Sunday Herald Wins Boston Mayoral Race

September 8, 2013

If you’re looking to dig into Boston’s mayoral scrum, today’s Boston Herald is the place to go.

The feisty local tabloid devotes three full pages to the preliminary race.

 

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The City Hall bakeoff also gets a column from Suffolk University’s Herald embed John Nucci, along with half of Matt Stout’s Pols & Politics piece.

Crosstown, the Boston Globe has . . . well, a lot less. There’s this story on B2 (print headline):

Lee_conley2_metConley criticizes rivals on casino

Says councilors should back citywide vote

Suffolk County district attorney and Boston mayoral candidate Daniel F. Conley on Saturday doubled-down on his calls for a citywide vote on a proposed casino in East Boston and sharply criticized the city councilors running against him for not holding community hearings on the issue.

But despite his repeated calls for a citywide vote, council members continued to stand by their decision to allow East Boston residents exclusively to decide if their community becomes home to casino gambling.

 

The stately local broadsheet also features this opinion piece by Boston Review managing editor Simon Waxman.

wide-cityhall0908Can Boston break identity politics?

In Boston, identity politics have been such a powerful influence in local elections that candidates have literally changed their identities. Early in his career, future US House Speaker John McCormack rewrote his family history to better align it with those of the local political bosses and to erase any hint of Protestantism. Among other revisions, his Scottish-Canadian father and Boston-born Irish-American mother became Irish immigrants. He was inspired in part by John Way, a Yankee Democrat who repeatedly failed to win office despite running on a staunch pro-Irish-Catholic ticket.

In the 1960s and ’70s, Louise Day Hicks, William Bulger, and others updated identity politics in Boston. Hicks gained popularity as a defender of working-class white interests against desegregation and what she called “civil rights infiltrators.”

 

And, Waxman writes, “in 1983, the only time a black candidate made it to the final round of a Boston mayoral contest, an electorate sharply divided on racial lines handed Ray Flynn a landslide victory over Mel King.”

What does he want?

For Bostonians to rely less on racial identity in their voting decisions, and “for the candidates to set out individual agendas and give the voters more, and perhaps better, reasons to support them.”

When does he want it?

Now.

 

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Globe Joins Herald in Making Radio Waves

August 1, 2013

Day Four of the Boston Herald’s ridiculous/embarrassing newsvertising campaign for its Internet radio launch features the usual abuse of its news pages, starting with Page One.

 

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Then there’s the mandatory two-page spread inside.

 

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Our choice for Plug o’ the Day is this beauty:

 

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That would be the same Suffolk University that’s in bed with the Herald in producing both their weekly Press Party webcast and their Inside the Race for Mayor coverage. As the hardreading staff has previously noted, this creates a glaring conflict of interest for the Herald regarding a major academic institution in Boston, which apparently bothers the feisty local tabloid not at all.

Crosstown, the Boston Globe has decided to jump into the pool with this ad for its RadioBDC webstream.

 

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No doubt the two digital ventures will be at it hammer and tongue for the foreseeable future.

 

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Boston Herald a Suffolk University Satellite Campus

May 24, 2013

There’s some serious co-branding going on at the Boston Herald these days, where the Suffolk University logo is on the feisty local tabloid like Howie Carr on a Bay State solon.

For starters, there’s the Suffolk connection to the Herald’s weekly Press Party webcast, the underdog half of the Great Boston MediaWatch Dogfight with WGBH’s Beat the Press. Here’s the ad from today’s paper:

 

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And here’s how the webcast’s background looks:

 

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Suffolk even gets part of the bug for video packages:

 

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In the Herald itself, Suffolk’s VP of Whatever John Nucci now seems to have his own column:

 

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But there’s no tag or ID for Nucci, just the Suffolk logo.

Wait – there’s more. Nucci also turns up in Press Party packages, just to round things out.

 

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The Nucci column, it turns out, is part of this initiative, which the Herald announced a couple of weeks ago.

raceformayorHerald, Suffolk U. set to give voters a lesson in city politics

Suffolk University and the Boston Herald are joining forces to provide the most comprehensive multimedia coverage anywhere on this year’s milestone race for mayor of Boston.

The university, which already teams with the Herald on the weekly “Press Party” media analysis Web show, brings to the table an array of important tools for voters who want cutting-edge coverage of the mayoral battle.

 

Those tools includes polling and blogs and Nucci and stuff. So that’s a lesson in something.

But . . . is it just us, or is this a bit much, considering that the Herald is supposed to be sort of covering Suffolk University?

Not to get technical about it.

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Surprise! It’s the Globe That’s Bashing Elizabeth Warren

November 9, 2012

Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren’s Marcel Marceau press conference yesterday got – wait for it – very different treatment in the local dailies today. But in a rare role reversal, it’s the Boston Herald giving her a free pass, while the Globe gave her  a tune-up.

Herald piece:

Expert: Liz Warren’s jitters expected at presser

U.S. Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren’s jittery first press conference since the election was likely a combination of the political neophyte’s exhaustion and caution as she gets ready to head to Washington, D.C., to take on the high-stakes job, according to a political observer.

“She’s been concentrating so hard on the campaign, I’m sure she’s pretty tired,” said John C. Berg, a political science professor at Suffolk University. “I also think she doesn’t want to go into the Senate having made commitments she regrets.”

Maybe, but she certainly got news coverage to regret. Start with the front page story in the Globe:

Elizabeth Warren holds back with reporters

It was a bit of a rough start for Senator- elect Elizabeth Warren, who held her first official press conference following her victory Tuesday. Suddenly, the voluble Harvard Law School professor and longtime media commentator sounded uncertain and impatient, offering terse answers to questions about fiscal policy and the success of women candidates.

“I’m glad” was all she said when asked to expound on the support she received from women voters and on the influx of women elected Tuesday. Asked to elaborate, she refused, saying: “I’m glad that women turned out to vote for me. I’m delighted.”

Asked a third time, Warren turned to Governor Deval Patrick, who was standing at her side at the State House press conference. “You want to try this?” she said.

Globe columnist Brian McGrory was willing to grab some of it.

Elizabeth Warren a woman of few words

For the sake of Massachusetts, let’s hope that Elizabeth Warren gets better than this.

She was always a mildly underwhelming candidate, clutching her talking points like they were a satchel of gold — millionaires and billionaires, a level playing field, big oil. As deft as she was at slogans, she was never so good at answering questions, which was odd for a person of such experience and substance.

Her acceptance on Tuesday night continued that odd tradition — her stump speech warmed over with a midway nod ­toward her vanquished opponent, Scott Brown. It was hard to fathom that she couldn’t offer a few meaningful words on what it means to capture the honor of representing Massachusetts in the US Senate.

But none of this could have prepared anyone for the scene that unfolded Thursday afternoon in the governor’s suite of the State House . . .

. . . which, McGrory continues, is more than a little problematic:

Yes, she is tired. Of course, it’s all new. Admittedly, this is about style.

But election night was lazy. Thursday was disrespectful. If Elizabeth Warren is better than this, and there is every hope and belief that she is, it’s time to start showing it now.

Who knows – the Herald might even notice.

 

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