Plus ça change at the Boston Herald . . .

May 8, 2014

Back in the 1980s the hardreading staff carved out a spot for itself as a local advertising critic, possibly the smallest franchise in the universe. As such, we contributed to the splendid publication AdEast, which sadly seems lost to posterity.

Anyway, last night we happened upon some old clips and what did we see but a piece from 1986 headlined The Great Comics Strip Wars, which detailed the Herald’s nabbing nine comic strips – all, not coincidentally, controlled at the time by the News America Syndicate, which was owned by $(KGrHqN,!rMFJl!RzI0HBSc9s129bg~~60_12Herald owner Rupert Murdoch – from the Boston Globe.

Two passages stood out to us almost 30 years later.

First:

Under the ownership of Rupert Murdoch, the proverbial self-made man who worships his creator, the Herald has embodied tabloid journalism at its best. It serves as an excellent table of contents for the town’s “serious” newspaper, it has lots of pictures . . . and it doesn’t clutter up its pages with ads.

 

And then this:

Arguably, the greatest strength of the Herald is its uncanny knack of finding a hard-news angle in its own circulation gains and promotional activities.  I’ll never forget the investigative vigor displayed by the Herald when the paper was running its first Wingo game. Stories began appearing about the the town and the townsfolk of Wingo, Kentucky (pop. 646 or thereabouts). As fine a group of people as they are, they were finer yet for all having received a free subscription to the Herald and their very own Wingo cards.

 

See our Walt Whitman desk for updated details.

Once it nabbed the comics from the Globe, the then-feistier local tabloid “launched a series of hard-hitting features, painting this as the most significant exodus since Biblical times.”

. . . plus c’est la même chose, oui?

P.S. If any of you splendid readers want to see the whole AdEast piece, just say the word and we’ll ask the Missus to shoot it.

 

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Herald Held Hostage by Reality, Day One

February 26, 2013

Stop the presses! The Schadenfreude Gazette has actually stipulated to the facts about the imminent sale of crosstown rival Boston Globe.

From today’s edition of the feisty local tabloid:

85th Annual Academy Awards Oscars, Vanity Fair Party, Los AngeleRupert Murdoch has ‘no interest’ in the Boston Globe

Media titan quashes talk of bid

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch won’t be bidding on the Boston Globe, according to … Rupert Murdoch.

“Emphatically, no,” Murdoch said when buttonholed on the red carpet at the Academy Awards on Sunday night, according to a tweet by Variety’s deputy editor Cynthia Littleton.

Littleton tweeted Sunday night: “Rupert Murdoch not interested in Boston Globe. Flat out denial on red carpet. ‘Emphatically, no’ he assured #oscars.”

 

Of course, the only “talk of bid” that needed to be quashed appeared in – wait for it – the Herald, which resolutely ignored the reality that federal cross-ownership rules prohibit Murdoch from owning a television station (Fox 25) and a newspaper (the Globe) in the same market (Boston).

But  why get technical about it.

After all, it’s the Herald.

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Boston Globe Herald Hostage, Day 4

February 24, 2013

The Schadenfreude Gazette is so desperate for new ways every day to bash the Globe over its impending sale, the feisty local tabloid is willfully ignoring reality just to get in some cheap shots. Today’s case in point (no idea why the “1” is upper right, but couldn’t get rid of it):

Picture 1

 

Let’s skip over Howie Carr’s bulk-mail offering (“I have next to nothing in common with the pampered pukes of Morrissey Boulevard — I went to a state college, I’m not in the Social Register, I don’t have a trust fund, I wasn’t born and raised on Park Avenue, I never summered in the Hamptons” blah blah blah) and go right to the alleged news report.

121611globemh01.1Murdoch, Times have mutual interest in bid

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, reported to be on The New York Times Co.’s shortlist of suitors for its Boston Globe, would be a bargain hunter looking to get the Hub newspaper on the cheap from his archrival at the Times, who in turn could use the News Corp. chairman’s bid to drive up the price of other offers, according to media analysts.

“The perception is that Rupert is the leading buyer of newspapers in the country if not, I suppose, the world. So obviously … if you are selling a newspaper, you certainly want him in the action,” said Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Wolff, author of “The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch.”

 

This is just refried slop from yesterday’s edition, complete with quotes from the reptilian Michael Wolff. It also recycles this piece from the Wall Street Journal:

The Wall Street Journal, which Murdoch’s company bought from the Bancroft family for $5 billion in 2007, cited sources in reporting Friday that the Times Co. is “hoping to draw a bid” from Murdoch — even as the Times has been in talks with another potential buyer who submitted a 
$100 million bid last month.

 

Problem is, they forgot to crib the most important part:

News Corp.’s ownership of a television station in Boston would rule out purchase of the Globe, given regulatory rules that prohibit companies owning a newspaper and a TV station in the same market, said a person familiar with the situation.

 

But hey – why let facts get in the way of a good poke in the competition’s eye, eh?

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Boston Globe Herald Hostage, Day Three (Volume 2)

February 23, 2013

The print edition of The Schadenfreude Gazette has arrived at the Global Worldwide Headquarters of Two-Daily Town, so here’s a better look at today’s offerings:

Picture 1

 

The hardreading staff previously noted the feature story. A taste of the others:

As it went down on Twitter …

Globe reporter Mark Shanahan — @MarkAShanahan — tweeted yesterday’s town hall gathering, where New York Times. Co. vice chairman Mark Golden discussed plans to sell the broadsheet with Globe employees. Here is Shanahan’s report:

‘Sorry for the way this unfolded. It was not our intention,’ says @nytimes about being scooped on its plan to sell @bostonglobe . . .

 

And:

Herald’s commenters plot future for broadsheet

With a for-sale sign planted outside the Boston Globe, would-be media moguls of every stripe were set free this week to sketch their plans for a bold entry into the New England media landscape.

All they needed was $100 million, give or take.

“I would buy the Globe in a heartbeat if I had the money,” said George during yesterday’s Friday Throwdown news chat. “And I would take the editorial page from far left to common-sense middle of the road.” . . .

 

And – THIS JUST IN from the feisty local tabloid’s website (picked up from the Wall Street Journal):

STON7943.JPGReport: Times gets $100M Globe bid, wants Murdoch deal

The New York Times Co. is pushing for a deal for the Boston Globe with media mogul Rupert Murdoch, but has also received a bid for the beleaguered broadsheet for more than $100 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The bid came from Rick Daniels, a former Gatehouse Media New England president and ex-Globe executive, and private equity firm Boston Post Partners, represented by managing director Heberden Ryan, the Journal said. The Herald first reported that Boston Post Partners has long been a key player in the sale of the Globe.

 

Of course, current FCC regulations prohibit cross-ownership of a TV station and newspaper in the same market, and it’s unlikely Murdoch would trade Fox 25 for the Globe.

Meanwhile, crosstown at the stately local broadsheet, there’s this in today’s print edition, back on Metro B5:

Michael Golden_1Globe staff briefed on plans to sell paper

Executive vows responsible handover

New York Times Co. vice chairman Michael Golden told Boston Globe employees Friday that the company has a duty to seek the highest bidder in a sale but aims to leave the newspaper in responsible hands.

“We have no intention to send the New England Media Group to the slaughterhouse,” he said in one of three town-hall style meetings with employees.

Golden came to Boston to discuss the Times Co.’s plan to sell the Globe, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, and their related websites. In the meetings, he made no promises about what kind of suitors the Times Co. would consider.

 

When asked by the staff whether the Times Co. has a duty to find “a good steward of New England’s largest newspaper,” he replied “we will take what we consider to be the best bid.”

Uh-oh.

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Boston Globe Herald Hostage, Day Two

February 22, 2013

The Schadenfreude Gazette is at it again today:

Picture 1

 

Obligatory two-page spread:

Picture 2

 

Helpful chart:

Picture 4

 

Oh, yes – don’t forget Jerry Holbert’s editorial cartoon:
holberts 02-22 cartoon

 

Highlight of the Herald’s coverage: Jessica Heslam’s interview with the reptilian Michael Wolff about News Corp. Dark Knight Rupert Murdoch as a potential buyer:

“Rupert would be terrifically interested in the Boston Globe,” said Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Wolff, author of “The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch.” “Rupert is now in the process of shopping for American newspapers but doing that in the context of that this is the bottom of the market.”

So what would be the right price for Murdoch?

“Practically free,” Wolff told me. “Assuming that there is cash flow, he would buy it on a heavily, heavily, heavily, heavily discounted basis. Rupert, at this point, is an economic buyer.”

 

But an unlikely one, says old friend Mark Jurkowitz, associate director of the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. “The prospect of Rupert going head-to-head with the Boston Herald seems somehow un-American. That’s his baby. … That would surprise me.”

Crosstown at the stately local broadsheet meanwhile, Globe columnist Kevin Cullen has a message for the Heraldniks:

The change that is coming is about business, not journalism. As for the delight fully delusional people who see a change of ownership as a death sentence, the natural consequence of the Globe being part of the vast left-wing conspiracy, please, sit back, crack another cold one and adjust your tinfoil hats. Ask Sal DiMasi, John Tierney, and Mike McLaughlin, just recent examples, if they think the Globe goes easy on Democrats.

The Globe isn’t going anywhere. It’s changing owners.

 

Message: Stick that in your pipe, Howie.

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