Friday, January 14, 2005
newspaper wars
I wish every city could have at least two major daily newspapers, so that the inevitable petty sniping and backbiting could be enjoyed by Americans everywhere. A big brouhaha has broken out up here over the last ten days or so. The New York Times Company, the Boston Globe's corporate overlord, announced last week that they were buying 49% of the Boston Metro from their Scandinavian owners. The Metro is a free weekday tabloid best known locally for its single paragraph stories and as the most efficient source of subway litter ever devised by man. They also employ the most annoying newspaper barkers I've ever encountered. The Metro is truly a most pathetic excuse for a newspaper; it makes the Red and Black look like the London Times. Since the Metro's introduction to Boston a few years ago, the circulation of rival (and not free) tabloid the Boston Herald has plummetted, forcing them to try several different makeovers. For a while, apparently, the Herald even tried to write about real news, and not just focus on local sports, spectacular crime, and why the liberals want to rape Jesus. Seriousness failed as miserably as everything else they tried, though, so eventually they reverted back to a typically shrill, pandering, and inflammatory tabloid. That might be a disservice to the intelligence and understanding of their readership, but it guarantees at least one headline a week that just fuckin rocks.
Anyway, the Globe and the Herald have been mortal enemies for years, and although both were taking some massive hits, the Herald was struggling mightily even before those meddlesome Swedes and their Metro struck at the Herald's bread and butter. When the Times Company announced they were buying into the Metro, and would share some editorial resources between that paper and the Globe, the Herald, somewhat understandably, went ballistic, and threatened an antitrust lawsuit, despite owning over one hundred local and regional paperes throughout Massachusetts and New England. This is all pretty boring stuff, to be sure, unless you're interested in the internecine squabbles between two dying dinosaurs.
But then, this past Monday, a story broke on MediaChannel.org about racist jokes told by Metro executives at various company meetings. The folks at the Herald, who obviously aren't as stupid as they believe their readership to be, broke out the Pearl Harbor font-size for Tuesday's headline about the Metro's institutional racism. The Herald has had two headlines about it this week, and if you didn't know better you'd think it was the biggest story since Fatty Arbuckle mislocated his bottle. The Herald has been screaming with the sort of moral indignation they normally reserve for Catholic priest abuse scandals and John Kerry campaigns. The Globe, meanwhile, can barely tear itself away from its costume balls and society luncheons to offer a response, while the general populace of Boston refuses to give even a fraction of an iota of a shit. One Swede got canned, another got relocated (and promoted), but the Herald, and the African American groups it usually despises but is currently aligned with, are not placated. The African American groups rightfully demand an overhaul of the Metro's corporate culture, whereas the Herald won't rest until the Metro has been eviscerated, burned to the ground, and its barren fields salted and paved. It is all very trivial, unimportant stuff, but due to the Herald's reliable awesomeness at exaggeration and crisis manufacturing, it's been an interesting story to keep an eye on the last few days.
Dan Kennedy at the Boston Phoenix (which is about as hopeless as the Herald and Metro) has been doing a good job of covering this whole situation from the start over at his media log.
I wish every city could have at least two major daily newspapers, so that the inevitable petty sniping and backbiting could be enjoyed by Americans everywhere. A big brouhaha has broken out up here over the last ten days or so. The New York Times Company, the Boston Globe's corporate overlord, announced last week that they were buying 49% of the Boston Metro from their Scandinavian owners. The Metro is a free weekday tabloid best known locally for its single paragraph stories and as the most efficient source of subway litter ever devised by man. They also employ the most annoying newspaper barkers I've ever encountered. The Metro is truly a most pathetic excuse for a newspaper; it makes the Red and Black look like the London Times. Since the Metro's introduction to Boston a few years ago, the circulation of rival (and not free) tabloid the Boston Herald has plummetted, forcing them to try several different makeovers. For a while, apparently, the Herald even tried to write about real news, and not just focus on local sports, spectacular crime, and why the liberals want to rape Jesus. Seriousness failed as miserably as everything else they tried, though, so eventually they reverted back to a typically shrill, pandering, and inflammatory tabloid. That might be a disservice to the intelligence and understanding of their readership, but it guarantees at least one headline a week that just fuckin rocks.
Anyway, the Globe and the Herald have been mortal enemies for years, and although both were taking some massive hits, the Herald was struggling mightily even before those meddlesome Swedes and their Metro struck at the Herald's bread and butter. When the Times Company announced they were buying into the Metro, and would share some editorial resources between that paper and the Globe, the Herald, somewhat understandably, went ballistic, and threatened an antitrust lawsuit, despite owning over one hundred local and regional paperes throughout Massachusetts and New England. This is all pretty boring stuff, to be sure, unless you're interested in the internecine squabbles between two dying dinosaurs.
But then, this past Monday, a story broke on MediaChannel.org about racist jokes told by Metro executives at various company meetings. The folks at the Herald, who obviously aren't as stupid as they believe their readership to be, broke out the Pearl Harbor font-size for Tuesday's headline about the Metro's institutional racism. The Herald has had two headlines about it this week, and if you didn't know better you'd think it was the biggest story since Fatty Arbuckle mislocated his bottle. The Herald has been screaming with the sort of moral indignation they normally reserve for Catholic priest abuse scandals and John Kerry campaigns. The Globe, meanwhile, can barely tear itself away from its costume balls and society luncheons to offer a response, while the general populace of Boston refuses to give even a fraction of an iota of a shit. One Swede got canned, another got relocated (and promoted), but the Herald, and the African American groups it usually despises but is currently aligned with, are not placated. The African American groups rightfully demand an overhaul of the Metro's corporate culture, whereas the Herald won't rest until the Metro has been eviscerated, burned to the ground, and its barren fields salted and paved. It is all very trivial, unimportant stuff, but due to the Herald's reliable awesomeness at exaggeration and crisis manufacturing, it's been an interesting story to keep an eye on the last few days.
Dan Kennedy at the Boston Phoenix (which is about as hopeless as the Herald and Metro) has been doing a good job of covering this whole situation from the start over at his media log.
