Talk about a slow news week.... Today, AP reports that some husband-wife tandems like different TV shows and movies, while others like the same ones.

Apparently it took an AP-AOL News poll to suss this out.

Can't wait for the holidays to be over, myself.

12/29/2006 1:41:28 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [1] |  

In this week's issue, I propose a list of seven stories that will dominate 2007, for better or worse.

Please, tell me--what did I omit?!?

12/28/2006 12:30:10 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [4] |  

Does the remarkable devaluation of the Star Tribune--which McClatchy purchased eight years ago for $1.2 billion*, and just unloaded for $530 million cash, plus $160 million in tax breaks--bode poorly for the newspaper industry as a whole? Not so, newspaper broker John Cribb tells E&P. According to Cribb, small- to mid-size papers remain hot commodities. On the other hand:

Metros like the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, he said, face declining circulation, competition from the Internet, and the commodization of their international and national news franchise: "We think that part of the industry will continue to struggle and have valuation issues."

Sounds a lot like the Globe to me.

I'd bet that Jack Welch and Jack Connors will be urging the New York Times Co. to reconsider their offer.

*NOTE: Not "million," as I originally wrote. Thanks to PH for catching the mistake.

12/28/2006 11:05:34 AM by Adam Reilly | Comments [0] |  

Sorry, but this guy won't be "blogging" again until December 27. Until then, warm holiday wishes to all readers--and please send your extra-hot story tips to areilly@NOSPAMphx.com.

12/18/2006 6:09:09 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [0] |  

Time's choice is stupid. Here's why. 

If you think I'm being harsh, pay close attention to the accompanying visuals.

12/18/2006 11:30:55 AM by Adam Reilly | Comments [4] |  

Last week, an unsigned letter titled "No Thanks Pat" was posted over at Herald Square. Media Log hasn't been able to verify the details of the letter, but it reportedly featured the Grinch--although it's not clear whether Purcell's head was placed on the Grinch's body or not.

Anyway, the letter was promptly taken down, and Purcell followed up with the missive you see below. If Purcell's really taking the high road here by inviting anonymous critics to a measured discussion of his business decisions, that's pretty impressive. But I have to say, if I were the author(s) of "No Thanks Pat," I'd think twice about 'fessing up.

 

 

 

Patrick J. Purcell

President and Publisher

 

To the author or authors of the recently posted flyer headlined, “No Thanks Pat”.

I urge you to drop by my office so that you can voice your grievances in person.  This meeting will also give you an opportunity, if you wish, to hear firsthand the rationale for the business decisions I have made in the 12 years I have owned the Boston Herald.

I look forward to speaking with you soon.

 

12/18/2006 10:15:02 AM by Adam Reilly | Comments [2] |  

Most of the responses to my recent musings on blogs and the mainstream media run as follows: So, you're saying the blogosphere praises the MSM when it does well and chide it when it does poorly. Big fucking deal!

Actually, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that when the MSM makes a mistake, the b-sphere pans it as fatally flawed. But when the MSM praises the b-sphere, or gives it some free publicity, the b-sphere nearly pisses itself because it's so excited. Which means the various analogies posited to make my argument sound ridiculous (Santa gives presents to good kids and coal to bad ones; I cheer a quarterback when he does well and jeer when he does poorly, etc.) don't actually work.

Sorry to make things complicated.

12/15/2006 9:53:12 AM by Adam Reilly | Comments [2] |  

With Globe employees scheduled to vote on a new contract tomorrow, tensions between union leadership and rank-and-file employees seem to be extremely high. Case in point: this email from former Boston Newspaper Guild vice president Mary Corbett, which has been in heavy circulation for the last couple days and does everything but accuse the current union board (which has urged members to approve the contract in question) of bad faith. Read on.

TO THE MEMBERSHIP

From a former BNG VP and 15 year delegate, in all good conscience I cannot remain silent regarding the proposed contract and upcoming vote.  Although I no longer hold an active role, my commitment to your future is based in the historic efforts and passion of a strong union legacy

Let no one  be fooled into thinking the new language in the contract for outside sales will not be imposed for inside sales. This is the way the New York Times will be able to get rid of Grandfather'd people, this will also be the new criteria for every department.

They said on the last contract that they wanted extensive outsourcing language but would not use it, but guess what , they did use it on the maintenance dept. and guess what they will use the new advertising language on you, you and you.

There is nothing in that contract to vote yes for. When the board tells you they have lost nothing think again, they have given up multi tasking for newsroom people,  for 37 Boston.Com people who are now refusing to join the union because of being used as a bargaining chip in negotiations. The board gave up multi tasking for nothing, we already had Boston  com ready to sign and the company knew it.  How about they got boston.com revenue 1st - they will never get a true revenue number, just like they never could for advertising, you will never see it because you are signing for a no raise contract -  and who in 4 years will benefit from it, EVERYONE?

How about your health care, there's another plus!!!!!!!!  The company told the board they wanted the contract done by the end of August and well - the board did it for them and they came back signing a Tentative Agreement without taking it to the membership first - because the company told them they would not allow the time!  Since when is there a time limit set by the company? And how strong does the board look agreeing to it? When the tentative agreement was voted down, a few days later they came back with another great contract for you, take another look.

I worked long and hard on that last negotiations and was the only one to vote NO on the outsourcing, the rest of the board - which is the same board now except STEVE RICHARDS WAS PRESIDENT  - and wanted the contract negotiations done, - I KNOW BECAUSE I WAS THERE. I NEVER LIED TO THE MEMBERSHIP AND I WON'T START NOW. YOU CAN GET A MUCH BETTER CONTRACT, SEND THEM BACK TO THE TABLE.

Yours in solidarity, Mary Corbett, previous VP.

12/12/2006 2:51:00 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [1] |  

This just in: according to two Media Log sources, travel editor Fran Golden is getting the axe. Seems the tabloid's just going to run wire-service copy now.

Tough times, these.

12/11/2006 8:54:20 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [2] |  

Effective today (!), guy by the name of Stuart Layne is going to be calling the shots at the free daily.

According to the press release announcing Layne's appointment--see below--Layne will "add to [Metro's] success" and "raise the profile of Metro Boston," which sounds reasonable. Also, Mayor Menino is apparently bullish on Layne thanks to his (Layne's) work as the Celtics' executive VP of marketing and sales.

Media Log called Bridget Seay, Metro Boston's previous publisher, to learn the details of her exit, but got her voicemail. I'll let you know what Seay says if she calls back--although given Metro's notorious opacity, you shouldn't hold your breath.*

*UPDATE: Shame on me for doubting Bridget! Here's the scoop on Seay: though she's identified as "Publisher" on Metro Boston's masthead, she was actually the acting publisher as Metro searched for a full-fledged publisher to replace Bob Powers. Now that Layne's been hired, Seay will go back to her other job, which is associate publisher. Got it?

Boston (December 7, 2006) – Metro Boston today announced that Stuart Layne has been named Publisher, effective December 7, 2006. He will be responsible for all operations of the Boston edition of this popular free daily newspaper.

According to Robert Patterson, Metro International’s executive vice president for the Americas, “Stuart will add to our success and raise the profile of Metro Boston. Having someone with Stuart’s local experience and marketing expertise shows our serious intentions to grow aggressively in Boston.”

Layne joins Metro Boston with over 20 years' advertising, marketing and media sales experience. Most recently, Stuart created Seven 2 Sports Marketing, a sports and entertainment marketing company.

“I am very excited to join the talented staff at Metro Boston and for the opportunity to take the paper to the next level.  Metro Boston is already a dominant medium among young adults and I look forward to developing new ways we can serve our readership, our advertisers, and the community,” said Layne.

Previously, Layne was executive vice president of Marketing and Sales with the Boston Celtics.  From 1989-93, Layne served as the vice president of marketing for Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners. He spent 12 years in broadcasting, and had on-air jobs at various West Coast stations before joining CBS-radio in sales and management positions in New York and Chicago.  After CBS, Layne managed radio stations for Emmis Communications in St. Louis, Minneapolis and New York. The native New Yorker received his Bachelor of Science in Communications from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.  Layne resides with his wife, Tracy, and family in Andover, MA.

“Stuart has been a valuable contributor to the Greater Boston business community and to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.  I have seen what he has accomplished while at the Celtics and as a member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors.  I am confident that his leadership will strengthen Metro’s role in the community and bring the quality of the paper to new levels,” said Paul Guzzi, president of the Boston Chamber of Commerce.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said, “When Stuart Layne was with the Celtics he showed commitment to Boston by creating programs which refurbished inner city basketball courts and rewarded middle school kids who performed community service by sending them on field trips to Washington, D.C.  The Metro reaches an important young readership and is vital to communicating to the young adults in Boston.  I am confident under Stuart’s leadership Metro will be a significant contributor to Boston.”

Metro Boston started in May 2001 and is Boston’s largest free daily newspaper, read by more than 235,000 readers every day.  The Boston Globe acquired a 49% stake in Metro Boston in 2005. The paper is majority-owned by Metro International SA, publisher of the world’s largest global newspaper chain.

Metro is the largest and fastest growing international newspaper in the world. 70 Metro editions are published in 20 countries in 19 languages across Europe, North & South America and Asia. Metro has a unique global reach - attracting a young, active, well-educated Metropolitan audience of 18.5 million daily. Metro has an equal number of male and female readers and 70% are under the age of 45.

12/7/2006 2:18:59 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [0] |  

I revisit the Globe's gang-truce scoop in light of Jahmol Norfleet's murder last month, bellyache about Deval Patrick bellyaching about the media, and ask how Blue Mass. Group will respond as their guy Patrick takes office.

Please, take a look.

12/7/2006 11:48:57 AM by Adam Reilly | Comments [0] |  

Here's the email Henry Becton sent to staffers this morning. His resignation won't take effect until next October, when current GBH executive VP/COO Jon Abbott will take the reins. (You can get biographical details on both men here.)

Date: Thursday, December 7, 2006 8:30 AM
From: Henry Becton

TO:  ALL STAFF

 To everything there is a season, and I have decided that as I approach nearly thirty years at the helm of WGBH, the time has come to begin a transition to new leadership.  After discussion with many of our board leaders over the past few months, I announced at last night’s Board of Trustees meeting my intention to step down as president, effective next October 1st.  At my recommendation, the Board has elected Jon Abbott to succeed me on that date.  

 Following some time off then, I plan to remain at WGBH part-time to assist in strategic initiatives, development and advancement activities, to be a senior editorial advisor to top management, and to represent WGBH on a number of national public broadcasting boards.  

 Jon Abbott has done an excellent job as our executive vice president and chief operating officer during the past few years.  I believe he has the vision and leadership strengths to take WGBH to even greater public service and media prominence in the years ahead. He has my full support as well as that of the Board of Trustees, and I know you will join me in congratulating him.

 The timing is right for a number of reasons. By next summer we will have fully settled into our exciting new studio headquarters in Brighton and in September will have celebrated its public opening. We also will have completed our Breaking New Ground Campaign which is so important to our future, and which already has substantially surpassed its goal. We are in the midst of one of our most successful years in programming, with many new highlights and accolades in the local, children’s, radio and primetime TV areas. We have a great roster of new programs in the pipeline and wonderful momentum taking our content to new platforms. There also is greater alignment and collaboration among our national organizations and WGBH than ever before, which is helping accelerate our transition to new digital program services.

 As you know, Jon has played a key role in our digital transition, overseeing the largest expansion of our regional television service in three decades. Before joining us in 1998 as vice president of television stations and general manager, Jon was with PBS for six years as senior vice president for development and corporate relations, where he directed strategy for member stations across the country in their fundraising and institutional advancement. Prior to that, he spent five years managing marketing and development for San Francisco public station KQED, helping plan and launch KQED-FM‘s all news format. He got his start in broadcasting in 1981 at Columbia University station WKCR-FM where he inaugurated and produced weekly live broadcasts from The Blue Note jazz club.

 As the media landscape continues along its rapid rate of change, public media stands out in ever more dramatic contrast. It is acknowledged for the high quality of its programming on TV radio and the web, for its dedication to serving audiences as citizens rather than consumers, for its commitment to education and a safe media environment for children, and for its commitment to providing democratic access to culture and information and to strengthening our communities.  

 WGBH itself is a wonderful community.  I count myself blessed to have worked all these years alongside so many multi-talented, dedicated and exceptional colleagues.  I’m excited that starting next fall, I’ll be working to advance the WGBH mission in new ways.  And in the meantime, I’ll look forward to working with all of you as I remain fully engaged during my final year as president.

 We have set aside time this afternoon at 3pm in the Atrium to gather informally and share an opportunity to mark this significant transition for WGBH. Please join us then.

12/7/2006 10:25:04 AM by Adam Reilly | Comments [3] |  

Inspired by the Weekly Dig staffer(s) known as "Media Farm," who didn't like my suggestions for how Kevin Convey might retool the Herald, I've decided to bring the question to you, the reader. Not the question of whether the Track Girls rock, as Media Farm thinks, but the question of what Convey could do to right the ship over at Herald Square.

So have at it! If y'all were Convey, who'll be taking the reins from Ken Chandler come the New Year, what would you try?

12/6/2006 7:33:03 AM by Adam Reilly | Comments [9] |  

What to say about Kerry Purcell's installation as director of content development for Herald Interactive?

#1: Purcell is, in fact, the daughter of Herald owner Pat Purcell. This fact was omitted from the Herald's web item on K. Purcell's promotion yesterday, but found its way into today's print edition.

#2: She's the first director of content development in Herald Interactive's history. In other words, this is a brand-new position.

#3: K. Purcell's rise has been rapid. She started at the Herald as an editorial assistant in 2003, the same year she graduated from B.C.

#4: If prose skills alone were an indicator of K. Purcell's future success, there'd be cause for concern. Here she is earlier this year, blogging from the big Filene's going-out-of-business sale:

PETA is going to hate me but here goes. If and when you want to indulge in a fur coat, whether it’s faux or not, Filene’s probably isn’t the first store you’d shop, right? You know I am. I mean Saks has a “Fur Salon,” which you must pronounce “Saaaalon” with a French accent. Anyways, I digress, Filene’s is starting to sell Furs today at 40%, 50%, and 60% off. Now this IS a good deal. I arrived to the store just as they started bringing racks and racks of these deliciously furry deals to the floor. I didn’t leave until I saw and felt the entire selection - that’s why my blog is so late today - but I couldn’t tear myself away from the fuzzy warmth.

#5: Fortunately, acting as a liaison between BostonHerald.com and the paper's sports and features departments probably requries a whole bunch of skills K. Purcell possesses that I can't begin to understand.

#6: Dad's bullish on the move. "I’m very proud of the ink in Kerry’s blood," Patrick Purcell told his paper. "She’s done a terrific job as a reporter, and those skills will be invaluable in streamlining the process of posting news on the Web site - efficiently and expediently."

12/5/2006 12:47:36 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [7] |  

Since I occasionally let my Sunday Herald mellow for a day, I only just discovered Howie Carr's critique of the Globe's Dec. 1 expose on the illegal/undocumented immigrants/workers who keep Mitt Romney's Belmont lawn nice and spiffy. Here's the crux of Carr's complaint, which involves an alleged Globe terminological double standard:

How do you turn a noble undocumented worker into a sinister, conniving illegal immigrant?

You do it by hiring him to cut the lawn at Gov. Mitt Romney’s house, or at least that’s how the bow-tied bumkissers at The Boston Globe pulled it off.

The phrase that is usually frowned upon by the Globe - illegal immigrants - was used 11 times in a front-page story Friday. Yesterday, those same dreaded “illegal immigrants” made it into the lead sentence of the follow-up story....

It’s all very confusing, but I think I have a rule of thumb.

If you get paid by a liberal Democrat, you’re an "undocumented worker."

If you get paid by a Republican, you’re an "illegal alien."

Comprende, amigo?

Hilarious! Unfortunately, though, Carr is full of shit.

This year, according to the NewsBank database, six Globe stories have featured "illegal immigrants" in their headlines; a seventh hed included "illegal immigrant." (Some examples: "Healey urges tougher stance on hiring illegal immigrants," by correspondent Russell Nichols; "150 illegal immigrants arrested in N.E. raids," by immigration reporter and Phoenix alum Yvonne Abraham; "Bills expose rift over illegal immigrants," by James Vaznis.) In contrast, "Undocumented workers" have been cited in just two heds, and "undocumented worker" in one.

Now let's look at general usage. Again searching NewsBank, I get 65 total instances of "undocumented workers" in the Globe, compared to 234 of "illegal immigrants." In his column, Carr suggests that the latter phrase usually pops up in a quote from some anti-illegal-immigration firebrand; in fact, you can find it used by reporters and columnists in stories carrying the bylines of Abraham, Scott Helman, Robert Turner, Brian Mooney, Frank Phillips, Joan Vennochi, and Lisa Wangsness, among others--as well as in the Globe's own endorsement of Patrick for governor.

Sorry, Howie.

12/4/2006 3:44:52 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [8] |  

The "you" in this question--posed by Herald business editor Greg Gatlin on the paper's Messenger blog earlier today--applies both to me and an unnamed source I quoted in my recent write-up of Kevin Convey's pending promotion to editor in chief.

Gatlin takes issue both with this source's description and with me letting him whack the Herald anonymously. Regarding the second point, I actually think Gatlin may be right. When I covered politics for the Phoenix, I found that blind quotes from sources I knew to be trustworthy often proved more incisive than remarks from people speaking for attribution, who tended to traffick in predictable pablum. In this case, though, the source's anonymity should have made me think twice about using such a damning line.

12/1/2006 7:26:16 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [1] |  

There are plenty of wince-inducing tidbits in AP reporter Glen Johnson's write-up of governor-elect Deval Patrick's speech to the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association yesterday, but here's my personal favorite:

"Whether it was skepticism, distraction or the cynicism so many of us try to pass off as sophistication, some of your reporters missed `it,'" Patrick said. "And `it' is a bedrock democratic principle: To make any difference in our common reality, people must see their stake again in their neighbors' dreams and struggles, as well as their own. Massachusetts government cannot move forward without Massachusetts people."

Patrick obviously has no reason to take political advice from me, but I'm going to offer some anyway. Deval: if you want to have a good relationship with the press, don't tell them they did a shitty job covering your campaign.

12/1/2006 2:01:54 PM by Adam Reilly | Comments [5] |