Boston TV Dress Coda: Ties Clipped at NECN/NBC10

October 22, 2018

Well the hardreading staff was perusing the Sunday papers yesterday when we came across a startling sartorial item in the Boston Globe’s Names column, which actually recycled the story so we’ll reference Kevin Slane’s original piece on Boston.com.

A local TV station just got a new dress code

If you’ve been watching NECN recently, you may have noticed something missing. Male anchors in the studio have done away with the tie, a longtime staple of business attire.

The new dress code, implemented by NECN news director Ben Dobson, officially went into effect last week. Other NBC-owned stations in the region, including NBC10 Boston and Telemundo, plan to adopt the tie-less look, too.

 

Loosen the knot graf:

“Dobson said the move to ditch the neckwear is an effort to mirror its viewers, whom he believes are less likely to wear ties on a daily basis thanks to evolving workplace dress codes.”

Seriously? So maybe doctors should wear jeans and Patriots jerseys? Or lawyers could wear Lululemon to court? What the hell.

Back in the 1920s and ’30s, the BBC made radio announcers wear dinner jackets. In the U.S. at that time, announcers and performers wore tuxedos and gowns. It was a sign of respect for the listeners, even though they couldn’t see the broadcasters.

But that’s so old school. It’s clearly better to be personable than professional now, according to Audrey Mansfield, visual stylist for NBC-owned stations. She told Slane, “On set, they’ll still be wearing a nice shirt and full suit. They’ll still have a very nice collar, and be very well-groomed. It is one piece of clothing we are taking away.”

Except it’s more than just a necktie. At least to some of us old fogies.

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Boston Herald 2018 Red Sox Preview Is On Autopilot

March 29, 2018

Today’s edition of the feisty local tabloid features its Red Sox 2018 Season Preview in advance of this afternoon’s Opening Day game in Tampa Bay.

 

 

The good news? Steve Buckley’s There’s still time for David Price to become beloved in Boston.

The bad news? NECN’s Fire Reported at Tropicana Field Ahead of Red Sox Opener.

The ad news? The thirsty local tabloid actually has a bunch of full-page ads in the special section. But oddly, 10 out of 11 are for auto dealerships. This is the other one ($99 for those of you keeping score at home).

 

 

Even odder, these are the only two ads that ran in Sunday’s Boston Globe Coming of Age season preview, one of which is a house ad.

 

 

In today’s edition Globe scribe Dan Shaughnessy asks, Are fans ready to embrace the Sox?

You tell us, but advertisers sure as hell don’t seem to be.

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Boston Globe Goes Over the Wahlberg

December 6, 2014

It started with a report on NECN on Thursday, which both local dailies picked up for Friday’s editions.

Boston Globe Names:

 

Screen Shot 2014-12-06 at 4.17.33 PM

 

Boston Herald Inside Track:

Wahlberg asks for clean slate

Dorchester-born Holly-wood heartthrob Mark Wahlberg is asking the state to wipe his record clean of a 26-year-old assault rap Mark Wahlberg, Marky Markand other convictions, arguing that by “formally” forgiving his dark past, it could inspire troubled youths to turn their lives around.

The 43-year-old actor/producer/restaurateur served 45 days of a three-month sentence for an April 1988 crime he says he has spoken “openly and publicly about” during his rise to stardom.

With the request, filed Nov. 26, he’s asking the state to expunge it from his record, in part, so he could become “more active in law enforcement activities.”

 

Note: The Globe does not include the “reportedly left one of the victims blind in one eye” that the Herald does; the Herald does not include the racial slurs and the NECN credit that the Globe does.

Regardless, only one of them follows up on the story today.

 

Screen Shot 2014-12-06 at 4.31.57 PM

 

The report by Maria Cramer and Nestor Ramos starts with the 1988 racial incident, but also includes this:

In a separate episode, some from a class that was harassed in 1986 by a group of teens that included Wahlberg were not impressed with his request for a pardon.

Mary Belmonte, the class teacher, remembered leading her terrified elementary school students down a side street to avoid the hail of rocks. “I’m sure he’s sincere and he wants to clear his name,” Belmonte said. “It would be nice if he could apologize and really own up to what he was.’’

 

Huh.

Curiously, today’s Globe piece also says nothing about Lam losing his sight in one eye.

Double huh.

But the Globe website does include an archive of its coverage of the allegations from 1988-2000. Well worth a look.

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Boston Herald: Boston Globe Sale Delayed

October 20, 2013

World-Series-bound Red Sox owner John Henry is also newspaper-bound Boston Globe owner John Henry.

But not so fast, says crosstown rival Boston Herald.

Globe holds off closer

Sale with John Henry slides

The John Henry era will soon begin at The Boston Globe — though not as early as originally hoped — as the broadsheet prepares to end 121611globemh02.1two decades under the control of its out-of-town overlords.

A source close to the deal told the Herald yesterday that finalizing the purchase and executing the formal transfer of the newspaper from the Times to the Red Sox owner — which had been expected to happen sometime over the weekend — likely won’t take place until next week at the earliest.

Both the Globe and a rep for Henry declined comment yesterday, and a Times spokeswoman did not return calls or emails.

 

Big surprise there, yeah?

But no surprise here: Others say otherwise.

From NECN:

Screen Shot 2013-10-20 at 1.44.50 AMMoney Matters: Henry to close purchase of Boston Globe Saturday

According to the Boston Business Journal, Red Sox Owner John Henry will close on his purchase of the Boston Globe this Saturday. Henry is buying the New England Media Group, including the Globe, from The New York Times. The BBJ said he’ll also pay $65-million, down from the original $70-million bid.

 

Tiebreaker to come.

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Hark! The Herald! (Press Party Apparatus Edition)

April 4, 2013

From our Walt Whitman desk

The Boston Herald’s relentless self-promotion braved new frontiers with this Joe Battenfeld piece in Wednesday’s edition:

 

Picture 1

 

Apparently, the ladder of success at our feisty local tabloid is actually an escalator.

Exhibit A:

 

Picture 4

 

Web panelist to U.S. Senate debate moderator in two weeks?

Jaclyn Cashman has unsuspected depth, eh?

Or maybe just undetected deep pockets.

See also: NECN’s late, unlamented The Open Book Club for further details.

 

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Globe Retweets From Its Patrick-Third-Term Gaffe

March 21, 2013

So Gov. Deval Patrick made a joke yesterday about running for a third term and wouldn’t you know some people took him seriously and faster than you can say tweet tweet it was out there on the social media wire.

From today’s Boston Globe:

Patrick trips online firestorm with reelection joke

For a few minutes early Wednesday afternoon, the Massa chusetts political world was in flames.

Governor Deval Patrick’s attempt at humor during an appear ance at the University of Massachusetts Boston went viral, leading many to believe that he would seek a third term. That would have been news, indeed, since Patrick has long professed to be satisfied with two terms.

And, while there is no law prohibiting a third consecutive term, there is no modern precedent.

“#Breaking: @MassGovernor announces he’s running for a third term” New England Cable News network tweeted at 1:10 p.m. to its more than 19,000 followers.

That ignited a firestorm of retweets, online exclamations of disbelief, and panicked phone calls by news organizations looking to catch up on a story that would dramatically remake the state’s political landscape.

 

It turned out to be a false alarm, but what the Globe piece fails to mention is that one of its own was among the retweeters. It was left to our feisty local tabloid to reveal the full story.

From today’s Boston Herald:

NECN tweets from the hip

A red-faced NECN chalked its social media gaffe up to “human error” yesterday after firing off a mistaken tweet declaring Gov. Deval Patrick was running for a third term — a blunder experts say newspeople can avoid by thinking before they tweet.

The cyber slip spread like wildfire to Washington, D.C., where it was retweeted by a Boston Globe reporter, and the governor’s press office was forced to field a barrage of calls. Social media experts say the blame lies with shoddy journalism.

“Twitter’s not dangerous — the people who use it can be,” said Al Tompkins of the journalism think tank the Poynter Institute.

Added “Twitter for Dummies” lead author Laura Fitton: “It doesn’t matter where that person published it. People tend to blame the tool. People will blame Twitter, but that’s just bad journalism.”

 

Ouch.

Here’s the twitstream:

Picture 7

 

A spokeswoman for our stately local broadsheet told the Herald’s Jessica Heslam that reporter Matt Viser followed the newspaper’s social media policy. “He retweeted a trusted source, NECN,” she said,”and the second NECN said it made a mistake, Matt retweeted that. All of this took place within a minute.”

Hey – maybe that’s why the Globe didn’t report it today. It happened too fast.

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