Everyone knows about the retrenchment and redistribution of resources by media outlets, especially newspapers. While some regions have filled the vacuum with blogs purporting to be news but are really opinion pages in disguise, true local news and events often go uncovered. Here in Boston, though, some web sites have sustained long enough to become […]
Media and Journalism
Posted inThe Download
Globe comes clean
The Boston Globe aired its dirty linen in public over the weekend, running a front-page story that revealed the newspaper is still a long way from resolving problems with its printing presses in Taunton that have delayed or even prevented deliveries. There have been mea culpas before about the breakdown-prone presses from publisher John Henry, […]
Posted inThe Download
Have you seen the Globe today?
Yankees-Red Sox, Celtics-Lakers, Donald Trump-World. There’s nothing like a good rivalry and when the Boston Herald and Boston Globe engage in a tong war for readers, it makes for great reading and, for those of us in the business, riveting inside baseball chat. But the latest contretemps has little to do with content and it’s […]
Posted inOpinion
Digital news is faster – not better
I GUESS YOU could call it a bribe. An old fellow and his wife tottered into the newsroom, where I was editor of the Somerville Journal, and proudly said their son had won a commendation for his heroic actions at a fire in a public housing building. Would I run the item? Sure, I said. […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Tipping point for Confederate statues
After this month’s white nationalist rally in Virginia, statues of Confederate leaders are falling across the South. Protests by white supremacists against the planned removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville have set in motion a rush to rid town greens and parks of icons to the Confederate cause. Many have decried the […]
Posted inThe Download
Hating on the haters
Boston is no place for hate – and we’ll beat you and isolate you to prove it. Message sent, message received. From elected officials to the 15,000 to 40,000 demonstrators (depending on whose estimate is accurate), the response to the fizzled Free Speech Rally on Boston Common Saturday was largely loud, proud, and peaceful. The […]
Posted inThe Download
4 takeaways from sales tax moves
You could actually see an industry in transition on Wednesday. Amazon held a giant job fair at nearly a dozen of its US warehouses, including the one in Fall River, as the company sought to fill 50,000 empty positions across the country. At the same time, the Retailers Association of Massachusetts announced it was mounting […]
Posted inOpinion
Escaping the news Thunderdome
FOLLOWING THE NEWS has become exhausting. We hardly know what to believe anymore. In response, many people now feel the need to curate reality, by pre-selecting news sources on their smartphones and tablet computers. However, whether it’s in business or politics, the truth matters, and important decisions must rest on facts, data, and reality. Public […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
WBUR, WGBH both doing well
Public radio is not a zero-sum game in Boston. WBUR and WGBH, Boston’s two public radio news stations, follow the same news and information format and run many of the same programs. But, as the Boston Globe reported on Sunday, both stations are growing rapidly and rolling in dough. Over the past five years, WGBH’s […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, The Download
Does it matter if Hernandez was gay?
How does a reporter write about an issue he or she hasn’t covered without explaining what the issue is? It’s a conundrum facing many outlets in the aftermath of the suicide of former New England Patriots star and convicted killer Aaron Hernandez last week. In the days following Hernandez’s death, there was no end to speculation over […]