Here's the beginning of "The New Big Dig," the lead editorial in today's Wall Street Journal: 

Mitt Romney's Presidential run is history, but it looks as if the taxpayers of Massachusetts will be paying for it for years to come. The former Governor had hoped to ride his grand state "universal" health-care reform of 2006 to the White House, but his state's residents are now having to live with what he and the state's Democratic Legislature passed. As the Boston press likes to say, it's "the new Big Dig."

Catchy! But ask yourself: have you ever heard anyone in the Boston press describing Commonwealth Care as "the new Big Dig?"?

Me neither. There's also no record, in the Massachusetts Newsstand database, of that particular phrase ever being used to describe Commonwealth Care. And a Google search for "new Big Dig" and "Commonwealth Care" turns up just one non-WSJ result--a Citizens for Limited Taxation update from February 15 titled "The New 'Big Dig' is upon is: mandated health insurance."

Since Paul Gigot & Co. seem to be confused, allow me to explain. Citizens for Limited Taxation is not part of the Boston media. It's an antitax advocacy group.

As the Journal's editorial suggests, there's a substantive case to be made against Commonwealth Care. So why the reliance on a bogus quote?

On the April 25 installment of Beat the Press, in a segment on recent departures from the Boston Globe, ex-Globie Mike Barnicle had some harsh words for the New York Times Co., which owns the paper. He described the Times Co. as "journalistic car strippers." And he accused the Times Co. of turning the Globe into "the Herald with more people."

You might think that the Herald--which occasionally publishes Barnicle's work--would take umbrage at this description, which is pretty clearly predicated on the idea that the Herald sucks. And maybe the Herald brain trust did. Still, Barnicle is back in the paper today, offering his thoughts on Ted Kennedy's grim diagnosis.

On another Herald-Kennedy note: given today's boosterish Herald cover, and the paper's uncharacteristic efforts (scroll down) to weed out offensive reader comments posted online, it'll be interesting to see what--if anything--noted Kennedy hater Howie Carr says about the senator in his next column. 

As Dan Kennedy notes, today's much-aniticipated apology/explanation from John Tomase totally avoids the role Tomase's editors played in getting his bogus-Patriots-videotaping story into print. So I asked Herald editor Kevin Convey, who's usually pretty forthcoming, if he could discuss that subject.

"I'm going to take a rare pass," Convey said. "The reason is, I kind of feel like we've said much more about what was done [pre-publication] than any newspaper has. It doesn't do any good to us to go any further into our deliberations or anything else."

Now, there's no question that the Herald (and Tomase, and Convey) have emphatically accepted responsibility for the story. But--to cite a recent example involving much higher stakes--the New York Times did discuss editorial culpability when it critiqued its pre-Iraq War coverage back in 2004. Here's how the paper addressed the topic:

Some critics of our coverage during that time have focused blame on individual reporters. Our examination, however, indicates that the problem was more complicated. Editors at several levels who should have been challenging reporters and pressing for more skepticism were perhaps too intent on rushing scoops into the paper.

Given the billing Tomase's story got on today's Herald front page, this reticence is disappointing. Remember, though, that any discussion of editorial oversight could pose legal risks for the paper, especially if that oversight was sorely lacking.

What's more, the lack of backroom detail may also be smart management. Right now, public ire is focused on Tomase. A broader admission of culpability within the Herald newsroom (which could include sports editor Hank Hryniewicz and Convey himself) might make Tomase's situation a bit more bearable. But it could also demoralize a bare-bones staff that must already be extremely dispirited. 

All of which can be found here.

On Feb. 2, 2008, the Boston Herald reported that a member of the New England Patriots video staff taped the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI. While the Boston Herald based its Feb. 2, 2008, report on sources that it believed to be credible, we now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed.

Prior to the publication of its Feb. 2, 2008, article, the Boston Herald neither possessed nor viewed a tape of the Rams’ walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI, nor did we speak to anyone who had. We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification.

The Boston Herald regrets the damage done to the team by publication of the allegation, and sincerely apologizes to its readers and to the New England Patriots [team stats]’ owners, players, employees and fans for our error.

A few weeks ago, I would have said the governor. But now that the speaker's shifted into self-righteous, blame-everybody-else mode, I believe he gets the nod.

At least Patrick has managed, on occasion, to muster up something resembling contrition for his missteps--or allowed his surrogates to do the job for him, which is better than nothing. And really, it's stunning that DiMasi still won't reveal the financial details of his wife's work with Mr. and Mrs. Jay Cashman.

Anyone else wonder if Patrick's been tempted to throw DiMasi's "learning curve" comment back at him of late?

In my most recent column, I suggested that Herald reporter John Tomase's controversial story suggesting that the Patriots illegally videotaped the St. Louis Rams prior to Super Bowl XXXVI would be vindicated when former Patriots employee Matt Walsh meets with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell next week.

Whoops! As the Globe's Mike Reiss reported today, the tapes Walsh will be turning over to the NFL won't include the pre-Super Bowl walk-through described in Tomase's piece.

Not surprisingly, Tomase is now taking plenty of heat. But over at Boston Daily, Paul Flannery argues against rushing to judgment:

Before everyone goes all Salem Witch Hunt on Tomase (probably too late), let’s remember that we don’t actually know who his source was. Last time we checked, there was more than one person who worked in the Patriots video department. Fans were shocked at the beating the team took in the national press when the story broke. It’s all conjecture! They don’t know the facts! So it’s beyond hypocritical to go after Tomase with the same venom here.

The taint of Spygate will linger with a lot of people. The coach, for flaunting the rules, columnists like Gregg Easterbrook for their reckless unfounded conspiracy claims, and no doubt it will stay with Tomase. How about we let this play out first.

This seems like sound advice.

Big loss for the Boston Globe: Charlie Savage, who won a 2007 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Bush Administration's sweeping expansion of executive power, is headed to the New York Times. He'll start there later this month.

"I'm very sorry to lose Charlie," says Peter Canellos, the Globe's D.C.-bureau chief. "There's nothing more to say about that. But we will be replacing Charlie in the bureau, which is good--and we're going to take a look at internal candidates first."

"Charlie's been terrific for us," adds Globe editor Marty Baron. "He did great work in Washington--he won a Pulitzer, as you know--and it's no wonder that the New York Times is interested in him. But he's not the first talented person from the Globe that's been hired elsewhere. And in the same way that we found the talent of Charlie Savage, I trust that we'll have another talented person in Washington."

The impending end of the Bush presidency may make it a little easier for the paper to cope with Savage's departure; even if John McCain wins in November, he probably won't push the Unitary Executive the way Bush has. Still, an unfortunate development.

In which I urge Pat Purcell to stake the Herald's future on a beefed-up sports section.

Add another name to the roster of people departing Morrissey Boulevard--Pulitzer- and Polk-award-winner Sacha Pfeiffer is going to WBUR-FM. Here's the press release:

THE GLOBE'S SACHA PFEIFFER TO JOIN WBUR AS HEALTH & SCIENCE REPORTER

(Boston) – Sacha Pfeiffer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was a member of the Globe "Spotlight Team” that broke the Catholic Church abuse story in Boston, will join WBUR, 90.9 FM, Boston's NPR news station, as the new Health & Science reporter starting in early June, announced John Davidow, WBUR news director.

Pfeiffer, a 13-year Globe veteran, is currently the newspaper's Legal Affairs reporter, a beat she created after a one-year appointment as a Knight Fellow at Stanford University.

In addition to the recognition she received for her work on the church abuse story, Pfeiffer is the recipient of a George Polk Award for National Reporting, and a 2002 award from the Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting.

"Throughout her Globe career, Sacha has distinguished herself in a variety of beats including general assignment, court and investigative reporting,” said Davidow.  "We are very pleased that such a dedicated and energetic journalist with deep passion for issues in and around Boston will join our team.”

Pfeiffer came to Boston as an undergraduate at Boston University where she is now an adjunct professor of journalism in the College of Communication.

One of New England's leading sources of news and information, WBUR is owned and operated by Boston University and is a member of National Public Radio. WBUR also broadcasts a selection of BBC programs and locally produced programs such as "Here & Now,” "Only a Game,” "On Point,” and "Car Talk.” WBUR has won more than 100 major awards for its news coverage, including several George Foster Peabody Awards, the Associated Press News Station of the year for 2003-05, and three prestigious Edward R. Murrow Awards in the 2007 Radio-Television News Director Association's (RTNDA) annual national electronic journalism competition.

The threatening letters arrived throughout 2006 and 2007 at two of Beacon Hill's most popular restaurants. They came with photos of gun-toting men and taunting messages for the owner of both eateries, a successful businesswoman who was born in Iran, came to the United States decades ago, and is an American citizen.
more stories like this

A photograph of an Israeli soldier brandishing a machine gun was tucked inside one letter, while another contained an image of actor Dustin Hoffman, lifted from the 1976 movie thriller "Marathon Man," pointing a gun directly at the viewer.

"See you at the Taj!" the writer taunted in a letter sent last June, two days before the owner was to present food from her two eateries at Taste of Beacon Hill, a local restaurant fair hosted by the Taj Boston Hotel.