May 8, 2017
As the hardreading staff has previously noted, we’re one of roughly 17 home subscribers to the Boston Herald, which means that virtually all of the feisty local tabloid’s dwindling print circulation comes from newsstand sales.
So it’s no surprise that this Notice appeared on page 2 of today’s edition. (Note the reverse typeface, which is harder to read, especially for us elderly folk.)
Close-up (sort of):
The sneaky local tabloid does say that the price increase “will not affect home-delivered copies of the Boston Herald,” which has up to tens of subscribers issuing a sigh of relief.
Still, that’s a one-third newsstand hike from Saturday . . .
. . . to today.
Which means the pricey local tabloid now costs the same as the Boston Globe.
The Herald’s newsstand price is also now double that of the New York tabloids, which, to be fair, are constantly waging price wars. Rising above the fray, the New York Times newsstand price is $2.50.
Two and a half times more for the broadsheet? That seems closer to the natural order of things, no?
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Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, home subscribers, New York Daily News, New York Post, New York Times, newsstand price hike, pricey local tabloid, sneaky local tabloid | 
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Posted by Campaign Outsider
March 27, 2017
It all started with Donald Trump’s Dark Knight, Steve Bannon, labeling the news media the opposition party.
Next thing you know, the Washington Post pasted this tagline under its banner.
Not surprisingly, the Post also rolled out DDiD merchandise, which was – not surprisingly – roundly mocked. Exhibit A: The Weekly Standard’s Trumpopleptic Tees piece.
Even WaPo’s arch-rival, New York Times editor Dean Baquet, took a shot at the Post’s darkness mongering.
“I love our competition with The Washington Post. I think it’s great. But I think their slogan — Marty Baron please forgive me for saying this — sounds like the next Batman movie.”
Regardless, Marty Baron’s old newspaper, the Boston Globe, has now joined the banner wavers.
While cruising the Globe’s website yesterday, the hardreading staff encountered these headers.
You get the idea.
Whether prospective subscribers get it is another question entirely.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Dark Knight, Dean Baquet, Democracy Dies in Darkness, Donald Trump, Marty Baron, New York Post, opposition party, Steve Bannon, The Weekly Standard, Trumpopleptic Tees, Washington Post | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
November 30, 2015
The hardreading staff yields to no man in our respect for Boston Globe theater critic Don Aucoin.
But, man, did he miss the boat in his front-page piece yesterday.
Theater companies find fault sometimes is in their stars
Marquee names are a draw at the box office but can be a drain on the stage
As both noun and verb, there is probably no more important word in show business than “star.’’
But the reality is that when it comes to the stage, glittering names on the marquee can be a decidedly mixed 
blessing. Theater companies and producers who try to tap into star power are often faced with a trade-off between the potential of boffo box office (especially advance sales) and the peril of artistic letdown (which alienates the very audiences who bought those advance tickets). The biggest name onstage can also be the weakest link.
Because they’re squeezing in theater appearances between movie or TV commitments, some big-name stars appear out of synch and out of place. Watching them flounder, you wonder how much work they did to unearth the essence of their characters, how little thought they’ve given to the unique dynamics of live performance (for instance, projecting to the last row, since there are no close-ups in theater), and even, sometimes, how certain of their lines they are.
The biggest Broadway bust, though, is the one Aucoin does not mention: Al Pacino in David Mamet’s new play China Doll.
Representative headlines:
Al Pacino having trouble remembering lines, needs telepromter
Al Pacino needs teleprompters for lines in terrible new Broadway play
Ticket sales have been good regardless, so the producers pushed back the opening by two weeks to this Friday, which means the reviews might be buried in Saturday’s editions of the New York papers.
Sort of like the play itself should be.
But, apparently, will not.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: A Confederacy of Dunces, Al Pacino, Boston Globe, Bruce Willis, Chicago, China Doll, Christie Brinkley, David Mamet, Don Aucoin, Hollywood Reporter, Huntington Theatre Company, Kyra Sedgwick, Misery, New York Post, Nick Offerman, Off the Main Road | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 16, 2014
The Big Town’s feisty loco tabloid has a distinct Boston accent today.
Start, as seems appropriate, with Page One (tip o’ the pixel to FishbowlNY).
Look familiar? Right – it’s the Boston Globe’s stunner of an interactive photo from yesterday’s Marathon bombing anniversary edition.
The story inside comes compliments of old friend Leonard Greene, late of the Boston Herald.
Solemn ceremonies mark anniversary of Boston Marathon bombings
Survivors of last year’s Boston Marathon bombing commemorated Tuesday’s anniversary of the deadly blast with solemn ceremonies and a shared determination to keep moving forward.
Gathering at the now-sacred site where two homemade pressure-cooker bombs ripped through a dense crowd near the race’s finish line, runners, spectators and supporters paused to reflect on the moment their lives changed forever.
“Last year, I was on the ground at the finish line,” said Kevin White, who was injured by shrapnel that ripped through his legs. “This year I’ll be running across it. It kind of proves to people that evil isn’t going to win.”
Big Town v. Bean Town? Boston all the way.
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Marathon bombings, feisty loco tabloid, FishbowlNY, Leonard Greene, New York Post, One Year One City | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
January 10, 2014
From our Walt Whitman desk
Say, the feisty local tabloid is on some awards run, yeah? A mere one week after garnering a coveted Today’s Top Ten Front Pages award from the Newseum, the Boston Herald has done it again!
“Bridge-Gate” Day 2: The Apology
If you like your state politics with a touch of scandal, it’s a good week to be reading the newspapers. As “Bridge-Gate” continues, today’s headlines focus on Gov. Chris Christie’s epic, apologetic news conference.
The Big 10:
Look for tomorrow’s Herald to devote meaningless real estate in the news hole to this precious award.
Or is that vice versa?
P.S. That’s two Top Tens in two days of Christiepalooza for The Courier News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Star-Ledger, and New York Post. Something to shoot for, eh, Heraldniks?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: "Bridge-Gate", Boston Herald, Chris Christie, New York Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Star-Ledger, The Courier News, The Newseum, Today's Top Ten Front Pages, Walt Whitman | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
December 12, 2013
Our selfie-obsessed local tabloid is back at it again today, as if yesterday’s examination of Barack Obama’s shutterbug diplomacy at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service wasn’t enough.
Today’s Page One:
From there readers got the usual left-right punches from Margery Eagan and Howie Carr, along with a thumbnail sketch of Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the dame who started the whole rumpus. Topping it all off: a piece that featured the local chinstrokerati tsk-tsking that Obama should have known better.
Uh-huh.
Crosstown rival Boston Globe has been more selfie-possessed: The stately local broadsheet ran a New York Times wire story yesterday and has pretty much given the Great Dane the air.
But cruise down I-95 to the Big Town, and the New York Post more than makes up for the Globe’s selfie-restraint.
Post firebrand Andrea Peyser really unloads on Obama’s merry memorial. We’ll skip right to the climactic conclusion:
Thorning-Schmidt attempted to laugh off the whole thing, saying, “It was not inappropriate.’’ Not inappropriate?
Pairing a black suit and blue tie is not inappropriate. Giving your wife grounds for divorce might be seen as otherwise.
But people won’t soon forget the escapades of the people whose salaries they pay.
President Obama has some ’splaining to do. To the woman he married. To his daughters. To the people of South Africa. And to the scandalized folks here at home.
He owes the world an apology.
Wow. Talk about selfie-righteous, eh?
Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Tagged: Andrea Peyser, Barack Obama, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, chinstrokerati, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Howie Carr, Margery Eagan, New York Post, New York Times, shutterbug diplomacy | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
August 6, 2013
From our Walt Whitman desk
Well our feisty local tabloid won another big award yesterday – a coveted Top Ten Front Pages nod from the Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages.
Judgment Day
Today is the day that Major League Baseball is expected to suspend 10 players for their ties to a Florida anti-aging clinic. The biggest catch among them: New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who could be suspended through 2014. Some of the front pages in today’s Top Ten have already passed judgment. Don’t hold back, New York Post. Don’t hold back.
Here’s yesterday’s Boston Herald contribution:
(That’s it – we’re definitely starting a Boston Herald Little Green Numbers group on Facebook.)
And here is today’s Herald putting on the pom-poms:
Their Moms must be so proud.
1 Comment | Uncategorized | Tagged: A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez, Boston Herald, New York Post, The Newseum, Today's front Pages, Top Ten Front Pages, Walt Whitman | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
May 6, 2013
The post-Boston Marathon bombings ads continue to gravitate toward our stately local broadsheet.
For starters, the Boston Sunday Globe featured this half-page ad:
Topping that was this full-page ad in the same edition:
Notice the sponsors: The Buck – sorry, Back Bay Association and the Newbury Street League.
Funny, but neither ad ran in Sunday’s Boston Herald.
The feisty local tabloid might want to look here for the reason.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Back Bay Association, Bloomingdale's, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Buck Bay Association, feisty local tabloid, Marvin Traub, New York Post, Newbury Street League, stately local broadsheet | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 18, 2013
So the reporting on Monday’s Marathon bombing has gotten a little ragged, yeah? Helpful Boston Herald tick-tock of yesterday’s rumpus:
That last item is: “7 p.m. FBI cancels press conference.” A fitting end.
Regardless of the helter-skelter nature of the news coverage, though, the tribute ads have continued to run in the local dailies.
This DePrisco ad ran in both papers:
So did this Marshalls ad:
Old friend Mo Vaughn also bought space in the locals to express his condolences, but the graphics were different. Here’s the Herald version:
And the Globe one:
In addition, the Globe featured two ads that did not appear in the Herald. First was Lord & Taylor, which is no big surprise (see Bloomingdale’s/New York Post story here).
Also absent from the Herald was this ad, which is a surprise:
Just not, apparently, with the readers of our feisty local tabloid.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Bloomingdale's, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, DePrisco, Lord & Taylor, Marshalls, Mo Vaughn, New York Post, New Yotrk City, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
April 1, 2013
From our Walt Whitman desk
The Boston Herald will be doing some celebrating itself and singing itself tomorrow, thanks to a return trip to The Newseum’s Top Ten Front Pages hit parade.
Opening Week
Look no further than today’s front pages to find out what time it is. Fields of dreams, players in action and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s reliable weatherbird all provide the answer. For most papers, play ball means baseball. For the Press-Citizen, it means golf. The Daily Journal stands out not only for its baseball-themed nameplate, but for a cover story and graphic on growing old in prison.
Note that both New York tabloids were hits, which is more than the Yankees can say about their home opener. Can’t wait to see the Big Town tabs tomorrow.
3 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: Boston Herald, Daily News, New York Post, New York Yankees, The Big Town, The Newseum, Top Ten Front Pages, Walt Whitman | Permalink
Posted by Campaign Outsider
It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town 