Boston Herald

It just wouldn't be Christmas without Joe Fitzgerald and his annual column about the one Jewish woman in Brighton who loves Christmas (past examples).

Jonathan Kamens explains why Fitzgerald and Irina Kotiniuc need to stop hocking about how Christianity is under assault in the Boston area and the U.S.

Maybe I'm just bitter because I never have a clue who any of the unidentified rapscallions in columns like this are and am too lazy/uncurious to ever attempt to find out (let alone read the columns all the way to the end). But what's the point of running item after item without naming the offending parties save to blackmail their PR people into giving up juicy tidbits about other PR people's clients?

The Globe has a front-page story today about Frank McCourt, his wife, their divorce and how LA hates the pair. I must be the only person in Boston not familiar with Frank McCourt's physiognomy, because the Globe didn't mention it at all while highlighting the Missus's features, right there in the lead:

Yeah, it's just a Simpsons image, and everybody does it, but a paper that's gone on a crusade against city workers who actually know how to use the Internet might want to spend a second in introspection. Like, maybe Herald honchos might want to ask Jules Crittenden, one of their editors, why he's posting political rants on his personal blog during work hours.

But maybe I'm wrong about that last one and Herald reporters just work wacky hours. That might explain why they think a Twitter post at 10:11 p.m. was done during work hours.

Earlier:
And let's not forget one of the reporters on the story posts music reviews on his blog during work hours.

Hacks yuk it up on Facebook.

With nothing else happening at City Hall this week, the Herald sics reporters Dave Wedge and Jessica Heslam on city staffers who post on Facebook and Twitter during work hours.

Oh, God, the horror! Why, it takes sheer seconds to post something to Facebook or Twitter. And never mind city-council aides work nights and weekends or that the Herald's poster girl, Amy Derjue, was hired in part because of her social-networking skills. You know, to reach people who don't read newspapers.

But, look: Heslam has her own Facebook account. So does hubby Wedge. What are they using them for? Unlike Derjue, they keep their Facebook activity secret. What are they hiding?

Ooh, insinuation is fun!

At Blue Mass. Group, David Kravits makes the case. At issue: What Coakley said in response to some question by Janet Wu on Channel 5's new political show. Speaking of which, KennedySeat.com wonders when the adults will show up on the show:

... In the three episodes of this show I have watched (I skipped Christy), I have continually been struck by how the guests just run circles around the hosts, who are clearly overmatched. Even Pagliuca, who is a neophyte in the political world, handled the Channel 5 team easily. ...

Herald Publisher Pat Purcell says the paper could start charting a subscription for online access to its stories by next year, the Herald reports, adding, however, that Purcell also said he realizes it might not work unless the Globe also agrees to charge.

You may recall the Herald used to charge for access to its columns but ended that when it appeared few people wanted to pay to read them.

The Boston Business Journal has more.

With beer pong now linked to swine-flu outbreaks, my God, what's next? The Herald demands answers.

So the Fire Department puts out a $100,000 fire in a prominent Chinatown restaurant and uncovers illegal living quarters and possibly a gambling den in the seven floors above it. The Herald has the story. The Globe doesn't.

"Ernie Boch III" has been trying to convince Blue Mass. Group readers to boycott advertisers on Howie Carr's radio show (he's even posted a handy list of advertisers and contact info). Must be having some effect: The Herald today fires back with the news that Ernie Boch III is not, in fact, the car dealer (whom the Herald gives space to to complain about the imposter). Paper also reports, however, that people actually are calling advertisers to complain about Carr.

The Globe reports Howie Carr smashed his car into a telphone pole in Wellesley yesterday afternoon. He's OK, but was cited for disregarding marked lanes. The telephone pole, however, did not survive.

Thanks to the Herald, we know today that that Southie girl waiting for some alleged West Virginia yokel to take her away wasn't just troubled. She was a goth. The Herald reports the two met online at GothChatCity.com. And as the Herald notes:

Gothchatcity.com, where Confere encountered the girl, is an online social networking group for people obsessed with gloom and doom.

Headline: Shark sightings put Cape on alert.

Story: "Year-round residents aren't fazed."

A real newspaper would hire some gruff, squint-eyed sea captain so the reporter could get into a shark cage and go mano-a-finno with the Great Beast. Surely, two-fisted Herald maritime reporter O'Ryan Johnson isn't scared of a little fish, is he?

John Carroll compares the two papers' coverage of EMC co-founder Richard Egan's death.

Via Dan Kennedy.

The Boston Herald will stop distributing "Uncle Henry's Swap or Sell It Guide," which has been linked to illegal gun trafficking in Boston, the Globe and E&P report.

"High traffic volumes" again. Who knew Joe Fitzgerald was so popular these days?

Well, woman, actually.

So why is bostonherald.com like a good pillow?

It's down.

It's table-turning time as Ian Rapoport is interviewed by Boston Sports Media Watch's Bruce Allen.

Paper sets up Misery Index to reveal why we're all standing by the bathtub with a toaster. Will the Dig include the Misery Index in its Bean Counter quality-of-life index next week?

Who knew? Doug Bailey, formerly of the Globe, reads them enough to work himself into a lather in print today.

I agree with his basic point: The comments represent the basest form of humanity, from the sort of people who blame Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton (and now, of course, Barack Obama) every time somebody gets mugged in Roxbury.

But you know what, Doug? Your pals at Morrissey Boulevard and Herald Square share the blame.

Adam Reilly notes the glee with which the Herald's Laurel Sweet covers the issue of pervs driving ice-cream trucks even though Sweet is forced to acknowledge that the problem is "incredibly, a rarity nationwide."

Just got word of a protest at 1 Herald Square at 4 over the Herald's "FADE TO BLACKO" cover today. Protesers say it was racist and offensive to Boston's black community:

Michael Jackson was an icon and should be respected!

If you were there, post a report.

O'Ryan Johnson, amateur boxer, charged with assault and battery in laundromat argument in Groveland, the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune reports.

Via Dan Kennedy, who finds it odd the Eagle-Tribune mentions Johnson used to work there but omits the part about him helping the paper win a Pulitzer.

A columnist who pulls down almost seven figures a year, lives in a Wellesley manse and went to Deerfield Academy takes some cheap shots today at some guy who went to Boston State, whose father was a Boston cop and whose grandmother was an early union organizer.

Dan Kennedy fills in the background on Howie Carr's hatchet job on Globe Newspaper Guild president Dan Totten.