Boston Dailies Take Turns Beating One Another

January 14, 2016

. . . on the dopey Chandler Jones story, that is.

Yesterday it was all Boston Herald, starting with this Erin Smith/Laurel Sweet story on page two.

Details of Chandler Jones’ ER visit remain murky

Patriots defensive end Chandler Jones was rushed to Norwood Hospital Sunday morning after he showed up at the Foxboro Police Department with a medical Screen Shot 2016-01-14 at 1.11.19 PMemergency, police dispatch records show.

But police officials won’t say what the emergency was and the police chief confirmed information was deleted from dispatch records before they were released to the Herald yesterday.

Dispatch records show Jones arrived at the police station at 7:42 a.m. Sunday and was evaluated by fire and EMS officials before being transported to Norwood Hospital just after 8 a.m.

 

Regardless, Foxboro police Chief 
Edward T. O’Leary did an end run around the Herald’s questions, “[denying] his department and officers had any dealing with Jones over the weekend and 
[adding] the only time he’d ever seen Jones was being interviewed on television.”

That proved to be entirely false. But why get technical about it.

Crosstown, the Boston Globe ate the firsty local tabloid’s dust, running a story on D5 that mentioned the Herald six times in 11 paragraphs.

But today the tables were turned.The Morrissey Boulevardiers have this Jim McBride/Christopher Gasper piece on D1.

Bad drug reaction cited

Source: Jones used synthetic marijuana

7cd3f1253b5d427f9d4e87d65c5c50f7-7cd3f1253b5d427f9d4e87d65c5c50f7-0

FOXBOROUGH — Chandler Jones had a bad reaction to synthetic marijuana leading to his admittance to Norwood Hospital Sunday, a source familiar with the situation told the Globe Wednesday.

The source said Jones lives near the Foxborough police station and walked there to seek help after he had the reaction.

 

Crosstown the other way, the Fargo Street Gang has a solid follow-up today, but not all the details.

Dispatch records show a Foxboro officer also secured Jones’ residence during the Sunday incident.

“The front door’s open,” the officer says when he arrives at Jones’ home, which is about a block from the station, and later reports: “Yeah, I got his keys off the kitchen table. I was able to lock the front door. If you want to just pass along to the fire he was definitely involved in Class D — Delta — before this happened, just so they know.”

Delta is a police call sign to denote the letter D, while Class D is a category of controlled substances under the state’s drug laws, according to a law enforcement source. Class D drugs include marijuana and some prescription drugs, which can be legal.

 

So there’s more difference between the Boston dailies than how they spell Foxboro(ugh). That’s just swell.


Why Didn’t the Globe Names-Check Sacha Pfeiffer?

January 12, 2016

Apparently, a reporter/movie hero is not without publicity except in her own paper.

By now you most likely know that Boston Globe Spotlight reporter Sacha Pfeiffer was the Golden Globes plus one of actress Rachel McAdams, who played Pfeiffer in the movie. You certainly know it if you read Erica Corsano’s Social Studies column in today’s Boston Herald.

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 2.25.49 PM

 

 

Crosstown at the Boston Globe, though, here are the local Globes-trotters spotlighted in today’s Names column.

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 2.33.07 PM

 

Call the roll from from top left): actress/model Ricki Lander, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, designer Nina Garcia, actress/Cohasset native Kate Bosworth, and actress/Boston Latin grad Julia Jones.

Where’s Sacha?

Buried on the Globe’s website.

Just for the record: Sacha looked very nice Sunday night.

 

c8883f4cf498437b987315d4ffafbb23-727a8662f1ff4b2f806abb4e6430867e-0

 

Special bonus: Sacha’s tweet from the Globes:

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 2.38.36 PM

 

Hey, Globeniks: What does it say when the hardreading staff has to step in to do justice?


Boston Herald Covers Barstool Sports But Not Globe

January 8, 2016

Wait, what?

Apparently the fraidy local tabloid, which has resolutely refused to report or opine on the Boston Globe’s current home delivery meltdown, has plenty of time to cover the meanderings of sexist laddie site Barstool Sports.

Barstool Sports sells majority stake to NY group

Screen Shot 2016-01-08 at 12.57.57 AM

Barstool Sports founder and CEO David Portnoy announced today that he has sold a majority stake in his company to New York’s The Chemin Group.

Portnoy, announced he was selling a 51 percent stake in his company in an “emergency press conference” video filmed in Times Square.

The deal is valued at somewhere between $10 million and $15 million.

 

But still nothing from the Herald on the Biggest. Snafu. Ever at its crosstown rival?

That’s messed up, yo.

P.S. The hardlyreading staff hardly has to say it, but no Globe today, either. We’re now 4-for-12 in the Great Boston Meltdown.


Useless Boston Herald Still AWOL on Globe Meltdown

January 7, 2016

The hardreading staff has been thoroughly flummoxed by the Boston Herald’s recent abdication of its sacred duty to pummel crosstown rival Boston Globe on any and all occasions.

And what an occasion the stately local broadsheet has presented in its current inability to deliver its print edition to vast swaths of home subscribers.

An inability, by the way, the lately local broadsheet is now kind of hiding.

Start with this now-routine note on the Globe’s homepage.

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 10.04.24 AM

 

Click on the ConsumerUpdate link inside the box and you get the Member Center Login. Click on the Note to subscribers above the box and you get this:

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 10.11.00 AM

 

Click on that ConsumerUpdate link and you finally get to the tough luck towns du jour.

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 10.14.28 AM

 

 

Today’s unlucky number of “delivery delay” zip codes: 100.

The whole runaround is just lame.

But the fraidy local tabloid is even lamer, because it continues to ignore the Globe delivery meltdown. Not to mention ignoring Boston GlobeSox owner John Henry’s hot little tweet yesterday about a piece by the Unsinkable Emily Rooney at WGBH News (note the Update at bottom).

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-07 at 10.23.25 AM

 

Don’t think we’ve heard the end of this one yet. But don’t bother checking the Herald about it.


Boston Globe Can’t Even Deliver ePaper Right

January 6, 2016

As the hardlyreading staff noted the other day, just as delivery of the Boston Globe print edition went Chernobyl, the lately local broadsheet also introduced a redesigned ePaper.

To wit:

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-06 at 4.34.16 PM

 

Concerning the redesign we wrote this:

Are we the only ones who think the new Globe ePaper is a classic case of schlimmbesserung? You know, to make worse by trying to improve?

 

Apparently we are not. From splendid reader Bill from Salem, MA:

It’s an insult to sell [the change in home-delivery distributors] as a benefit to subscribers when it was nothing more than switching to a lowball competitor. Wanna bet it’s the same deal with the recent change of the e-paper interface from the excellent NewspaperDirect platform to the new, infuriatingly clunky “improved” version – unreadable menus, incomplete menu listings, starts with yesterday’s edition, no jumpline links, hidden page thumbnails, etc., etc.

 

Absolutely right. The whole format is so user-unfriendly, the grassy knollers will soon be claiming that it’s a plot to drive readers to the print edition.

P.S. In their wisdom, the Globeniks have switched the entire ePaper archive to the new format too. A real bunch of Einsteins, eh?


Globe Cries ‘Uncle’, Goes Back to Old Distributor

January 6, 2016

Rule #1: Don’t trust anything Boston Globe executives say these days.

Exhibit A: Here’s what Globe CEO Mike Sheehan said on WGBH’s Greater Boston Monday night:

Mike Sheehan: Part of those options we’re considering are dividing up those [undelivered] areas and bringing in some other distributors to help and getting this solved very very fast.

Jim Braude: You couldn’t undo this and just go back to the prior company?

MS: No – no, ACI is doing a very good job in certain geographies.

 

Then again, there’s this in today’s lately local broadsheet:

Globe splits deliveries between two companies

globe-big

After more than a week of confounding problems getting newspapers to subscribers, The Boston Globe has turned to its former distribution partner to handle about half of its home deliveries across the region, Globe chief executive officer Mike Sheehan said on Tuesday.

The deal with Publishers Circulation Fulfillment Inc. follows an unexpectedly difficult rollout for the Globe’s new distribution firm, ACI Media Group Inc., which left tens of thousands of newspapers undelivered in its first week after taking over distribution within the Boston region on Dec. 28.

 

So, to recap: The Globe tore the sheets with former distributor Publishers Circulation Fulfillment in order to hook up with new squeeze (the drivers) ACI Media, but now the Globe and PCF are friends with benefits.

Not to get technical about it, but Mike Sheehan seems to be telling the truth a little bit at a time.

Rule #2: Don’t expect the Boston Herald to tell you anything about the Globe delivery meltdown.

Once again, the fraidy local tabloid is a day late, dolor short. Ignoring a major malfunction by your crosstown rival is not just bad journalism, it’s bad business. But at least they’re consistent.

Rule #3: Don’t expect the Globe’s publisher to stand the gaffe.

After a long hibernation, Boston GlobeSox owner John Henry – finally – weighs in today with this mealy-mouthed Letter From the Publisher.

We apologize to our loyal readers

kreiter_globiesdeliver22_met-1471

The Globe’s responsibility to this community is to bring it the news. I would like to share some news now about why we have failed to meet this objective for many readers over the past 10 days, how we are working to fix the problems, and a bit about the root causes.

First, I want to personally apologize to every Boston Globe subscriber who has been inconvenienced. We recognize that you depend on us, and that we’ve let you down. We’re working around the clock on a variety of fronts to solve this. To that end, I also want to thank everyone at the Globe who pitched in to get some 20,000 Sunday papers delivered last weekend.

Getting a daily newspaper to your front door is a complicated exercise in logistics .  . .

 

And blah blah blah . . .

Helpful hint: Wear asbestos glove while reading the comments.

Rule the Last: When the paper you own goes Chernobyl, don’t turtle for 10 days, then tell us how tough your job is. It’s just not manly.

UPDATE: Totally forgot (since it’s become so routine) – no Globe today. The “delivery delay” list is down to 91, but the hardlyreading staff is still on it.


Boston Herald Fails to Deliver on Globe for 10th Day

January 5, 2016

As one of the Boston Herald’s 17 home subscribers, the hardreading staff has been waiting patiently for the feisty local tabloid to crow about its successful delivery of the paper while the Boston Globe’s home delivery has gone Chernobyl.

But . . . nothing.

And today . . . still nothing.

Your fraidy local tabloid’s Tuesday Business section.

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-05 at 9.45.08 AM

 

 

As WGBH’s Unsinkable Emily Rooney (and our former partner in airtime) has written, “The Boston Herald has disgracefully reneged it’s [sic] journalistic duty to report this story for one simple reason, The Globe butters the Herald’s bread by being its printer.”

Then again, as Globe reporter Maria Cramer said on WBUR’s Radio Boston yesterday, the Herald has never been shy before about smacking the Globe around.

So why now?

Hey, Herald house harridan Howie Carr(toon): Wanna weigh in on this?

As opposed to your latest mailed-in column?

Or maybe you’re fraidy, too.

P.S. Oh, yeah – the Globe failed to deliver today’s paper to the hardlyreading staff (we’re now 4-for-9 in the Big Meltdown). And the “delivery delay” list is currently at 113. Burt here’s the funny thing: Globe CEO went on WGBH’s Greater Boston last night and said the really serious delivery problems are in Newton and Pembroke. Except . . . Pembroke isn’t even on the list today. Geez – these people can screw up a screw up.


Hey, Kevin Cullen: The Globe’s Not Here!

January 4, 2016

The hardlyreading staff held hostage: Day 8.

Random notes from around the Globe:

• Today’s edition of the Boston Globe plunks its delivery woes right on Page One.

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-04 at 9.34.28 AM

 

Crosstown, the Boston Herald has yet to mention the meltdown. We don’t care who prints the fraidy local tabloid – that’s just journalistic malpractice.

 

• Are we the only ones who think the new Globe ePaper is a classic case of schlimmbesserung? You know, to make worse by trying to improve?

 

• Kevin Cullen’s front-page piece today is a hoot. Favorite part:

Whatever they pay the delivery people, it’s not enough, and it’s more than a little depressing to think this debacle has been brought about by a desire to pay them even less.

 

Interesting Twitter exchange yesterday in the wake of Cullen’s piece going online. First:

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-04 at 9.47.39 AM

 

Then:

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-04 at 9.49.10 AM

 

Huh.

 

Rapid strides! Today’s “delivery delay” list is down to 112 zip codes (from 117 yesterday).

 

• Free the Zippy the Pinhead One!

 

More, most likely, to come.


And on the 7th Day, Boston Globe Delivery Crested

January 3, 2016

Very inspirational, the whole Boston Globe rallying the troops thing that got so much attention in the past 24 hours, especially on Twitter.

Representative sample:

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-03 at 2.07.40 PM

 

But has anyone checked the “delivery delays” page today? The zip codes listed are up to 117 (from 111 yesterday).

That’s progress?

What some call historic is really just sugar-coated pathetic.

Anyway, let’s see what happens tomorrow, when the reporters actually have to do their day jobs.

P.S. The hardreading staff scored the hat trick today: Globe, Herald, Times. Just for the record.


Boston Globe Delivery Meltdown, Day 6

January 2, 2016

Well the hardlyreading staff failed to receive its Boston Globe today, same as the last two days, but at least the lately local broadsheet included our zip code in its daily “delivery delay” list.

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-02 at 2.57.03 PM

 

That’s 111 zip codes if you’re keeping score at home. (We miscounted earlier on Twitter.)

Globe chief executive Mike Sheehan has claimed that “[b]y Wednesday, 95 percent of home-delivery subscribers received their papers,” but given the Twitstorm that’s raged all week, that seems highly unlikely.

Two additions from our splendid readers:

• David Shea on why the Herald has been AWOL on this story:

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-02 at 3.10.08 PM

 

• And Sharon Machlis added this bit of background:

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-02 at 3.11.53 PM

 

(Link here.)

Fun fact to know and tell: Click on any link for the aptly named ACI Last Mile Network, which is the Globe’s new improved delivery partner, and you get this:

 

Screen Shot 2016-01-02 at 3.19.36 PM

 

Huh.

One last note: This note from the Boston Globe Team.

Dear Subscriber,

We know that you have reached out to us this week to discuss your service interruption, and we apologize to those who did not get through. We are working around the clock to resolve our Customer Service and operational issues and get your paper to your door on time.

In the meantime, your home delivery account will be credited for this entire week. This will happen automatically; you do not need to take any action.

Once again, we apologize. For the most up-to-date information on delivery in your area and any new service announcements, please go to our dedicated delivery change page: BostonGlobe.com/ConsumerUpdate.

Thank you,
The Boston Globe Team

 

This one’s headed for a Harvard Business School case study, no?