December 27, 2007
The above photo is currently fronting the New York Times's web site, where it accompanies a
story on Benazir Bhutto's assassination earlier today. But you'll find far more compelling--and disturbing--images over at Wonkette.com.
As Wonkette's Megan Carpentier
notes, media images of atrocities like today's suicide bombing tend, more often than not, to obscure the ugly reality of what actually happened. If your stomach is feeling strong, take a look at the photo gallery that accompanies her post. I guarantee you'll end up thinking differently about today's events.
Incidentally, it's not just incidents of terrorism that tend to get visually sugarcoated.
US-led invasions do, too.
December 26, 2007
--I used to think Mitt Romney was going to get the Republican
nomination and win the presidency. Now I think he'll be out of the race
come February. Three things changed my mind: this devastating
scoop from my colleague David Bernstein; the Romney Camp's embarrasing, halting, postmodern
response to said scoop; and this damning
editorial from the Concord Monitor. (I knew Romney had a
penchant for stupid mistakes, but man oh man....)
--Any journalism students out there? Maybe you should
think about sportswriting.
--Lest there be any confusion, today's Joe Fitzgerald
column
isn't just a string of disjointed old memories. It's a string of
disjointed old memories with a closing plug for ex-Celtic coach K.C.
Jones's
new CD. Here's my favorite part:
[Ted] Williams was talking with Bobby Orr about salmon fishing just before he spotted Sinatra.
"Hey," he hollered, in a voice that dwarfed all others, "there are two people I've always wanted meet: you and Herbert Hoover!
--Finally, fervent thanks to both Michael Paulson and the Globe's editorial higher-ups for
Ma Siss's Place,
the multipart series on a Dorchester chop shop-turned-evangelical
church. There's a lot to like about this series, which concludes today:
it's a deep examination of an undercovered Boston neighborhood; an
unusual take on evangelicalism; the kind of narrative nonfiction you
usually see in magazines, not newspapers; a study in Web-based
content complimenting what's in print. And I'm probably missing a few
things. Great stuff. More, please.
December 18, 2007
As the Herald's Jessica Van Sack
notes, Mitt Romney has been choking up a lot lately. On Sunday, he did it while
discussing the LDS Church's past exclusion of blacks from the priesthood on Meet the Press (see above). And yesterday, according to the AP, the tears came as Romney
recalled watching a soldier's body being returned via casket from Iraq.
But Van Sack and the AP are forgetting another teary Romney moment. This one came in his much-ballyhooed "Faith in America" speech on December 6. Here's how Salon's Walter Shapiro
described it:
[O]n Thursday something happened that Romney could not control. At
the end of his speech in Texas on his Mormon faith and his view of
religion in public life, he got emotional. He lost it in the tiniest
way.
He was recalling the early days of the Continental Congress in
Philadelphia, on the brink of the Revolutionary War, when the early
Americans from various faiths were gathered together. They wanted to
pray, Romney said, but they did not know whose prayer to use.
"Then Sam Adams rose, and said he would hear a prayer from anyone of
piety and good character, as long as they were a patriot," Romney said,
reading off the teleprompter. "And so together they prayed, and
together they fought, and together, by the grace of God, they founded
this great nation."
The crowd began to applaud, and Romney's chin appeared to tense. In
the slightest way, his eyes seemed to moisten. For an instant he looked
vulnerable, like a young man who had been moved by his own words, by
his own hopes for his country. The preselected crowd, sensing this,
rose to its feet with a standing ovation. There were only three
sentences left in the speech, but the whole event was put on hold.
After a few more seconds, Romney collected himself and finished the
speech. [emph. added]
What's with all the waterworks? As a Romney skeptic, my cynical take is that, with folksy Mike Huckabee breathing down his neck, Romney is deliberately working to soften up his Stepford Husband image.
Then again, maybe Romney's tears have been genuine. In that case, though, shouldn't the electorate be concerned?
I'm serious here. Remember, one tearing-up moment
destroyed Edmund Muskie's presidential hopes in 1972--and now Romney has gotten misty three times in short succession. Even if standards have
changed when it comes to male crying, that's an awful lot of barely controlled emotion for an aspiring president.
December 17, 2007
Last month, I
argued
that the Writer's Guild of America Strike--and the ensuing dearth of
fake-news programming--could have a major impact on the presidential
race. (The Globe subsequently
did the same.)
Well, the fake-news vacuum may be about to end. According to the
New York Times, both the Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman are poised to resume broadcasting on January 2, sans writers. The Times also reports that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report may follow suit.
Let me reiterate what I said last month: Rudy Giuliani
really lucked out here.
December 14, 2007
Spencer Ackerman of TPM Muckraker is a self-proclaimed Yankees fan. Still, his
take on what the Mitchell Report says about Theo Epstein and the Red Sox is worth pondering:
Acording to Mitchell, Sox general manager Theo Epstein acquired flop reliever Eric Gagne nearly a year after learning of serious circumstantial evidence of Gagne's steroid use....The Red Sox scouted
Gagne, once a valuable relief pitcher, after the 2006 season, when
Epstein began overhauling the Sox pitching staff. Yet a certain concern
lingered. On November 1, 2006, Epstein emailed his scout, Mark
Delpiano, "Have you done any digging on Gagne? I know the Dodgers think
he was a steroid guy. Maybe so. What do you hear on his medical?" [emph. added]
Delpiano replied:
"Some digging on Gagne and
steroids IS the issue. [emph.added] Has had a checkered medical past throughout
career including minor leagues. Lacks the poise and commitment to stay
healthy, maintain body and re invent [sic] self. What made him a
tenacious closer was the max effort plus stuff."
Yet the Sox picked up Gagne from the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline during the 2007
season. What does that say about Epstein's commitment to a steroid-free
championship team?
Amalie Benjamin of the Globe quotes the Epstein-Delpiano exchange, too--but she doesn't address the bigger question of how it reflects on Epstein and the Sox. Ditto for the Herald's Rob Bradford.
In their defense, this may be a subject best pursued by Boston's sports columnists. Let's see if any of them take it on.
December 12, 2007
Is today's Globe article on the
future Mrs. Kevin Youklis a case study in credulity or a masterpiece of understated snark?
You
be the judge. The headline writer concluded that the story--written by
Mark Shanahan--was about how Enza Sambataro will provide a "strong
foundation" for Youklis. But the piece was packed with details that
suggest otherwise. Some examples:
--"The wedding will be Sambataro's second since her five-month fling with
[Ben] Affleck ended in 2004. She was briefly married to a South Shore car
dealer with whom she had a child."
--"Describing herself as "wild" in high school and "far from a
cheerleader" in college - she took courses at Boston College but did
not graduate - Sambataro admits she used to be more madcap than mature. "The
reason I don't drink anymore is because I did all my partying under the
age of 21," she says. "Among my friends, I would always be the first
one to do something over the top and crazy."--On a recent afternoon, while the couple was sitting in the kitchen
eating lunch with [her son] Mikey, Sambataro was asked when she and Kevin are
getting married. "It's a day-to-day thing," she said, laughing.
"Saturday, we weren't getting married because Kevin had too many
margaritas. But it's back on now. Right, Kev?"
Good luck, kids.
December 07, 2007
No media stuff in this week's paper; instead, I
profile Gene Sharp--the Marx of nonviolent struggle and, perhaps, the most important Bostonian you've never heard of.
December 06, 2007
Earlier today, WRKO announced some tweaks to
Finneran's Forum, nee the
Finneran Factor. Finneran, the press release said, is getting a "top-shelf lineup of new contributors" as of Dec. 10--including Wendy Murphy (who's been a regular guest), Major Garrett of Fox News, and Globe columnists Kevin Cullen, Jeff Jacoby, and Joan Vennochi. According to Entercom bigwig Jason Wolfe, it's an "exciting time for Tom and listeners of his program," who can now expect "even more engaging talk."
Color me skeptical. While I look forward to hearing Cullen, Jacoby and Vennochi, the problem with Finneran's Forum is Tom Finneran. Basically,Finneran's a yes-man; he's loathe to say anything that might upset anyone with any power in greater Boston.
Maybe he wants to be able to get another lobbying gig if radio doesn't work out. Maybe it's just a leftover tic from his days as speaker of the Mass. House. But man, does it make for boring radio. Unless Finneran kicks this habit, his show's doomed.
December 05, 2007
I'm through bitching about the Globe
bombarding us with
front-page stories on the
bizarre behavior of the affluent. Mark my words!
That said, I'd like to make a respectful suggestion. I get that the Globe has plenty of rich suburban readers who'll treat this stuff as news they can use. But another segment of readers will read these articles and draw two conclusions: A) rich people suck and B) the Globe sucks for celebrating their asinine profligacy.
How to solve the problem? When a Globe reporter does a lifestyle-porn piece, they should find a way to let non-rich, non-suburban readers know that they're writing for us, too. Doesn't need to be anything major; a single wry aside or skeptical quote would do the trick. Absent that, a story like today's piece on private mausoleums just reads like an embarrassingly unselfconscious advertorial. Which I'm sure it isn't.
Is that too much to ask?
December 04, 2007
Perhaps you've got hot plans for tonight. If not, how about attending "
Plugged In, Tuned Out: Young People and the News Media," a panel discussion sponsored by MassINC and moderated by yours truly?
What's that? My presence as moderator isn't doing it for you? Well, perhaps the star-studded panel will: it features includes
Dan Kennedy, WBUR's
Bianca Vazquez Toness,
Universal Hub's Adam Gaffin, and Dante Ramos of the Globe's
editorial page. And
here's the article Dan did for CommonWealth that served as an impetus for the event.
December 03, 2007
That's the rumor making the round in local media circles this afternoon. If true, it's quite a blow for the tabloid. Michele McPhee's tough-talking, boys-in-blue-praising
approach isn't for everyone, but she's one of the only Herald writers I specifically pick up the paper to read. What's more, she's kept the paper competitive with the Globe on the cops-and-crime beat despite the Herald's vastly inferior resources.
One strange addendum: McPhee's been filling in on WTKK-FM in Don Imus's absence. But now Imus is back and McPhee's been expunged from the
list of station hosts.
December 03, 2007
If you haven't already read Robert David Sullivan's excellent
story
from yesterday's Ideas section, please do so immediately. And don't be
deceived by the ostensible subject matter. Gay bars are Sullivan's
immediate focus, but the article's really about the transformation of
cities--including Boston--from hotbeds of human variety to sterile
playgrounds for the affluent. Here's a sampling:
In New York, the Jewish deli - a staple of the city's identity - has
all but vanished. In the Boston area, many of Harvard Square's
bookstores, Kenmore Square's student eateries, and myriad other places
that guaranteed a diverse urban experience have closed their doors,
replaced by a far more uniform lineup of bank branches, chain stores,
and upscale restaurants.
This change is a serious challenge to
the city, which has historically been defined by the breadth and
variety of its street-level experience - and the wide diversity of
people it threw together. "City air makes free," a saying that dates to
medieval times, was a favorite of urban-studies pioneer Jane Jacobs.
But as a wide range of gay bars dwindles to a handful of survivors -
and the city's diners, indie bookstores, and dive bars yield to high
rents and shifting patterns of commerce - that air is becoming the
province of an increasingly narrow set of people.
My
only disappointment is that--because of the article's main subject and
its placement in Ideas instead of on A1 or B1--not as many people will
read this as should. Let's hope the rest of the paper is taking notes, so we can get more stories like Sullivan's and less stories like
this.