I had a letter to the editor published in the Boston Globe last month and now I’m going to have the distinction of authoring one of the last 100 Globe letters. Because it’s really going to happen.
My sense of certainty comes from Eric Alterman (who, after all, is a professor journalism). He is all doom and gloom about the imminent demise of the Globe. And he’s got me convinced. While there’s some ho-hum sentiment that we’ll all get by somehow, this will be a really seismic event for Boston and New England. Interestingly, there have been only 9 posts here since the initial one on April 3 about the Globe’s fate.
Jim C’s “Here’s What You Do, Globe” at least made a stab at offering a list of possible changes. But nothing on JimC’s list is going to save a fraction of the Globe’s estimated $85 million loss this year.
Charley’s April 8th discussion about making the Globe a nonprofit got some interesting ideas flowing, but no one really followed up. And as several comments to the post pointed out, there is no “business model” that can accommodate anything like the scale of Globe and its humongous losses.
Alterman’s piece concludes with this sunny observation:
“It’s painful to admit, but admit it we must: we have no more hope today of saving the “newspaper business” than we do the “telegraph business.” What is needed–pronto–is a plan to save the collection and dissemination of the news itself.”
It’s really going to happen.
david says
I predict: (1) a brief shutdown as management and the unions play chicken with each other for too long; (2) the presses start rolling again in the short term once both sides finally cut a deal; but (3) medium- to long-term, the newsprint business just isn’t sustainable, so someone needs to figure out a workable online model really fast.
lightiris says
assessment of who we are as a people. With the Herald in charge, we are likely to go the way of (pick your favorite thumping state).
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p>This is not a good thing; not a good thing at all.
bostonshepherd says
Oh God the sky is falling! John Lennon’s been shot!
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p>I don’t even know what this means.
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p>Face it, the Globe has a cost problem. It cannot continue to have more reporters than all other area newspapers and TV stations combined and still be viable. What’s the average reporter’s salary? $100,000? It should be $50,000.
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p>The Globe — I hope — will close, then re-emerge with a viable revenue and cost structure for the future.
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p>The Wall Street Journal has it right: $39.95 for an on-line subscription, and $99 for the combo print and on-line. It works.
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p>Globe is $300 for the print, on-line is free. Duh.
lightiris says
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p>The New England Mobile Book Fair carries The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (two volumes) cheap. They make great reading. Even cheaper is http://www.dictionary.com.
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p>No one denies that the Globe has “a cost problem.” Newspapers are struggling around the nation–we all know that. That said, however, one cannot deny the role of venerable newspapers in shaping our society. Slanted tabloids like the Herald are owned and operated by people invested in peddling their worldview. Echo chambers are bad things. There’s plenty of history illustrating that point.
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p>I’ve no doubt you and many like you are quite pleased with the Globe’s predicament, but you should be aware that your pleasure says nothing about the Globe and everything about you.
bostonshepherd says
(1) what does “formative assessment” mean? I know what the words mean, but maybe you can translate the jargon for me. I’m guessing you’re in education. Or psychology. Or social work.
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p>(2) Not every paper is struggling. If the WSJ and the Boston Herald are surviving, why can’t the Globe?
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p>(3) Can’t EVERY criticism you level at the Herald be leveled at the Globe? The Globe isn’t slanted? That’s a breathtaking denial. Were not the former owners of the Globe peddling their world view?
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p>(4) I admit I enjoy when it a biased media property (TV, radio, or print), one purporting to be neutral in its reporting, crashes and burns, if only to stop the hypocrisy. Rush Limbaugh does not purport to be unbiased, but the Globe certainly does. But, tell me, what does that say about me? I contend it shows off my light-hearted nature.
kbusch says
This is not going to be a productive line of questioning.
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p>Evaluating the slants of the Herald and Globe in a sufficiently objective fashion that both LightIris and bostonshepherd will accept it is not going to be easy. It might not even be possible. I doubt the data are there.
bostonshepherd says
but when will Lightiris confess the Globe is biased?
kbusch says
So if you’re asking the question, “Given that I have made this magnanimous concession, when will LightIris say, ‘Oh, silly me, how wrong I was!'”, I’d say that answer might come a very long time from now. I’m sure LightIris will be happy to make some magnanimous concessions about the quality of the Globe if you’d like.
jimc says
But, in this case, incorrect. The Globe is ludicrously biased, KBusch, and I suspect you know it.
johnd says
the bias (against the Herald) needs to be alleged against the news operation not the editorial page and must be established by surveys (not anecdotes)… Have either of these two KBusch sine quibus non been established?
sabutai says
Strange how you know how much money everyone else should make.
bostonshepherd says
Just thinking aloud. The $20 million demanded by the NYT ownership was reportedly something like $16,000 per union employee. I extrapolated to $50,000 to match the $85 million in expected losses reported in the press.
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p>I’m sure it’s not as simple as that, with some senior folks making $150,000, and other junior reported making $50,000, or less.
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p>Still, too many reporters, pressmen, editors, and janitors, presumably making above market wages. No business entity can survive like that.
amberpaw says
I wish, too, I could see that Globe balance sheet – how much debt was created when the Globe was purchased and borgized, anyway?
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p>But remember, again, EVERYONE does not have a computer and go online.
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p>Everywhere doesn’t have broadband, either.
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p>I am not sure where to go for valid statistics as to how many households have internet access [percentagewise and number wise] and how many do not.
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p>I can tell you, though, in my client base, it might be less then 50% that go online.
stomv says
for all the good that you do for your clients, and respect for your clients themselves…
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p> * What percent read the Globe print edition?
* What percent have the means to get to a public library?
jimc says
Sad to say.
jimc says
No return.
johnd says
I hope the Globe goes away. If there is a genuine need for the reporting then either the Herald will hire people to expand their paper and their readers or another paper will form from the ashes of the Globe and a new lefty paper will grow. This is a great example of free market and I have been hoping the government would not step in to artificially steer destiny from completion.
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p>I’ve already heard about the huge apartment complex planned for the Globe building on Morrisey Boulevard. Oh well.
hrs-kevin says
Where did you hear that? Who is going to build on an expensive industrial site next to the busiest road in the city in the midst of a giant housing slump? Who would bankroll that? I am sure you heard incorrectly.
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centralmassdad says
receive radio broadcasts from the killer robots of the Planet Snurp.
johnd says
Future of Columbia Point (I was born there)… including the land where the Globe is now.
hrs-kevin says
No one has any plans to actually do any of this anytime soon and it certainly has nothing to do with the viability of the Globe as you imply.
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johnd says
It also has ZERO to do with the viability of the Globe nor did I imply it did.
lightiris says
demise of the Globe. I expect the Herald will exceed your needs, admirably.
bostonshepherd says
News is news. If the Herald has it, either in print or on line, people will go there. Look at the Metro. 40 pages of Globe content handed out for free. Now there’s a business model.
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p>Part of the Globe’s problem is that it ceased delivering much their timely news, let alone break their own stories. Look at the by lines. Mostly AP, Reuters, NYT. Who needs the Globe on Wednesday AM if I can read it in the NYT on Tuesday, or on-line Monday.
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p>It’s embarrassing when the weekly Boston Business Journal scoops the Globe on business news. Same when I receive breaking news in an email blast from Banker and Tradesman.
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p>Plus the Globe is very poorly edited. Talent is there, as evidenced by their BFD fire truck accident and Markoff coverage. Kudos. But what happened to the rest of the millions of column inches?
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p>Embarrassing, leading to pathetic, turning into bankruptcy, aided by union featherbedding.
lightiris says
schadenfreude packaged as unbiased criticism. Just sayin’.
bostonshepherd says
Criticism, yes, unbiased, no.
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p>Sorry you think all I’m doing is gloating. I think most — not all — of my comments are fair and debatable criticisms though it seems it’s more satisfying for you to snipe than to respond.
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p>Why do you make it seem like the earth’s rotation will stop if the Globe ceases publication? Will you lose your formative assessment? Will this strange emotional state be included in DSM V?
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p>Just sayin’.
lightiris says
and your snark here
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p>illustrates my point nicely. kthxby.
bostonshepherd says
amberpaw says
Well, did you?
johnd says
Oh my quote. I am one of the rightwingnuts or whatever you guys call us these days. But yes I did say it and I believe it is the way it should be. Whomever is in power has to be questioned by those not in power. I may not have been out questioning GW but I certainly wasn’t calling anyone who did unpatriotic. Patriotism cannot be measured by a flag pin, a contrarian view or if you pay your taxes.
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p>My sig line is my own way of saying the questioning of ANY administration is completely legal and should not be criticized and I have added it (with a little wink) to make sure the left now sticks to their words (Hillary’s quote) even if their (your) guy is now El Presidente.
jhg says
mostly for sentimental reasons since I’ve been reading it most of my life. Lately, I’ve been turning to other sources for news.
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p>What scares me the most is how losing the Globe will affect state politics. The Globe is still a major framer of the public debate in Massachusetts. We can’t leave that to the Herald and WBZ.
bostonshepherd says
Without the front-page editorials. People will pay for real news sans opinion. I do … the WSJ. Fastest, best news in the USA. I don’t mean their op-ed content, but their news coverage.
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p>Emulate the WSJ news gathering and transmission model.
hrs-kevin says
Actually, I find the WSJ so-so on news reporting. They have some good reporting, but no where near as good as the Times. And the editorial pages are most definitely not the only part of the WSJ with bias.
farnkoff says
Oblivion?
jimc says
I’ll bet it’s wicked expensive to run Boston.com.
bostonshepherd says
No printing plants, no trucks, fuel and drivers, no paper, no ink, no pressmen, no handling, bundling and returns. You don’t even need an office. Just a server.
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p>The WSJ does it pretty well. Let’s see how the Settle Post Intelligencer fares.
jimc says
Can Boston.com be profitable on its own? We don’t know the answer.
pbrane says
The world changed and they didn’t. They also blurred the lines between between reporting and editorializing so much over the last 10 years that they gutted their main reason for existing. Bad combination.
farnkoff says
What were some examples of the Globe crossing the line between reporting and editorializing? Also, would you say that the Herald has been better able to avoid such journalistic transgression?
pbrane says
And I don’t think they had anything to do with the Globe’s demise, so i don’t understand why you bring them up. The Globe’s slant comes through in political coverage consistently. It’s in the tone, or information that is reported as fact without attribution. As someone who doesn’t drink koolaid – red or blue -it’s pretty obvious when they do it.
jimc says
n/t
eaboclipper says
A shutdown. Then the sale of the intellectual property of the Globe. i.e. the name, the subscriber base. Then someone can come in, pick it up for cheap. Print the paper at the Lowell Sun Regional plant in Devens (Which has capacity I believe) a la the boston herald WSJ arrangement, and only pay for reporters and the papers they print.
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p>I think this is what is going to happen. The globe will remain after a brief shutdown in a much smaller form. Without the albatross of the unions around their neck.
bostonshepherd says
Who needs a city desk when a server will do?
nopolitician says
There are 6+ million people in Massachusetts, most of who live in the Globe’s target area.
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p>I’m really skeptical that there is no way to support two newspapers with that population and the demographics. I’m also skeptical that a higher-quality newspaper like the Globe will lose out to a far more slanted and sensationalistic paper like the Herald.
bostonshepherd says
The Globe is more slanted than the Herald. But you’re right about the Herald’s sensational style. Awful.
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p>But if there’s news to had in the Herald, people will buy it. Advertisers will advertise in it.
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p>The model, I think, is the Metro. It contains 40 pages of Globe news coverage in, what, 24 pages? AND IT’S FREE.
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p>People want the news. Opinion is free.
hrs-kevin says
The content in the Metro is most definitely not 40 pages of Globe coverage.
bostonshepherd says
af says
gets it’s sales from newsstands and boxes, unlike the Globe which is subscription heavy. As such, the Herald has to titillate to get the attention of those who might buy it. The fact that they are so slanted and sensational should tell us a thing or two about their target audience, and their opinion of that audience.
hrs-kevin says
at the end of the day, but most people walking buy don’t take it. It was kind of sad seeing the Herald guy watching people pass by and take the Metro instead. This is at least in part a reflection of the type of people who are taking the commuter rail at South Station.
judy-meredith says
I do business in Conn, and find Conn News Junkiesvery dependable with a funny, ironic point of view. My activist frineds in Conn say they can’t do without it.
eaboclipper says
I haven’t bought a Sunday Globe in a while. I may go do so today. It may be a collectors edition……
jimc says
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p>Don’t even think about it, ProJo. You neither Courant.
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p>Monitor? We have one.
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p>Foster’s? Maybe if you bring beer to the interview.
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ed-poon says
I almost think there will have to be a temporary shutdown at this point. The Globe unions are dominated by the old bulls with their “lifetime employment guarantees”… and who have enough seniority to be insulated from traditional layoffs. It’s a gerentocracy (rule by the old). The old timers are just trying to squeeze a few more paychecks before they retire out to Dennisport. They don’t care if the paper goes under or if the hundreds of younger workers have no future prospects with the Globe.
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p>Question: why do unions have seniority rules and what societal good do they serve? I get the model in an expanding economy. But when things are going down the shitter (as now), it looks like pulling up the ladder to me.
stomv says
they help reduce the non-union private sector phenomenon of 50 year olds finding it near impossible to get employment, despite their experience in their field and in working a job in general.
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p>I’m not arguing that the way any particular union handles seniority is good, bad, or otherwise… just pointing out that a different logical extreme doesn’t seem to work well for society.
pbrane says
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p>There’s work out there if you want to find it. My old man’s “career”, completely non-union:
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p>- Graduated from high school (barely). Year book hobbies listed as “sleeping” and “loafing”.
– 3 years in the army.
– Worked for several years in his uncle’s grocery store, starting at the bottom. Stayed until he couldn’t feed his family on what he was making.
– Sold insurance for several years.
– Thanks to having a brother 15 years his senior that never married, started a mom+pop grocery store with said brother. Did this for 25 years until the world changed and they couldn’t compete with the food warehouses that were popping up in the 80’s. My father was 58 when they closed the business.
– Went to work behind the meat counter at Sage’s and Bildner’s until they both went away.
– Worked as a manufacturer’s rep for General Mills until that job became obsolete.
– Went to work for a friend’s home heating company, scheduling service calls and ordering parts and equipment until a family feud blew up that business.
– Went to work for a local plumbing company doing ordering/scheduling until they eliminated his position.
– Sold grills and patio equipment on the floor for Expo until he had a stroke (on the job) at 78. Spent a year rehabbing and then went back to work at Expo in a desk job until they laid him off recently as part of the closing of all the Expo stores.
– He’s a lively 81 and looking for another job. Let me know if you know anybody that’s looking. He’s flexible.
medfieldbluebob says
We can blame the unions, the Times (my favorite villain in this story), some liberal reporting bias. They may indeed have a role in this, but fundamentally this is a technology issue. The Globe’s cash cow was advertising, especially the classifieds, and that is tanking; thanks to craigslist and other web sites. The news you can usually get online (like here), except – as mentioned here- the occasional in-depth reporting only a Globe sized organization can do.
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p>The Globe needs to ask itself a fundamental question. What is it’s real purpose? To provide news and information, or print a newspaper?
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p>Then they can figure out how to best provide that news, information, and analysis and make a profit. Radio, online, weekly, cable, etc. Plenty of people making money in the news business. No reason the Globe can’t, maybe just not as we know it now on paper.
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p>There is a story, perhaps urban myth, that the last great slide rule maker took one look at the first TI calculator, and became a TI distributor.
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