Media

The Globe today ran an op-ed piece by John Farrell arguing against Republican efforts to privatize Social Security and Medicare by highlighting the experience of Clarence Darrow, a noted smart guy who still lost everything in the Depression. The version on boston.com has an illustration that actually shows the bobbing head of William Jennings Bryan, Darrow's legal opponent in the Scopes Monkey Trial (photo of the two men). BostonGlobe.com readers, however, got a version illustrated with a photo of Darrow.

Tip o' the chilled monkey brains to the alert UHub reader who actually looks at both versions of Globe stuff.

Last week, the Dig reported that a Globe site aimed at Millennials had a rather interesting page aimed at would-be advertisers: Give the kiddies enough money and they'd write about you, extensively, and ask for more.

That page has been replaced with a rather more sedate page that just lists who's in charge of advertising, so instead, we'll just have to content ourselves with exciting articles for Millennials on why they should avoid all of Dorchester at all costs if they want to make it to 25, except for maybe part of Savin Hill, how Louis Vuitton has become interested in art and how to become a Starbucks addict ("just start hoarding Starbucks-branded items").

Sigh. If only I were hip and young and smart, I might think to go to Google Cache and grab a copy of the old page and post it here:

One of this year's selections is Tim Love, an architect whose contribution to style is wearing untucked dress shirts and standing against walls. I do both all the time; in fact, as I type this, I'm wearing an untucked dress shirt (kidlet on seeing his photo: "But you're not wearing a white shirt"). I better start clearing a space on the mantel for the trophy (there's gotta be a trophy, right?).

Dan Shaughnessy Watch reads today's gleeful, error-riddled column so you don't have to.

Dan Kennedy analyzes a judge's decision that the Herald has the right to report on court proceedings and documents, even if they happen to involve a libel suit against the paper, in this case by Boston band member Tom Scholz in a libel suit over an Inside Track column on the death of lead singer Brad Delp:

The Herald is still at risk over its 2007 reports. [The judge] recently dismissed Scholz's suit against Micki Delp, ruling that the statements at issue were solely the Herald's responsibility. Yesterday's ruling, though, was a victory not just for the Herald, but for the First Amendment - and all of us.

Eagle-eyed Ron Newman, who actually scrolls all the way down the boston.com homepage, noticed this link today, perhaps written by somebody with even less of a grasp on actual Boston geography than I have.

My first impression: Nice. No more eye strain, no more need to kill all those zombie popups, no more waiting forever while the site builds all those popups. Huzzah!

It's a much more leisurely approach to the news; the kind of thing that harkens back to the old days, when people actually settled down with a cup of coffee and the morning paper. The kind of thing you'd expect to see in an ad for a iPad, if those ads showed people reading the iGlobe on the way to work on the iRed Line.

Is it worth $3.99 a week (what they'll start charging Oct. 1)? Hard for me to say, since we already get the Sunday paper, which includes online access (for only $3.50 a week; go figure). What do you think?

WBZ has posted Brudnoy's show the night of Sept. 11, 2001.

The Ford Hall Forum next week re-unites veterans of Boston's original other alternative paper, the Real Paper:

Hear how this free newspaper's laudable format of an employee-run collective was, ironically, its undoing as the opportunity to sell arose, as did interpersonal conflict. Their experience with The Real Paper yields surprising views on modern-day journalism, including sustainable and fair business models, the future of free newspapers in a world of internet media, and whether journalists in today’s economy should strike out on their own.

Sept. 15, Walsh Theatre, Suffolk University. Free.

• Between the Lines

They probably won't be renaming the Seaport Center on D Street New Wingo Square, however.

The Boston Bastard reminds reporters that it's not just Michael Flaherty and the Incumbents (Ed. note: Would make a good 60s cover band) - there are two other candidates running for one of the four open seats this year.

Andrew Ryan wrote a piece about Michael Flaherty's disappointing fundraising considering his mastery of it in previous races. Ryan also fell into the mold of not acknowledging Ryan and Dorcena, characterizing the race as one in which, "five well-known politicians are competing for four seats. One will lose."

Includes the now infamous death-defying rescue of a Channel 7 reporter's hat from the angry seas in Marion Harbor.

Because, OMG, we've been blown clear up to Maine - and look where New York is!

Mediacrity snapped this Weather Channel report on MSNBC.

Google now shows 36,900 results for the phrase Come on, Irene, many of them headlines written by editors who apparently can't get that stupid song about a girl named Eileen out of their heads.

A quickie media hurricane Q&A:

Channel 5 sent John Atwater out to report from a harbor on hurricane preparations.

Question: Who are each station's designated Shelby Scotts, to be sent out for live reports walking into the wind and being strapped to poles on south-facing beaches? If, that is, the most recent track, which shows Irene could hit the Berkshires, instead of the eastern part of the state, that is?

In 2010, WGBH's "Frontline" won a Peabody Award for its story on the demons that possessed one Army platoon after its sergeant died in an attack in Iraq. One of the members of the platoon, Dave Nash, now credits Frontline with getting him the help he needed for his PTSD. This month, WGBH put Nash on the cover of its member magazine with his arms crossed, which highlights his Gothic-lettered "Mein Kampf" tattoo.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: A WGBH spokesman replies:

When we became aware of the tattoo, we spoke with David and he said: "Only part of the tattoo is visible. Those words are part of a larger phrase 'my struggle is eternal' (mein kampf ist ewig) that continues on my arm. This is an entirely personal statement that reflects struggles I have had in my own life, and is meaningful for me. It is not related to any other words or beliefs. I chose the tattoo in German because of my family heritage. I regret any misinterpretation, and I apologize if it has offended anyone."

He just doesn't like them.

Apparently, Michael Graham thinks a Texas Starbucks franchise was within its rights to fire a woman with dwarfism. Dan Kennedy wants to know just what went down on a Graham segment on 96.9 yesterday for which City Councilor Felix Arroyo was a guest:

Councilor Arroyo, you appeared on Michael Graham's show yesterday while Graham and his fellow guest Rob Eno were making fun of people with dwarfism. What do you have to say about that? Will you be issuing a statement? Will you appear again? Will you demand that WTKK post the audio on its website so that we can judge whether your own comments were appropriate or not? Thank you.

Arroyo responds (in the same discussion):

I was the only who disagreed with the woman being fired because of her dwarfism. I believe Starbucks should have found work she could have performed.Should I be invited, I will appear on the program again. Our democracy depends on deferring opinions in debate. If liberals cede talk radio to conservatives, then only one side gets heard. We can’t allow one ideology to dominate the airwaves.

He adds he wants the station to post a copy of the segment.

A couple of Staties visited David Portnoy of Barstool Sports and suggested it might be best for all concerned if he took down the nekkid photos of the Brady kid, if you know what they mean, and they think you do, so he did. At least, for today.

Meanwhile, Glenn Ordway, apparently tired of driving more people to Portnoy's site through his anti-Barstool radiothon, turned his sputtering mike and frothing listeners on Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch for daring to suggest Ordway just shut up already about the whole thing. Allen returns fire today:

Had WEEI just condemned and moved on, would this story have gotten as much attention as it did? While plenty of other media outlets did pick up on the story, there is no doubt that WEEI's incessant banging of the drum increased the visibility of the story.

I heard you state that the extended discussion of the topic had nothing to do with ratings. That is a boldface lie. Everything done at WEEI is for ratings. Are you claiming that this was some sort of selfless public service you were performing here?

1200 AM, the Herald reports.

"In a posting on a website supportive of the Democratic Party," is as close as our Paper of Record gets to helping its readers read Warren's post in its entirety.

The Herald dared mention Blue Mass. Group, as did every other media outlet across the country that wrote about the post.

David Portnoy at Barstool Sports discusses how Glenn Ordway tries to get me murdered (literally) over Brady Babygate.

The page at the center of it all (contains photo of naked kid).

When Ordway went after Universal Hub - no calls to murder, though.

The Globe today profiles Tom Conroy, a Wayland state rep who is walking across the state in his bid to run against Scott Brown next year:

The three-term state representative from Wayland is believed to be the first candidate in the state to walk its entirety seeking votes, drawing inspiration from Lawton Chiles, a legendary Florida politician who traversed his state 41 years ago in a similar underdog campaign that vaulted him from the state Senate into the US Senate.

Tsk. In 1978, Michael Connolly, then a Roslindale state rep, walked across the state in his successful run for secretary of state. It's in the Globe archives (articles on Aug. 24 and Sept. 14 of that year; yeah, I looked it up). And it was actually Connolly's second walk from Bay to Berkshires - he'd done it the year before, to collect signatures for a term-limit ballot question.

Forbes ranks Northeastern a lowly 534th on its list of US colleges in part because Northeastern has a four-year graduation rate of 0%, which Forbes' rating algorithm finds just a tad on the low side, but which an actual human being who knows anything about Northeastern would realize is due to the fact that it's a five-year school, as NU graduate Rachel Kossman and NU professor Dan Kennedy note.

The grizzled crime reporter starts next month on WCVB.