Covering Connolly

Earlier this week, I accused the Globe of not running an article focused on John Connolly, Boston's newly elected at-large city councilor, until the day of the election. I was wrong. Michael Jonas, who writes the "Political Trail" column for the Globe's City Weekly section, wrote about Connolly on July 1. Apologies to Michael and Morrissey Boulevard for my error.

Now that I've 'fessed up, two related points:

1. The placement of the Globe's sole feature on Connolly's candidacy raises an interesting question: when should the Globe relegate Boston political coverage to the City Weekly section, and when should it run in City/Region? On the one hand, only Boston voters were going to have a chance to vote for Connolly. On the other hand, the politics of Boston have a significance that extends far beyond the city's borders. That's why--to cite one example--the Globe's story on the terrible turnout for this week's Boston election ran on the front page, above the fold.

2. On a more mundane note, the Globe and the people who maintain the ProQuest newspaper database should figure out how to make sure the latter includes City Weekly content. Just, you know, to prevent future confusion or anything.

Published Nov 09 2007, 03:01 PM by Adam Reilly

• Media Watch said:

  Adam, I think your original point was basically good.  A City Weekly piece in the Globe around the July 4 holiday does people who go out of town for the holiday, to the Cape or elsewhere, little good. Michael J. can write the best political prose on city politics (and often does), but timing is everything.  Maybe if they turned over the last City Weekly before the election (or last 2) to the candidates, maybe they would get more attention.

  November 9, 2007 10:07 PM

• Patrick said:

  The Globe shoots itself in the foot by running local stories with interest and importance beyond the Globe-designated regions only in the weekly local sections.

  Tuesday's elections were a case in point: I had to search the whole paper before finding the one sentence paragraph explaining who won the Quincy mayoreal race -- even though just 4 months ago everybody was focused on Quincy's teachers strike and its potential effects on benefits for public employees.      

  And even the people in those regions would like to see some daily coverage of the big local events, rather than wait for the Globe's weekly local edition; they can get weekly coverage from the local paper.  

  And the Globe wonders why its circluation is down in the 'burbs.  On Tuesday more front page coverage was given to a human interest story on John Edwards' wife than the multitude of dynamic local races around the region.  

  November 11, 2007 2:58 AM

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