennis Lehane has apologized after receiving backlash for his use of the n-word during his Emerson commencement speech Sunday.

“Hurting people with the use of that word, of all words, was about as far from my intention as one could get, but I take ownership of the result,” he says in a statement. “I should have known better.”

In the speech, which cautioned against romanticizing the past, Lehane told a story about growing up in the 1970s during Boston’s busing crisis, when racial divisions in the city spiked over school desegregation.

He described driving with his family in a car through a swarm of protesters on Broadway in South Boston. The demonstrators had “hung effigies” of federal judge Arthur Garrity Jr. and Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, and were “lighting them on fire with torches,” he recalled. He added, “They were screaming, ‘N—s out.’”

 

That’s all well and good: Two different news outlets with two different news angles. Business as usual.

The problem comes today, with this no-attribution follow-up from Shanahan.

Dennis Lehane apologizes for using racial slur in Emerson speech

Author Dennis Lehane has apologized for using a racial slur during his commencement speech at Emerson College Sunday. Lehane, a Dorchester native best known for his novels “Mystic River” and “The Given Day,” used the N-word while talking about the protests in South Boston during the busing crisis of the 1970s.

“I will never forget this for the rest of my life. We were trapped in the back of a car,” Lehane told graduates. “We couldn’t move. We could just be buffeted down the street. And they had hung effigies of Arthur Garrity, who was a judge at the time, of Teddy Kennedy, and they were lighting them on fire with torches. And they were screaming, ‘N—s out.’”

There were apparently complaints after the speech because Lehane issued a statement Monday morning apologizing for using the slur.

 

Here’s our complaint: Once again, Shanahan has cribbed material from another reporter without attribution.

Google News time check around midnight Monday:

 

 

C’mon, man – be a mensch and give credit where credit’s due, yeah?


Boston Herald Jacks Up Newsstand Price by 33%

May 8, 2017

As the hardreading staff has previously noted, we’re one of roughly 17 home subscribers to the Boston Herald, which means that virtually all of the feisty local tabloid’s dwindling print circulation comes from newsstand sales.

So it’s no surprise that this Notice appeared on page 2 of today’s edition. (Note the reverse typeface, which is harder to read, especially for us elderly folk.)

 

 

Close-up (sort of):

 

 

The sneaky local tabloid does say that the price increase “will not affect home-delivered copies of  the Boston Herald,” which has up to tens of subscribers issuing a sigh of relief.

Still, that’s a one-third newsstand hike from Saturday . . .

 

 

. . . to today.

 

 

Which means the pricey local tabloid now costs the same as the Boston Globe.

 

 

The Herald’s newsstand price is also now double that of the New York tabloids, which, to be fair, are constantly waging price wars. Rising above the fray, the New York Times newsstand price is $2.50.

Two and a half times more for the broadsheet? That seems closer to the natural order of things, no?


Boston Globe Buckrakes for Chinese Propaganda

April 30, 2017

Yesterday the hardreading staff was surprised to find tucked into its home-delivered Boston Globe a 20-page Weekend Edition of China Daily, the international house organ of the Chinese government.

Sample article:

Will China help US rebuild its bridges?

The $1 trillion infrastructure plan proposed by US President Donald Trump signals win-win opportunities for China and the United States, according to experts.

US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao told the Boston Globe last Friday that she expected Trump’s $1 trillion plan to debut this summer after the administration tackles tax reform.

“We’re on track,” Chao said of the infrastructure bill. “There’s a great deal of discussion over the most difficult part of the initiative, which is funding it.”

 

You’d be nuts to exclude us graf.

China’s record in the past decades in building massive infrastructure projects has been widely recognized in the world. By the end of 2016, China ranked No 1 in the world in the mileage of high-speed rails, expressways and urban transit systems, according to the country’s National Development and Reform Commission. Seven of the world’s largest container ports are also in China.

 

The rest of China Daily’s stories are equally sunny side up, as you’d expect. We’d love to show you the whole thing, but the Globe chose not to include the insert in yesterday’s ePaper.

Wonder why.

Wonder also – as we have in the past – what’s not for sale at the Boston Globe.


New Inside Track Gal Finally Gets Some Trac(k)tion

April 29, 2017

The hardreading staff is first to acknowledge that replacing the Boston Herald’s longtime Inside Track diva Gayle Fee is a daunting task. And, all due respect, new Track Gal Olivia Vanni has gotten off to a largely undistinguished start.

But she kicked ass today.

 

 

Local Festers Shireena El Gallal and her sister Lamann dished all the gory details about the Bahama drama to Vanni, who totally scooped the Boston Globe.

We’re sure the Namesniks at the Globe will do their usual clip ‘n’ paste job in tomorrow’s edition. Maybe, instead of their usual M O, they’ll actually credit their sources.


Boston Globe ‘Names’ Column Stiffs Boston Herald

April 28, 2017

From our No Credit Where Credit’s Due desk

It’s one thing for the Namesniks at the Boston Globe to rip off the hardreading staff. It’s quite another to xerox the Boston Herald without attribution.

From today’s Names:

 

 

Only one thing missing from the piece – acknowledgement that the firsty local tabloid’s Jessica Heslam had the story two days ago.

New honcho at 5 generates static

‘Move it’ mandate miffs on-camera staff

There’s a new “move it, move it” mandate being preached by Channel 5’s top newsroom honcho — but some miffed reporters don’t want to dance along.

Paige Harrison, who took over as WCVB-TV’s news director in January, has laid down a harsh edict demanding reporters get expressive during every TV live shot and stand-up.

 

Hey, Globies – maybe you could be more stand-up, eh?