The sequester is finally upon us. A sense of doom may be gripping Washington, but by the time one gets to Boston, the reaction is mostly “meh.” Even though Massachusetts will take a big hit, average Joes and Janes are either indifferent or unaware of the automatic $85 billion in federal budget cuts that are scheduled to take effect on March 1.
The Boston Globe discovered that few people understand what sequestration means. As one person told the Globe “It’s new terminology for the same old thing.”
Who’s to blame for this epidemic of indifference? The news media, of course. Writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, David Clay Johnston, president of Investigative Reporters and Editors and a budget and tax expert, suggests that part the problem can be chalked up to “coverage is too often dull or absent.” Exhibit A for Johnston is an Associated Press Q&A explainer that was “solidly factual but deadly dull.” Only a New York Times article on air travel emerges as a “standout” in an otherwise dismal field of reports from the leading national outlets.
Unfortunately, readers who stick to a mostly mainstream national media coverage on how cuts will affect them are destined for disappointment. The sequester is a tailor-made moment for “news you can use” regional and local coverage.
The Globe noted that the Greater Boston defense industry is already “is in a state of paralysis.” A small Salem manufacturer that relies on defense industry contracts told the The Eagle-Tribune that he is waiting to see what happens next before filling two job vacancies. WBUR reported that local college students will see their work-study grants dry up. Articles like the one in The Needham Times laying out how the cuts will affect the schools and other town departments can be found in almost every local paper.
Want to learn about the sequester and be entertained at the same time? Then New York magazine’s “Absolute Moron’s Guide to the Sequester” is for you.
Get off the beaten path, and there is thought-provoking national reporting out there. Mother Jones delivers a fascinating revelation by House Speaker John Boehner and breaks the consequences down in lists like “12 ways the Sequester will screw the poor” and “6 ways the Sequester will mess up the environment.”
It’s also worth considering that the news media’s sequester-consequences coverage has geared up to a feverish pitch only in the past few days because, unlike the eleventh-hour fiscal cliff resolution, Congress appears ready to let the economy-stalling cuts take effect. Beyond that, private sector employers and state and local governments already have been at work for weeks on their own Plan Bs, even if the media has been slow to notice.
The sequester is almost old news anyway. The Christian Science Monitor and other outlets are pointing out that an even bigger time bomb is ticking. If Congress fails to appropriate operating funds for federal departments by March 27, the US government will shut down.
–GABRIELLE GURLEY
BEACON HILL
Gov. Deval Patrick says the public will “warm up” to the new taxes he is proposing, the Telegram & Gazette reports. The governor also applies political pressure to lawmakers with a website identifying how much each House and Senate district stands to gain financially, State House News reports (via CommonWealth). Rep. John Binienda invokes the election of 1990, saying many of his colleagues worry a tax vote would cost them their jobs. A Herald editorial calls Patrick’s latest push tone-deaf.
A Quincy state representative has refiled a bill that would require convicted sex offenders to register their social media screennames and emails.
A Globe editorial says the key to meeting Patrick’s target of constructing 10,000 new housing units per year lies less in cajoling recalcitrant suburbs than in taking advantage of under-developed urban pockets like Forest Hills in Jamaica Plain.
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Somerville’s Union Square post office is up for sale.
City and state aid pave the way for the second phase of the redevelopment of Boston’s Jackson Square.
NATIONAL POLITICS/WASHINGTON
Democratic governors fear the gun reform “moment” has passed, Politico reports. An emotional Newtown, Connecticut dad urges passage of an assault weapons ban, ABC reports.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who declined to show off his multilingual skills in Canada earlier, regaled the press in Paris by holding a press conference in both English and French.
The Supreme Court asks questions critical of the Voting Rights Act. A New York Times editorial says the high court should defer to Congress’s 2006 renewal of the law, which, in part, subjects states with a history of segregation and voter suppression to stricter voting rights tests. Times columnist Charles Blow argues in favor of expanding, not paring down, the law.
Rep. Darrell Issa widens his inquiry into US Attorney Carmen Ortiz’s handling of the Aaron Swartz case to include MIT.
ELECTIONS
Boston Mayor Tom Menino says he wants “a nice, good campaign,” but he also passes up a chance to declare that he’s seeking a sixth term.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
A bycatch alert system developed by UMass-Dartmouth to help commercial fishermen avoid pulling in off-limts yellowtail flounder is being expanded for the fourth year.
Globe columnist Joan Vennochi accuses Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer of trying to “out-macho the men who run most of America’s boardrooms.”
RELIGION
As their congregations age and dwindle, three conservative synagogues in Brockton, Randolph, and Stoughton have agreed to consolidate by 2014.
EDUCATION
Salem school officials propose eliminating an extended-year program at a K-8 school and replacing it with summer school programs open to students across the city, the Salem News reports.
St. Mary’s High School in Lynn is the latest school to drop text books in favor of iPads, the Item reports.
TRANSPORTATION
The Fall River Herald News editorial board says the MassINC report calling for increased investment in regional transit authorities is a credible roadmap to help job growth in Gateway Cities. Meanwhile, transportation officials told a House Ways and Means hearing that funding is the final hurdle for the proposed South Coast commuter rail line.
State officials unveil details for managing the reconstruction of the Longfellow Bridge. The construction project will temporarily relocate Red Line tracks, curtail weekend train service, and close the bridge to Cambridge-bound traffic.
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Japan is beginning to restart its nuclear power plants, the New York Times reports.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
The city of Worcester goes after the defense attorney bringing a civil lawsuit on behalf of a woman who alleges police coerced a murder confession from her, WBUR reports.
A Lawrence policeman is arrested for sexually assaulting a child while on vacation in Florida last summer, the Eagle-Tribune reports.
The blizzard earlier this month knocked down a section of both the interior and exterior perimeter fences at the state prison in Bridgewater, forcing officials to keep inmates inside until repairs are made.
Incarceration rates for blacks fell nationwide over the past decade, while the rate for whites and Hispanics rose.
MEDIA
Bob Woodward says a senior Obama administration official sent an email warning that the author would regret his reporting on sequestration cuts, CNN reports. BuzzFeed identifies the official, whom Woodward refused to name. New York magazine asks, succinctly, “What the hell happened to Bob Woodward?”