New York Times
A downtown hub is missed by the Times
By Cynic - 9/11/10 - 8:37 pmThe Grey Lady takes note of the giant hole at One Franklin Street. But it would be nice if at some point in her three years as the Boston Bureau Chief, the Times' Abby Goodnough had figured out that the shorthand for Filene's Basement is The Basement. Instead, the Times promises its readers that soon we will have "a new Filene’s for the bargain hungry." That would be something.
But that pales in comparison to this memorable passage:
For nearly a century, Filene's Basement was as renowned a monument as Fenway Park and Faneuil Hall - a plaque out front commemorated Filene's as the "Hub of the Universe."
Where to begin? The plaque was for Filene's, not for The Basement, a distinction that utterly eludes the Times. It was put there by the store's owner, not by its adoring public. And it was a riff on the Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. quote from which this blog takes its name. The implicit point was that if a century before, Bostonians had centered their universe on the State House, by the mid-twentieth century, commerce had supplanted politics and they looked toward Downtown Crossing.
It'd be nice if the features that purport to offer local color managed to offer a scene that locals might recognize as their own.
Modern-day Boston in a nutshell by the New York Times
By adamg - 8/6/10 - 10:39 amAll the news that's fit to print about Boston: Now that the Big Dig is done, Paul Revere wouldn't recognize the place. You can get some great Italian food in Little Italy - which is also the place to rub shoulders with "Sam Adams-swilling frat boys." Boston hipsters drink 'Gansetts instead of PBR. Boston still sucks when compared to New York, but we have some cute little restaurants, some with music (and remember: "you can't visit Boston, smell a salt breeze and not want to eat seafood"). A note to Harvard legacies: "Relive your Head of the Charles days" by renting a sailboat at Community Boating.
Two Vastly Different Headlines, Same Story
By david_yamada - 1/30/10 - 9:02 amThis morning's boston.com ran this headline and subhead describing yesterday's Presidential appearance at the Republican Congressional retreat in Baltimore:
Obama, GOP exchange scoldings in rare debate
President Obama denied he was a Bolshevik, Republicans denied they were obstructionists, and both sides denied they were to blame for toxic politics. (New York Times)
Here's the headline and subhead on nytimes.com describing the same event:
Off Script, Obama and the G.O.P. Vent Politely
By PETER BAKER and CARL HULSE
President Obama attended a House Republican retreat for a robust debate on policies and politics with the opposition, a rarity in the scripted world of American politics.
This would make an interesting case study for a business ethics class
By adamg - 12/28/09 - 9:14 amSeems Mary Tripsas, a Harvard Business School professor, accepted a free flight to 3M's headquarters, then wrote about how wonderful its "innovation" center in her New York Times column. Only problem, as NYTpicker points out, The Times says freelancers aren't supposed to accept free trips from companies they write about. Prof says she was invited because she teaches at Harvard, not because she writes for the Times, so everything's cool.
Via Shots in the Dark.
Boston reporter among those let go by the Times today
By adamg - 12/16/09 - 11:54 pmSara Rimer, who chronicled Boston's monied class and intelligentsia for the Times, was laid off today, along with a couple dozen other Times writers.
The telegraph line to New York must've been down again
By adamg - 11/28/09 - 11:35 amThe Times published a nice obituary for Brother Blue the other day - three weeks after his death. And, of course, this being the Times, they couldn't rely on other media accounts of his death: "The death was confirmed by his wife, Ruth."
Via eagle-eyed John Carroll.
Provincial New Yorkers think Bostonians don't eat burgers
By adamg - 11/19/09 - 1:33 pmIt's true! Look at this headline from today's Times: New York Burger Stand on Boston's Seafood Turf?
Times looking at regional editions even as it tries to ditch the Globe
By adamg - 9/6/09 - 8:32 amThe Times itself reports the paper is planning a San Francisco edition featuring local news - as is the Wall Street Journal:
In addition to planning a San Francisco edition, The Times is exploring the prospects for regional editions based in other cities.
Via John Carroll, already wondering whether the Times would unload the Globe, then promptly launch a Boston edition (then again, anybody remember when the Times tried a New England section?).
Maureen Dowd, professional d-bag
By adamg - 8/26/09 - 1:28 pmWho knew New York Times columnists were so sensitive? Thanks to Chris Faraone at the Phoenix, we now know that Mo Mo doesn't read what people write about her on the Internet because it would hurt her feelings. So what does she do? She hurts our feelings, by quoting some pointyheaded douche from the New Republic:
The Internet is like closing time at a blue-collar bar in Boston. Everyone's drunk and ugly and they're going to pass out in a few minutes.
Dude, of course, went to Harvard, so I'm figuring him to be the model for that blowhard in "Good Will Hunting" who lost the girl to the guy from Southie.
Cullen: NYT Co. as loan shark
By neilv - 5/7/09 - 5:39 amGlobe columnist Cullen likens relationship between Globe and NYT Co. to that between debtor and loan shark. Overall, it reads like a resigned realist, laying it out.
This installment of the loansharking metaphor is relatively free of violence, but tune in for the next exciting episode.
