Absent the media factor, the Banner is the sort of local business that this fund has helped for years. Throw in the newspaper angle though and folk around here are understandably exercised.
Much, too much I think, has been made of Miller's April 16th editorial slamming Da Mare. It was harsh, unusually so for a paper whose opinion pieces tend more toward warnings to its readers to get their act together to dine at the capitalist table.
Miller was (livid is not a good word) fulminating over Menino's drive to remove the Emma Lewis Partners LLC as developers of a BRA parcel near police HQ. She was justifiably revered in the local black community, so her name on the project was a memorial as well as realty deal.
The editorial concluded, “After the Elma Lewis decision, no self-respecting African American can vote for Menino if he chooses to run again. It is time for Menino to step down so that he will be remembered for his many achievements. ” Also, the rest of the piece was as nasty — he'll appoint black women but not black men, and he ignores African-American activists and pols.
Boston political legend is that Menino is far too prickly to take such criticism. That seemed to have been his record. Yet, I was repeatedly surprised four years ago when Councilor Maura Hennigan ran a down-and-dirty campaign against him that he kept his Droopy dog demeanor. Moreover, at Left Ahead! he joined us for a podcast and seemed likewise unflappable. I think he's aged well.
I see no indication that he is angry at Miller and the Banner nor that he wants to buy their loyalty, even from such a remove. What is strange is all the suggestions of impropriety here.
The Banner is an important voice. It's disappointing but not surprising that the Miller family was one of many publishing groups unable to anticipate and adjust to the changes in technology and economy that has driven so many out of business.
However, this is different and personal. I'll note here for those who are not regular readers that I used to be editor-in-chief of the black weekly for Columbia, South Carolina, the state capital. There as here, the local daily and weeklies did not cover the black community well or at all beyond crime stories. There is a real, continuing need for the Banner here.
Also, the Banner's editorials are not the biggest factor in this from any angle. The reporting and analysis of the local and government news are.
In fact, Miller's pieces are often pretty old-fashioned and socially conservative. They tend to favor the personal responsibility and bootstraps lingo popular with the NAACP a couple of decades ago. While Miller has recently criticized that organization for not keeping up with the times, that's amusing coming from him.
You can check the Banner archives for their editorials and matching (terribly drawn) cartoons. I grabbed a couple to illustrate:
- January 8th, A major strategy for the future is to mobilize the black community around the importance of education so intently that more students will become academically qualified for the more sophisticated jobs. It must also be a national policy to bring much of the manufacturing capacity back to America.
- March 5th, Despite the surviving vestiges of bigotry, Obama’s election as the nation’s 44th president offers an extraordinary lesson. Talent, hard work, discipline and a well-conceived plan can overcome racial discrimination. It is now more advisable to be the best at what you do than to worry about the racial hostility of others.
- July 9th, The real message for African Americans from the New Haven firefighters case (Ricci v. DeStefano, et. al.) is that it is time to become more aggressively competitive. Be aware that an action favoring blacks is perforce an inconvenience to others. If remedial action is generally considered to be unfair to whites, then it will harm public support for affirmative action.
Literary aside: Miller self-publishes How to Get Rich When You Ain't Got Nothing.
I think Miller is more conservative than Menino and much more so than I. He had one that seriously lambasted the Mayor, really not much for a weekly. I can't see that motivating any reprisals or purchases of favor.
I say this proposed loan is at least two arms' lengths away from dirty. It's a loan, not a gift and would come with only financial strings. The aims are to keep local jobs as well as the voice for a local community. If it's useful for those purposes, it looks clean enough.
Saturday Update: Miller said, “Only a fool wouldn't take it,” reports today's Globe. He also said he hadn't met with the administration to get the loan offer and that it wouldn't compromise the paper. The article also gives the basics of a pending rescue plan from private individuals that may make the fund bridge loan short indeed.
or is it just a form of “life support” delaying an inevitable outcome? Certainly we hope not, but we have all heard enough about the troubled state of journalism to wonder. Does a temporary cash infusion necessarily change the bottom line of profitability versus failure?
Apparently in this case, with a group of business and civic types lining up to help, this will be a bridge loan to get the Banner back on the street while that deal comes together. (See the Globe piece.)
I like your fresh look at this topic.
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p>But you focus on whether Banner will still criticize Menino.
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p>Irrespective of past or future editorials – was Banner given special treatment compared to other failing businesses?
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p>I say: seemingly yes.
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p>1. To best of my knowledge, that loan fund in past has NEVER given to a business on the ropes. Special treatment. Hard to nail down this point for sure.
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p>2. Scores of small businesses in Boston have failed in the last year. All of those folks lost jobs. No Menino loans.
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p>3. You say – a loan not a gift. I ask – what collateral? His home? Or….nothing? My guess = nothing. If only a fool wouldn’t take it, it implies risk free to Mr. Miller.
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p>One would expect that the gov’t might give special AVOIDANCE treatment to the press, because of the obvious conflicts. Ie, bank might get public bailout, but not Boston Globe.
I do not fault the Banner for taking the loan. Why not if someone is giving it to you.
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p>But this is clearly Menino trying to buy his way out of an election fight.
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p>Maybe he should use that money to start funding the Roxbury Master Plan.
http://www.boston.com/news/loc…
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p>In 2004, Mayor Thomas M. Menino unveiled Roxbury’s strategic master plan, saying the blueprint will “create economic, social, and educational opportunities for the people of Roxbury.”But five years have passed, and those seven lots still sit vacant.
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p>Bottom line is now that this mayor is in a real fight and people are actually holding him accountable for all the promises he has made over the years, it has become very obvious that he is not the Great Mayor he has been made out to be.
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p>(For the record, I am a Flaherty Supporter)
The Globe did manage to find some examples that the BLDC loans “has provided similar loans for other businesses including Boston Common Coffee ($100,000) and Geekhouse Bicycle Co. ($70,000).” As these loans are from private, not government, capital for the purpose first of attracting or expanding local businesses and second of retaining jobs, the Banner fits that way.
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p>The more intriguing question is whether a twice-removed connection to a mayor is too dirty for a news and opinion medium to be offered or to accept such a loan. Many say, “No,” to such a loan out of hand. I am less sure, particularly in a town where the dailies and most weeklies are so white in both staff and content orientation. Making libertarian-style sink-or-swim judgments here seems to avoid the complexity of this case.
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p>While the Banner publisher brags about being all over Menino’s butt all the time, I see that as a bit of drama. As a long-term reader, I have not been shocked or overwhelmed by Miller’s criticisms. In fact, except for a few examples, I think he’s pretty mild. He is much more critical of young black men as a group.
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p>In contrast, I find the news and many of the opinion pieces in the two large dailies here to have shameless boosterism — for the city, many pols, and most of all for businesses (a.k.a. potential advertisers). The Globe and Herald can point to the occasional critical article or editorial but the preponderance of content is jolly. Their potential for conflicts in such an arrangement are huge.
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p>You’re saying you assume it means that the loans to BCC and Geekhouse were specifically to STAVE OFF BANKRUPTCY.
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p>I don’t think that was the case. But I don’t know.
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p>2. Incidentally, you keep calling it “twice removed” from the Mayor.
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p>Look who put out the press release some months ago about the loan to Geekhouse Bicycle.
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p>It can’t be his fund and not his fund on a case by case basis.
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p>3. According to the BLDC website: “These loans are only available for companies in the industrial and manufacturing sectors and have flexible terms and conditions based on need.”
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p>I don’t think a newspaper is typically considered industrial or manufacturing.
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I think newspapers have traditionally been able to obtain classification as “Manufacturing companies” by the state department of revenue, which has had certain local and state tax implications. They “transform raw materials (blank paper and ink?) into a finished product” or some such thing.