Hark! The Herald! (Trusted? Better Verify Edition)

September 28, 2018

Latest in our endless series from the selfie local tabloid

As the hardreading staff was leafing through our New! Costlier! Boston Herald this morning, we came across this small house ad on page 9.

 

 

Who knew, right?

(To be sure graf goes here.)

To be sure, we have, on occasion, been wary of trusting the pluggy local tabloid regarding such matters, so we decided to check out that Brand Keys outfit, and here’s what we found.

A recent Brand Keys study measured “trust” among readers of their newspapers-of-choice.

Sure, ideology self-defines selection when it comes to subscribing to a newspaper (in print or digital), but “Trust” accounts for 41% of actual newspaper brand engagement.

The remaining 59% is accounted for by content and values addressing “entertainment listings and sports,” “an ability to educate and inform via news reporting, columnists, and editorial,” and providing insights into the “economy and local events and markets.”

 

The study asked 3800 readers – either print subscribers or regular digital readers (3+ times a week) – to evaluate their newspapers.

Drumroll, please.

 

 

Given its perhaps unlikely presence on the list, you can understand the chants of “We’re Number Twelve!” echoing around Fargo Street.

But when you think about it, 18% of regular Herald readers don’t trust the paper; of course, that’s also true of 14% of Boston Globe readers.

Maybe they should crisscross.

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Boston Herald’s New E-Edition: E Stands for Exit

September 5, 2018

The Not-So-Boston Herald has, over the past handful of months, 1) moved its printing from the Boston Globe’s Taunton press to the Providence Journal’s plant in Rhode Island, and 2) announced the paper’s move from Fargo Street to Braintree later this year.

Despite the Herald’s sunny-side-up promotion of its new printing press (“our loyal customers can look forward to a more reader-friendly paper”) and new home (Free parking! Convenient shopping! On-site Leanbox (whatever the hell that is)! Amenities! Miles from Boston!), it sure doesn’t feel like good news.

But this – which hit our email in-box last evening – sure does.

Here’s our question: Is the hardreading staff eligible to win? (We’re guessing not, since no one at the feisty local tabloid can stand us.)

Anyway, here’s the new format.

 

 

Not to get technical about it, but that was the E-Edition at 12:10 this morning, which seemed a bit, well, out of step.

(It’s all sorted now, though, as my morning E-Editon email informed me. Oddly, the print edition of the slightly local tabloid had no mention of the new digital paper. It also lacked last night’s baseball scores. The E-Edition, at least, had some but not all. Stick that in your email, eh?)

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No Drag: It’s Stoned Driving Day in the Boston Rags!

August 9, 2018

It will come as no surprise to alert readers of the local dailies that the two could attend the same event – yesterday’s Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over – and emerge with radically different angles on the drugged driving initiative. For the Boston Globe, the story is prevention; for the Boston Herald, it’s enforcement. Who woulda thunk?

Start with the State Street Sobriety Squad, for whom Dan Adams filed this report.

Mass. rolls out new ad warning of danger of driving stoned

 

With the debut of recreational marijuana sales imminent, Massachusetts safety officials on Wednesday unveiled a new television ad warning consumers against driving under the drug’s influence.

The 30-second spot, dubbed “The Roads You Take,” is meant to discourage driving while stoned, drunk, or impaired by other drugs.

It features a diverse group of people walking toward the camera and solemnly intoning fragmentary phrases: “There are roads — the ones you take, the ones you don’t. There are laws. There are rules. And there’s you — you driving; you drunk driving; you driving high; you stoned and driving; you spinning, crashing; you arrested; you killing,” before concluding, “there are roads, and then there are just dead ends.”

 

Here’s the TV spot in the $280,000 ad buy.

 

 

Meanwhile, crosstown on Fargo Street Mary Markos filed this (police) report.

STATIES SWAB VS. STONERS

Authorities seek Breathalyzer equivalent for pot

State police — expecting a surge in drugged driving now that pot is legal, and looking for a way to prove a driver is high — are finalizing a test of swabs they administered on about 170 people at roadside sobriety checks and a drug treatment center.

The Massachusetts State Police assessment is part of a nationwide effort by police to deal with the lack of chemical tests for drug intoxication comparable to Breathalyzers that are used to measure drunkenness. Legal experts say any chemical test is likely to face challenges in court.

 

They’re both good, informative pieces that reflect the beauty of a two-paper town: The safely local broadsheet vs. the tokey local tabloid.

Read ’em and beep.

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