The Boston Globe circulation figures are out and it is not good news for the paper that is essentially the Massachusetts edition of the New York Times. As a result of declining ad revenue and reduced circulation figures across all of its holdings, the Times has announced job cuts of 500 positions of which over 100 are coming from the Globe.
Having grown up reading the Globe and believing every word written in its pages it is difficult to see the paper fall on hard times. It is particularly difficult to see the human impact of people losing their jobs. The Globe and Times are not the only print media companies feeling the pinch as the internet and other outlets are cutting into revenue sources that were traditionally dominated by the paper business. Car ads, job postings, real estate and even personals have all gravitated to the internet in large numbers primarily because it is cheaper and in many cases a much more effective medium to accomplish your goal.
Unfortunately for the Globe it is more than just competitive ad pressure that is contributing to its decline. The Boston Globe simply is no longer a reliable source of unbiased news or analysis on local or national issues of importance. Its parent is suffering from the same affliction. Any more decay of the Times stock price and it will be the stockholders demanding a change louder than the readers
Now that there is a huge quantity of critical analysis available from a variety of different points of view on every subject it is quite easy to see that the Globe, along with its parent, the New York Times is simply a slanted party organ that chooses its stories and reports the facts in a way that promotes particular view points of the occupants of the news room or the editorial boards.
A number of issues come to mind that I have followed over the years that convince me that the Globe will print what supports its point of view. Nothing could be more obvious than their unabashed love of Chapter 40B affordable housing legislation. The suburban communities have complained for years about the developer led scam that 40B is, yet it has always fallen on deaf ears at the Globe because the powers that be at the Globe have determined that it is good for us. There fore any reasonable objection is labeled as being against the poor or being a snob. There has never been an in depth examination of how the law is exploited to the detriment of the effected communities or how the richest communities avoid it.
The Gay marriage issue is another favorite on Morrissey Boulevard. Although I have no personal position against Gay marriage it was an agenda that the Globe pushed from day one and never allowed any meaningful or thoughtful arguments, disagreement or opposing strategies to be presented in the paper. A razor thin 4-3 margin by the Massachusetts Supreme Court was essentially trumpeted as the will of the people. Any effort by residents to get the question on the ballot is denigrated by the Globe at every opportunity.
Political candidates are another area where the Globe reports what it feels will promote its agenda. An example is the Globe’s candidate of choice for governor. It is clear to any casual reader that the paper has anointed Thomas Reilly as its choice and there fore nothing negative regarding Reilly is likely to appear in the paper. The paper was Hell bent on attacking the church and Cardinal Law over the sex abuse scandal but where was the criticism for Reilly under whose watch a good deal of the wrong doing happened? Also where was the criticism of Reilly for not indicting the Cardinal? The excuse was that the statute of limitations had run out yet it was clear the Archdiocese was conspiring to hide evidence on these cases right up until the very last moment.
Another Reilly strategy that received virtually no criticism from the Globe was the foolish Microsoft suit. Massachusetts was the last state standing in the suit primarily because the software companies in the state were likely to be gratified by Reilly’s stubborn willingness to hold a losing hand till the end.
At every opportunity the Globe sneers at Govenor Romney for tax policy, or political travel or poor appointments or anything else to tarnish him, Reilly of course gets a pass.
I guess the paper should be applauded for supporting a favorite son for President however the free pass that John Kerry has been given by the Globe during his whole career has been nearly scandalous. In contrast, Bush has been President for five years and with the exception of an occasional Jeff Jacoby article it is difficult to find one thing that Bush might have done as the president that the Globe might give him credit for.
Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Kennedy, Rangel, Boxer, Feinstein, the Ku Klux Klan Senator and of course Bill and Hillary can all find a kind word now and then but any mention of Bush is always accompanied with fire and brimstone and damnation!
The Op Ed and editorial pages are another place where the Globe is driving readers away. There is only so much of the same sniveling left wing sycophantic drivel that one can take from the likes of Thomas Oliphant and Derrick Jackson before you come to the realization that .50 cents a day is way to much to spend when you can get more accurate information on the web for nothing.
The Globe is dying a slow painful death and they have no one to blame but themselves.
