July 12, 2013
The hardreading staff has noted two instances lately of tribute ads that ran in the Boston Globe but not in the Boston Herald. And so it was with no little interest that we saw this in today’s stately local broadsheet:
Which sent us scurrying to the Herald to see if it had suffered its accustomed fate.
It had not.
The Celtics gave the feisty local tabloid equal time (and ad space).
But lest the folks at the Herald start feeling they’re on equal footing with the Globe, witness this from Eric Randall at the Boston Daily blog:
The Celtics took out a full-page ad in Friday’s Boston Globe to thank departing stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce for “bleeding green” all those years. It’s a nice move that you don’t see teams pull out for just any departing players.
But then, nor is it any surprise that Pierce and Garnett would merit special attention . . .
Moral of the story: Someone’s always ignoring the Herald somewhere.
2 Comments | 
Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Celtics, Boston Daily, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston magazine, Eric Randall, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce | 
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 10, 2013
From our Walt Whitman desk
Boston Herald hack Howie Carr got another spotlight dance with himself out of yesterday’s James “Whitey” Bulger court proceedings.
Carr’s column today is largely about the exceedingly odd nature of Bulger’s defense.
Whitey defense team falling into a rat trap
Whitey Bulger is obviously acting as his own lawyer, and as the old saying goes, he has a fool for a client.
How else to explain his increasingly bizarre defense, which ended yesterday in a fitful flurry of F-bombs between him and his minion, Kevin “Two” Weeks?
Talk about ironic: Whitey’s gravedigger buried his old boss, and he did it under cross-examination, by Whitey’s own lawyer.
All Bulger cares about, Carr says, “is not going down in gangland history as a rat.” (Not to get technical about it, but Whitey also cares about not going down in gangland history as the killer of two young women, Deborah Hussey and Debra Davis.)
Regardless, as so often happens, it eventually becomes all about Howie:
Yesterday, Weeks outlined five murders, and afterward all Carney would ask him about was his informant status — that and his alleged plot to kill me. Two Weeks said he and Whitey both wanted to whack me.
“I even knew his address — 99 Concord Road.” No wonder I’m still alive. I lived at 91 Concord Road.
Just for the record: Today’s Boston Globe coverage doesn’t mention Carr.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Deborah Hussey, Debra Davis, Howie Carr, James "Whitey" Bulger, Jay Carney, Kevin Weeks | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 10, 2013
The Boston papers play Page One Derby today, with both trumpeting a trio of crime stories.
Boston Globe, front page above the fold:
Boston Herald Page One:
The WhiteyWorld nod goes to the Globe for its bleep you play-by-play. The Herald has a slight edge in the other two headline treatments, although neither is the feisty local tabloid’s best work.
But while the two dailies load up Page One with all things criminal, Herald graybeard Joe Fitzgerald issues a word of caution:
Horrific cases threaten to desensitize us
Move over, Whitey and Aaron, and make room for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old kid accused, with his late brother Tamerlan, of the Boston Marathon bombings and their aftermath that wantonly killed four and wounded 260.
Have we ever witnessed such a time when three barbaric cases, totally independent of one another, concurrently competed for our rapt attention?
But, Joe Fitz adds, “[r]evulsion gives way to obsession, and infamy grabs our attention as if it possessed a star power of its own.” He points to the Hernandez and Tsarnaev groupies on social media, along with Bulger’s longtime image as the Robbin’ Hood of South Boston.
Don’t expect The Big Rumpus to quiet down anytime soon. Page One Derby doesn’t allow for it.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Aaron Hernandez, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, James "Whitey" Bulger, Joe Fitzgerald, Page One Derby, Robbin' Hood | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 9, 2013
As the hardreading staff noted yesterday, the Boston Herald has been uncharacteristically shy about quoting former Boston Bruin Tyler Seguin’s latest homophobic Twitter puck-up.
Yesterday’s print edition of the feisty local tabloid didn’t even mention the incident, while this AP story on the Herald website remained entirely vague:
Stars’ Seguin: Twitter slur came from ‘hackers’
DALLAS — Recently acquired Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin says an anti-gay comment that showed up on his Twitter account came from “hackers.”
The Stars said in a statement Sunday that they had “addressed the issue directly” with Seguin. The tweet showed up on his account Saturday and was quickly removed.
From the AP story as well.
Today’s Herald piece is only slightly more forthcoming:
Tyler Seguin’s Twitter mess not a ringing endorsement
Ex-Bruin Tyler Seguin’s controversial homophobic tweet could cost him lucrative endorsement deals as he struggles to establish himself in a new market, and is just the latest example of the perils of social media for athletes, social media and sports marketing experts said.
Seguin’s tweet, referencing a profanity-laced “Full Metal Jacket” quote about Texas, drew immediate backlash despite the fact it was deleted almost instantly, but screenshots and retweets remain all over the Internet. The reaction prompted the new Dallas Star to delete his Twitter account, blaming “hackers.”
Hey, Heraldniks: Why so dainty all of a sudden?
Just for the record, here’s what Seguin actually said (via yesterday’s Boston Globe):
For a player who never liked to take a lot of hits on the ice, Seguin is sure absorbing them off it. The latest one came Saturday night when a tweet from his Twitter account said, “Only steers and queers in Texas, and I’m not a cow.”
This guy really needs to grow up.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: AP, Boston Bruins, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Dallas Stars, Full Metal Jacket, gay slur, homophobic tweet, steers and queers, Twitter, Tyler Seguin | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 8, 2013
Last time now-former Boston Bruin Tyler Seguin got all homophobic on his Twitter feed, the Boston Herald beat the Globe on the story. This time it’s the other way around.
From Christopher Gasper’s column today:
Bruins gave up on Tyler Seguin too soon
If Tyler Seguin is as good at shutting down his Twitter account as he was at getting shut out on the scoresheet in the playoffs then his days of 140-character missives are — like his days donning the Spoked-B — done.
Both the Bruins and Twitter being Seguin-free seem like good ideas right now, quick fixes to aggravating problems. But they might prove rash overreactions in the end. Professional athletes have to learn how to deal with the consequences of celebrity in the social media age and patience has to be shown with a potential franchise player whose talent level far exceeds his maturity level.
The Bruins gave up on Seguin too soon, trading him July 4 to the Dallas Stars and confining him to the dustbin of failed face-of-the-franchise forwards along with Joe Thornton and Phil Kessel after just three seasons . . .
And then, this: “For a player who never liked to take a lot of hits on the ice, Seguin is sure absorbing them off it. The latest one came Saturday night when a tweet from his Twitter account said, ‘Only steers and queers in Texas, and I’m not a cow.'”
The Stars, of course, immediately shifted into damage control while Seguin claimed his Twitter feed was hacked. Either way, he’s gone social-media silent.
As was today’s Herald on the topic. Stephen Harris looks at Seguin’s exit, but without the tweet heat.
Suffice to say, teams don’t quit on 21-year-old No. 2 overall draft choices with the brilliant skills of Seguin unless they have very good reasons. The team deserves some blame for not doing a better job of supervising Seguin. In times past, teenagers like Stephane Quintal, Joe Thornton and Patrice Bergeron were placed with area families who offered them the same sort of stability and control they used with their own children.
It sure sounds like the Seguin-Bruins story could have had a happier ending if that had been done with this kid when he first came to Boston at age 18. But it was not. So you get the reports of underage partying, the online photos of dancing on the bar, the fast cars, the messy apartment, etc., and you get a ticket on the next plane to Dallas.
The feisty local tabloid does have an AP story on its website now, but that only counts in horseshoes.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Bruins, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Christopher Gasper, Dallas Stars, steers and queers, Stephen Harris, Texas, Tyler Seguin | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 6, 2013
For two days now the Boston Herald has been on Nantucket John Kerry like Brown on Williamson over his paddling while Egypt burns.
Yesterday’s front page:
Today Kerry just got the top of Page One:
But the feisty local tabloid gave Long Jawn a good working-over on page two.
Experts: John Kerry’s credibility could sink with boat flap
John F. Kerry’s credibility took on more water on the second day of his Nantucket vacation flap, as the State Department backed off its initial denial the embattled secretary of state was yachting during the Egyptian military coup — and President Obama tweeted a photo of himself kayaking in a hat, sunglasses and polo shirt.
The Herald reported yesterday that Kerry spent the Fourth of July cavorting on his island getaway even as chaos from the military’s ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi rocked Egypt.
The State Department also conceded that yes, Kerry “was ‘briefly’ aboard his $7 million luxury craft, the Isabel, on the day of the coup, after previously insisting the yacht sighting was ‘completely inaccurate.'”
Gotcha!
Crosstown at Boston Globe the only thing Kerry got was let off the hook. Page One:
Jump:
But here’s the best – and most lenient – part of the piece (note the choice of “on a yacht” vs. “on his yacht”):
Meanwhile, the Kerry camp was sidetracked by a self-inflicted wound after a State Department spokeswoman initially denied that Kerry had been on a yacht in Nantucket while Egypt was undergoing its latest revolution. The spokeswoman on Friday retracted her denial, which led to the image of Kerry on his yacht getting even more attention. The criticism came from predictably partisan quarters, but still it was a distraction at a critical time.
Hey, Heraldniks: You gonna take that lying down?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Egypt, John F. Kerry, Mohammed Morsi, Nantucket, Secretary of State, State Department, yacht Isabel | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 3, 2013
If you’re looking for the good dirt on Aaron Hernandez in the local dailies today, the Boston Herald is the place to go.
Page 2 of the feisty local tabloid:
Past run-ins paint image of big-headed Aaron Hernandez
Aaron Hernandez’s repeated high-handed brushes with the law — including one just last January when he allegedly dropped his own celebrity name in a bid to have a statie go easy on his pal — suggest a sense of entitlement dating to the murder defendant’s days as a Florida Gator.
“Trooper, I’m Aaron Hernandez. It’s OK,” State Trooper Eric Papkee reported he was told by the passenger after he pulled over an SUV that had been chasing a station wagon and weaving at speeds of up to 105 mph on Jan. 28 on the Southeast Expressway. Hernandez’s buddy Alexander Bradley — who is now suing Hernandez, claiming he shot him in the face a month later after a night of revelry at a Florida strip club — was at the wheel in the Massachusetts incident and was hit with a second offense drunken driving charge.
Good friend, yeah?
Then there was the 2007 rumpus when Hernandez punched a Florida restaurant manager (rupturing his eardrum) who had the nerve to ask Hernandez to pay for his drinks. Then-college teammate Testament Tim Tebow tried, but apparently failed, to keep Hernandez out of that jam.
More dish? Try the Track:
Hernandez ‘fans’ draw scorn
He may be charged with ruthlessly gunning down a pal in cold blood — and be under investigation for a double murder — but chicks still dig Aaron Hernandez!
Since his arrest, the Twitterverse has been flooded with missives from smitten ladies who still find the former Patriots tight end attractive, despite the heinous crime he is charged with committing. And a Facebook page called Free Aaron Hernandez with the tagline “Innocent Until Proven Guilty” had nearly 3,000 “Likes” yesterday.
“Aaron I pray for you every night & day. I hope everything works out in the end for you,” posted Krystale Anne, one of the scores of Facebook friends who sent out good wishes to the imprisoned ex-Patriot.
And etc.
Crosstown at the Boston Globe, it’s all pretty pedestrian:
Broken mirror sought in Aaron Hernandez case
They will not say why they want it, but investigators remain keenly interested in finding a side mirror from the Nissan Altima believed driven by former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez on the day prosecutors said he allegedly orchestrated the killing of Dorchester resident Odin Lloyd.
Police have been searching for the mirror since the early days of the investigation, after Lloyd was shot to death early on the morning of June 17 in an industrial park near Hernandez’s North Attleborough home.
Not exactly mirror images the Boston dailies, eh?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Aaron Hernandez, Alexander Bradley, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, broken mirror, Free Aaron Hernandez, Inside Track, Testament Tim Tebow | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
July 1, 2013
Monday coverage of the James “Whitey” Bulger trial is always challenging for the local dailies, there being no weekend court sessions. So enterprise stories are the order of the day for both papers.
Start with the Boston Globe, which features Page One portraits of the three sketch artists chronicling the trial.
The three freelancers – Jane Flavell Collins of Duxbury, Margaret Small of Cambridge, and Christine Cornell , a New Jersey artist drawing the Bulger trial for CNN – all use binoculars to get up close to their subjects for their pastel sketches. And all three have good stories to tell.
Crosstown at the Boston Herald, it’s a different side of Bulger that’s on display.
Track Gal Gayle Fee has the inside story on two letters purportedly written by Bulger to a South Boston man last year.
Whitey Bulger’s mail from jail
Alleged letters up for sale by dealer
In letters purportedly written by accused crime lord James “Whitey” Bulger to a man in South Boston, Bulger gave fatherly advice, waxed nostalgic about his days in Alcatraz and insisted that he offered to plead guilty to all charges — including 19 murders — if the feds would only free his ladylove Catherine Greig.
“I offered since day one to plead guilty to all crimes I’m accused of if they free Catherine but answer is ‘No.’ They want their ‘Big Circus Trial,’” Bulger wrote in a pair of letters that are currently being offered for sale by Saugus memorabilia dealer Phil Castinetti.
Our favorite part: Bulger pining away for the good old days in Alcatraz:
“The healthy salt air,” he wrote, “open front 9 by 5 foot barred cells and eating in a mess hall — yard with weights to work out with and lots of good convicts. None of that here [in the Plymouth jail].”
Yeah – just can’t find good convicts around here anymore.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Alcatraz, Anthony Cardinale, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Catherine Greig, Gayle Fee, James "Whitey" Bulger, Jane Flavell Collins, Margaret Small. Christine Cornell, Phil Castinetti, Track Gal | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
June 29, 2013
It’s no secret that Red Sox owner John Henry is one on the bidders lining up to buy the Boston Globe. Here’s how the Globe itself addressed Henry’s bid yesterday:
At least six groups submit bids to buy The Boston Globe
At least six groups are believed to have submitted bids to buy The Boston Globe, according to several people involved in or briefed on the offers.
The bidders, whose offers were due Thursday at 5 p.m., include several of the names previously reported to have been exploring bids, as well as Red Sox owner John Henry and his Fenway Sports Group . . .
Henry made his bid along with his New England Sports Network co-owner, Delaware North Cos. Delaware is owned by Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs.
The New York Times Co., which is selling the Globe, previously owned a stake in the Red Sox.
Leave it to the Boston Herald, however, to expose the dark underbelly of the potential deal.
John Henry’s Globe bid raises fears
Sports coverage could be affected
Sports-savvy readers could be crying foul if Red Sox owner John Henry’s bid to team up with the owner of the Bruins to buy the Globe wins out, fearing the beleaguered broadsheet would shy away from hard-hitting coverage, according to media experts.
“If he owns the paper, he can give good coverage to the team,” said Edward Atorino, a media analyst with The Benchmark Company. “I know what I would do if it were my paper. I’d certainly want a bias to the positive of covering my team — come on.”
A bias to the positive of covering my team? Smooth analysis.
Of course, it’s a perfectly reasonable concern that the Herald raises, given hard times in the news industry and Henry’s past prickliness. It’ll be fun to see how far the feisty local tabloid can stretch it.
Like taffy, we’re betting.
2 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Benchmark Company, Boston Bruins, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Red Sox, Boston Sports Media Watch, Deleware North, Edward Atorino, Fenway Sports Group, Jeremy Jacobs, John Henry, New York Times | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
June 28, 2013
The Boston Herald gets the Murder Ink award today with this front page:
The feisty local tabloid draws a more detailed picture in its lead story on the increasingly lurid Aaron Hernandez investigation.
Police investigating Hernandez in unsolved double slaying
Fallen Patriots star Aaron Hernandez is at the center of a probe into an unsolved 2012 double slaying in Boston while Dartmouth jail officials are scouring the troubled tight end’s wild array of tattoos for any gang ink links, the Herald has learned.
“We’ll be looking at his tattoos to see if there are any symbols that affiliate with gangs,” said Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, who met with Hernandez yesterday after his bail was denied by a Fall River judge. “We have to always be vigilant around security and not place him somewhere where there are rival gang members.”
That would be Media Whisperer Thomas Hodgson, described this way by one Herald commenter: “Biggest self-promoter out there. Wants to [be] Little Joe Arpaio. What a blowhard.” (Watch his cringe-inducing interview with ESPN here.)
The Herald piece also includes this from a Los Angeles “gang expert” who says Hernandez’ tattoos “appear decorative.”
“It could also be a gang saying, like ‘smile now, pay later,’ ” [she] said, adding Hodgson’s team
will spot it if they see it.
They’ll spot it if they see it. Beautiful.
Crosstown, the Boston Globe ran this front-page piece:
Although Globe reporters also talked with law enforcement officials, there was no mention in the stately local broadsheet about tattoos.
Ink one up for the Herald today.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Aaron Hernandez, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Bristol County Sheriff, Jorja Leap, Murder Ink, tattoos, Thomas Hodgson | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 