The Boston Herald, and the old Traveler, has been delivered to my many abodes for as long as I can remember. Late last year, as a result of my monthly online bill paying system not accommodating my fat fingers and ineptitude, the Herald bill did not get paid and the subscription stopped.
Guess what happened? After the second day I did not miss it at all. So I didn’t bother renewing the subscription.
Sure I check it everyday on-line and make a special trip to buy the Sunday edition. But with the exception of the business page and sports page, 90% of what is in there is junk.
In addition to being an anti-intellectual Howie Carr has lost his fast ball, curve ball, change-up, knuckle ball and beach ball. Put a fork in him. He is done.
The Inside Track is so transparent it is meaningless.
Michelle McPhee, another anti-intellectual (just ask Brian McGrory) writes like she is on the Boston Police payroll. And she is doing a great job for them by the way.
The political reporting is lame to say the least.
The David Wedge case shines light on an operation that gathers news more like the National Enquirer then a major metro newspaper. Make news, not report it. Report news where there is none as long as a good headline can be made.
I believe we should have a two newspaper town. Right now we do not.
As far as the Boston Globe is concerned, this is a one newspaper town. The Herald is not on their radar. The Globe has its problems. The Herald is not one of them.
Everyone hates the Globe, like me. But most, like me, have respect for it and in a way proud of it as a Boston institution.
The Herald is just plain lousy and brings nothing to the table.
Except sports and business
Besides, isn’t Elliot still writing for the Record-American?
I would also like to see the globe go away.
Read the WSJ, which is actually “fair and balanced.” If you’re feeling feisty, read the Op-eds.
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All of the problems with the Glob do not render that other thing any less of a disgrace.
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Their lead reporter has been found by a jury and the SJC, no less to be a liar.
I wonder what his defense would look like?
Dan Kennedy says that a key part of the Herald defense was that the Globe did it too. (though I’m not entirely sure what the relevance of that is. “IF all the other kids jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, etc.)
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So maybe the defense will be that they are just as good as the Herald!
That may be the dumbest and most one-dimensional summation of what I wrote that I’ve ever seen. Not to mention wrong.
The Globe really is too liberal…
Methinks that even for liberals the only thing worse than having the Globe in Boston is not having the Globe in Boston…
The worst thing about how bad the Herald sucks is that it confirms snooty folks’ assumptions about tabloids. A feisty, trashy, right-of-center or populist tab could be a great paper and could provide an excellent counterweight to the holier-than-thou, ponderous liberal broadsheet. The Herald could kick the Globe’s ass on city politics, neighborhood news, small business, crime, affordable real estate, pop culture reviews, and human interest features about anyone other than self-absorbed upper-middle-class types or inspiring urban teen cliches. It takes a stab in some of these areas but doesn’t come close to distinguishing itself. Its loss, and ours.
kick the globe’s ass. The globe is a newspaper, like it or not. The Herald is a rag and has always been second rate compared to the Globe. This is coming from someone who does not like the Globe.
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When I was a kid the Record American was the rag and the Herald Traveler was a real newspaper, albeit a weak sister to the Globe. When the Record and Herald merged, the Herald plummeted down to the Record’s level. What a shame. Boston a two newspaper town. The Globe and the Metro.
The Herald has, in the not-too-distant past, been better than the Globe in some beats. City politics, e.g., and organized crime. The Herald began to uncover Whitey Bulger’s reign of death while Kevin Cullen was still selling the Robin Hood story, something he’s never been called out on. Yes, two Globe reporters wrote Black Mass, but that came late in the game, relatively speaking. And there’s nothing inherently inferior about a sensational style and a right-of-center editorial line. I always thought if they went more populist rather than trying to hitch onto the national conservative movement in the pitiful way they do, the Herald could have fulfilled its implied role as the paper of the working and middle class neighborhoods.
Don’t you like Borges and Shaughnessy?
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Even Ryan gets on my nerves. I could take them before (maybe 10 years ago or so) but they are downright horrible now. Remember when the Globe had McDonough, Montville, Gammons along with Ryan, Visser and the two bozos. What the hell happened?
but at least the Phoenix has the sense not to try to publish everyday and not charge people for it. I kind of get the Herald readers: I’ll pick up the Phoenix everyone once in a while, it’s got a lot of junk but it’s clearly left-leaning and fairly entertaining at times, and it’s coverage of music is pretty good. There are quite a few good papers throughout the Commonwealth, but Boston has 2 major tabloids and only one serious newspaper. The Herald should accept and embrace this.