Our eyes are obviously getting worse. Contrary to our last post, the Boston Globe did run an item about the Boston Public Library suspensions of three administrators under mysterious circumstances, smack in the middle of yesterday’s Metro Minute page.
In our defense, we had to go to the epaper to find it in the search engine – the website search engine produce endless pages of links to any article with “Boston” in it.
Our apologies all around.
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Public Library, BPL, firsty local tabloid, Joe Battenfeld, Lisa Pollack, Sean Philip Cotter | 
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
Yesterday it was front-page news in the Boston Herald.
The scoop from Herald reporter Sean Philip Cotter.
Library talk hushed
Authorities mum on ‘personnel matter’
The Boston Police Department is “reviewing” a “personnel matter” at the Boston Public Library — while City Hall and the BPL remain tight-lipped about why three administrators have been placed on unpaid leave.
BPL spokeswoman Lisa Pollack confirmed that the library had referred “a matter” to the police, but refused to elaborate.
“As this issue remains pending, we can not comment any further,” Pollack told the Herald.
Columnist Joe Battenfeld also checked in, urging Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to “intervene to get to the bottom of the mini-scandal before it gets out of control or buried by BPL management.”
Today the firsty local tabloid ran this editorial.
Boston Public Library should be open book
More than ever it is crucial that government institutions show complete transparency in their day-to-day operations.
That is why it is concerning that the Boston Public Library has placed three managers on unpaid administrative leave and no one is saying why. There is an internal investigation underway. Additionally, the BPL has referred “a matter” to the police but library spokeswoman Lisa Pollack refused to elaborate.
Also not weighing in: The Boston Globe.
We get it that no news organization wants to play caboose to another. But c’mon, Globeniks – time to circulate some BPL news of your own.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Public Library, BPL, firsty local tabloid, Joe Battenfeld, Lisa Pollack, Sean Philip Cotter | Permalink
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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?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, firsty local tabloid, Howie Carr, Jessica Heslam, Mar-a-Lago, Mark Shanahan, Names, Namesniks, Paige Harrison, WCVB | Permalink
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Quite a car-tastrophe in Downtown Crossing yesterday, leading to some quick heroics from locals and tourists alike. Correspondent Miguel Otárola had the story for the Boston Globe.
Car hits, injures 3 in tour group along Freedom Trail
Craig Caplan was selling Boston caps and T-shirts at noon Thursday from his carts near Washington and School streets when he heard an eruption of terror.
“There was a collective scream of about 100 people,” Caplan said. “Everybody screamed and came running.”
He turned his head and saw a scene of chaos. Bystanders surrounded a silver Mercedes-Benz that had just barreled into a tour group walking the Freedom Trail. They were lifting the car to free a woman pinned underneath. The driver had run into a nearby building, witnesses said.
Otárola also included this narrative: “[Bystander Brendan] Kearney spoke to [a] tour guide, who was dressed in a Colonial outfit. After the crash, the tour guide ‘went over to the car, opened the door, and put the car into park,’ Kearney said.”
Kearney went on to call the anonymous tour guide “a great citizen of Boston.”
At the Boston Herald, meanwhile, the tour guide not only had a name (Richard Holland), he also got a sidebar via reporter Antonio Planas.
Give this Downtown Crosstown bakeoff to the firsty local tabloid, no?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Antonio Planas, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Craig Caplan, Downtown Crossing, Downtown Crosstown bakeoff, firsty local tabloid, Mercedes-Benz, Miguel Otárola, Richard Holland | Permalink
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From our Credit Where Credit’s Due desk
In the course of covering local events, the Boston dailies often piggyback on one another’s stories, most often without acknowledging that the rival paper got there first. (See, for example, the Boston Globe’s routine drafting off the Boston Herald’s Grand Prix of Boston coverage.)
But sometimes one of the dailies does the right thing. Spoiler alert: It isn’t the Globe.
Page One of yesterday’s Boston Sunday Globe featured this piece about Mayor Martin J. Wiretap.
Walsh is drawn into federal labor probe
Before he was mayor, when Walsh was a labor leader, he was heard on a wiretap saying he had warned a developer using non-union workers. Walsh denies it.
A sweeping federal investigation into allegations of strong-arm tactics by unions has triggered a wave of subpoenas to union leaders, developers, and Boston City Hall staff, bringing scrutiny to Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s administration and his work as a labor leader before taking office in 2014, according to people familiar with the inquiry.
At issue in the investigation is whether labor officials threatened developers and business people who hired nonunion workers on their projects. Walsh, though apparently not an early focus of the probe, became drawn into it through wiretaps on which he was recorded in 2012, saying he had told a development company it would face permitting problems on a planned Boston high-rise unless it used union labor at another project in Somerville, according to people familiar with the tapes.
Well that’s a big story and you knew right off it would be in the Herald today and sure enough it gets a two-page spread.
Nothing unusual there. But what does stand out are the two times the Globe is credited with breaking the story, first in Hillary Chabot’s piece:
Walsh yesterday shook off suggestions that a federal inquiry into labor strong-arming has any connection to his work as mayor. The Boston Globe reported that Walsh as the head of Boston Building Trades Council was heard on a wiretap in 2012 saying he had warned a developer to get union workers on a Somerville project or risk losing Boston permits.
Then a second time in this piece by Jack Encarnacao and Laurel Sweet:
The wiretapped statement was captured during a conversation between Walsh, then-head of the Boston Building and Construction Trades Council, and Laborers Local 22 leader Anthony Perrone, the Boston Globe reported yesterday citing unnamed sources.
Good for you, Heraldniks!
And, hey, you Morrissey Boulevardiers: Take a lesson, wouldja?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Anthony Perrone, Boston Building and Construction Trades Council, Boston Building Trades Council, Boston Conservation Commission, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Evan Allen, firsty local tabloid, Grand Prix of Boston, Hillary Chabot, Jack Encarnacao, Joe Battenfeld, Jon Chesto, Laborers Local 22, lately local broadsheet, Laurel Sweet, Martin J. Wiretap, Marty Walsh, Morrissey Boulevardiers | Permalink
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From our No Credit Where Credit’s Due desk
Once again the Boston Globe has slipstreamed the Boston Herald’s coverage of the sputtering Grand Prix of Boston, which hopes to take place this Labor Day weekend.
Joe Battenfeld’s Friday Herald piece:
Race Hits Roadblock
In another potentially serious setback to the Boston Grand Prix, a little-known city commission has blocked IndyCar race promoters from building parts of the course because of new climate change rules that require them to get a wetlands permit.
The 4-1 vote by the city’s Conservation Commission is the latest unexpected roadblock to the race, which has faced tough scrutiny from residents and a monthslong review from the city and state that put the Labor Day event in jeopardy.
Evan Allen and Jon Chesto’s Saturday Globe piece:
Conservation panel says Grand Prix needs more permits
Mayor Martin J. Walsh said Friday that he is optimistic IndyCar race organizers would be able to hold their event in South Boston in September, despite new environmental concerns raised by the Boston Conservation Commission.
“I’m hoping to see it here Labor Day weekend,” Walsh told reporters at a morning event. “I think there’s a process now they can follow, and I think they have to follow that process and make their case.”
In a 4-to-1 vote this week, the commission, which has responsibility for protecting wetlands in the city, concluded that the route planned for the race travels through a 100-year flood zone, and that organizers had to apply for permits that consider the potential environmental impact of any construction.
Nowhere does the Globe piece acknowledge that the Herald drove there first.
And this isn’t the only time the lately local broadsheet has drafted off the firsty local tabloid.
C’mon, Globeniks: Be a mensch, eh?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Conservation Commission, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Evan Allen, firsty local tabloid, Grand Prix of Boston, Joe Battenfeld, Jon Chesto, lately local broadsheet, Marty Walsh | Permalink
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Ever since the Margaret McKenna/George Regan rumpus at Suffolk University began several months ago, the Boston Herald – especially columnist Joe Battenfeld – has been out front on virtually every development in the serial dustup. But today’s Boston Globe beats the firsty local tabloid – twice – on the latest mishegoss at Day Hop U.
Start off with this Metro Page One report from Laura Krantz.
Suffolk beset by renewed tension
Storms swirl on accreditation, board of trustees, McKenna
Two months after Suffolk University trustees and president Margaret McKenna reached a truce that seemed to smooth their splintered relationship, a cloud of discord is still looming over the downtown college.
A series of recent events raises new questions about the future of the besieged school, and about how long McKenna will lead it.
The college’s board of trustees has hired two attorneys to address personal and professional allegations against McKenna by public relations executive George Regan, who has threatened to sue Suffolk after it canceled his firm’s contract.
In addition, the school faces renewed scrutiny from accreditors, and professors say morale has plummeted.
In other words, it’s a mess.
But Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham does her best to stick a smiley face on “the besieged school.”
A plea from Suffolk
You’ve been admitted to Suffolk University, in the heart of beautiful downtown Boston. You’re going to love it here, should you choose to join the class of 2020. And we sure hope you do, since we need your tuition payments to keep us alive.
We have super courses in psychology, political science, marketing, and law, to name a few. There are three libraries and a campus in Madrid. And sparkling new buildings, all steps from the famous Frog Pond.
Please, choose us! And please, pay no mind to the grown-ups acting like vindictive children here on Tremont Street. They just run the place. Nothing to worry about.
It just gets snarkier from there, especially about George Regan.
Oh, and here Regan is . . . this week in Commonwealth Magazine, pictured with his adorable dog, making the spurious claim that the board didn’t really want to hire McKenna, saying “that woman” — don’t worry, female freshmen, we’re so enlightened — “has no right being the leader.”
Ouch.
Crosstown at the Herald, meanwhile, all’s quiet on the Suffolk front today. We’re assuming that changes tomorrow.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Andrew Meyer, board of trustees, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CommonWealth Magazine, Day Hop U, firsty local tabloid, George Regan, Jim Morris, Joe Battenfeld, John McDonnell, Laura Krantz, Margaret McKenna, Rasky Baerlein, Regan Communications Group, Regan-omics, Suffolk University, Yvonne Abraham | Permalink
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From time to time the hardreading staff issues credit reports on the stories the Boston dailies appropriate from one another. For example, yesterday we noted that Boston Globe reporter Joshua Miller’s Political Happy Hour gave a credit and a link to Herald columnist Joe Battenfeld’s scoop on the latest dustup between Suffolk University trustees and President Margaret McKenna.
We’re dismayed to report, however, that the frosty local tabloid declined to return the favor today in Donna Goodison’s piece about the redevelopment of the Seaport District’s Pier 4.
Pier 4’s peerless design
Tishman Speyer released new renderings for its Pier 4 project in the Seaport District that will include a nine-story, 100-unit luxury condo building and 13-story office building, both with ground-floor retail and restaurant space.
The New York company plans to demolish the former Anthony’s Pier 4 restaurant next week to make room for a one-acre park and half-acre public plaza as part of its development on the South Boston waterfront.
That piece comes in the wake of Tim Logan’s far superior one that appeared in Wednesday’s Globe.
No mention of the Globe’s piece in today’s stingy local tabloid, though.
C’mon, Heraldniks: Be a mensch, eh?
P.S. Boston Magazine’s Kyle Scott Clauss also picked up on the story today, but – to his credit – he did give credit to the Globe.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Andrew Meyer, Anthony's Pier 4, board of trustees, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston magazine, Donna Goodison, firsty local tabloid, George Regan, Jim Morris, Joe Battenfeld, John McDonnell, Joshua Miller, Kyle Scott Clauss, Laura Krantz, like Brown on Williamson, Marty Walsh, Monica Barrett, Pier 4, Political Happy Hour, Rasky Baerlein, Regan Communications Group, Regan-omics, Seaport District, stingy local tabloid, Suffolk University, Tim Logan, Tishman Speyer | Permalink
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As the hardreading staff has duly noted, Boston Herald communist Joe Battenfeld has been on Suffolk University’s slow-motion defenestration of President Margaret McKenna like Brown on Williamson.
Exhibit Umpteen: Battenfeld’s piece today on the newest salvo in the McKenna rumpus.
New Suffolk offensive
In a new escalation of the nasty war over control of Suffolk University, the school’s trustees are launching an independent probe into allegations of misspending by
President Margaret McKenna after she balked at cooperating with an internal investigation, sources told the Herald.
The trustees’ decision to investigate came after another attorney engaged by the board concluded the school had to “thoroughly investigate” charges of fiscal impropriety against McKenna brought by public relations maven George Regan after she terminated his longtime contract with Suffolk.
Yeah – those lessons in Regan-omics will get you every time. Turns out in this case, McKenna is collateral damage in the PR poobah’s gold rush.
[Board of Trustees Chair Andrew] Meyer told trustees last week that the school’s executive committee sought an outside opinion from a New York attorney, Monica Barrett, on how to respond to Regan’s charges and his demand for compensation for being fired.
Barrett’s advice to conduct a serious investigation prompted trustees to approach McKenna, sources said, but she didn’t immediately give them access to her expense records. But sources close to McKenna strongly deny she’s refusing to cooperate.
Crosstown, the Boston Globe had nothing on the story in today’s print edition, but reporter Joshua Miller picked up on it in his Political Happy Hour blog post this afternoon:
UNENDING SUFFOLK U BOARD DRAMA, by Joe Battenfeld on page 3 of today’s Boston Herald: “In a new escalation of the nasty war over control of Suffolk University, the school’s trustees are launching an independent probe into allegations of misspending by President Margaret McKenna after she balked at cooperating with an internal investigation, sources told the Herald. …” http://bit.ly/21UJqyL
Hey – a credit and a link?
They must be pretty happy at the firsty local tabloid, eh?
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Andrew Meyer, board of trustees, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, firsty local tabloid, George Regan, Jim Morris, Joe Battenfeld, John McDonnell, Joshua Miller, Laura Krantz, like Brown on Williamson, Marty Walsh, Monica Barrett, Political Happy Hour, Rasky Baerlein, Regan Communications Group, Regan-omics, Suffolk University | Permalink
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After Suffolk University tore the sheets with local PR poobah George (Orange You Glad to See Me?) Regan, you just knew he would not go gentle into that “good night.”
Exhibit A: Joe Battenfeld’s column in today’s Boston Herald.
More PR Woes for Suffolk
Regan firm mulls fight over termination
A powerful public relations firm fired by Suffolk University President Margaret McKenna claims it has a contract with the school and may fight the decision, triggering another potentially nasty public war.
Suffolk fired Regan Communications on Tuesday in a curt, unsigned memorandum, saying the school “no longer requires the ongoing services” of the well-known PR firm headed by longtime Boston power broker George Regan, according to a copy of the memo obtained by the Herald.
The memorandum, from “Suffolk University” but not signed by McKenna or the school’s board of trustees, came with a check for $31,623.90 for services through Feb. 9.
That, presumably, is on top of the roughly $300,000 the PR firm made from Suffolk in the past year.
Our favorite part: The pillow fight between Suffolk spokesman Greg Gatlin, who says Regan’s contract expired a year and a half ago, and Regan spokesman Scott MacKenzie, who says Regan Communications has a contract with Suffolk through the end of this year. MacKenzie added, “Greg Gatlin forgets a lot of things like where he got his start in public relations” – namely, Regan Communications.
Meow.
Postscript
Once again, the Herald is out front on the Suffolk rumpus. From today’s piece:
Suffolk’s board of trustees, which had been planning to oust McKenna and replace her with former Attorney General Martha Coakley until the Herald reported on the power struggle, plans to meet tomorrow; Regan’s firing is expected to be discussed.
The firsty local tabloid had the original story January 28. The Boston Globe had it January 29.
Check the lately local broadsheet tomorrow for further developments.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, firsty local tabloid, George Regan, Greg Gatlin, Joe Battenfeld, Margaret McKenna, Martha Coakley, Regan Communications, Scott MacKenzie, Suffolk University | Permalink
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It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 