More Ideas to Save The Globe

Start reporting the news (5.00 / 2)

The Globe should stop being an agent of politicians and special interests. After all, they have each other; do they really need the fourth estate too? The Globe has not been at all interested or responsive to the issues of clearcutting of state forests and parklands which has been generating huge controveries across the state for years. Nor have they been able or willing to fairly represent both sides of the biomass story. Other media outlets have done a much better job with these stories. These are just examples but they indicate that the Globe has a big problem just doing the basic job of reporting the news.

Do you want to be spoon-fed propaganda or do you want a real free press? There is lots of work to be done bringing accountability in public office (yes, true accountability, not just picking off individuals who displease the king or Rasputin) and the Globe should have a big role in that. Can the Globe demonstrate that they have done their part bringing attention to problems and airing possible solutions, or is this another tired Boston story of patronage and personalities dominating the scene and running a good institution into the ground?

Jana Chicoine

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by: janachicoine @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 10:04:20 AM CDT

So, be like the Phoenix (0.00 / 0)

A hyperlocal paper with an ovveriding ideological point of view.  

There's more to be done, sure, but I read the Globe for its look at national and international issues, not because I agree with its feelings on local stories.

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Believe it or not, I have even more to say...

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by: sabutai @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 10:25:52 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

If the Globe doesn't do a good job (5.50 / 4)

reporting local news, you don't need it. There are much better outlets for national and international news.

Jana Chicoine

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by: janachicoine @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 10:50:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I doubt it (0.00 / 0)

If I want local news, I can read the EmptyPrise or the Standardized-Crimes.  The Globe falls in behind the NYT, LA Times, and Post in my book, but ahead of pretty much everyone else.  They've done there share in New England and beyond.

I don't want to reduce national and international news to a boutique services of a tiny amount of organizations.  Nor do I want to read an ideology disguised as news.

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Believe it or not, I have even more to say...

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by: sabutai @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 11:28:35 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's the LAST thing I turn to the Globe for (6.00 / 1)

I read the Globe for its look at national and international issues

National and World pieces are mostly AP or Reuters wire stories, or occasionally re-purposed NYT reporting.  Why bother with the Globe?

Like a recent LA Times article which reported Istanbul as Turkey's capitol, the incompetence in mainstream media reporting is breathtaking.  I suppose that's because domestic papers (and TV, too) have gutted their foreign reporting capabilities and so rely on the wires.

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by: bostonshepherd @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 16:17:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Why is the Globe (4.33 / 3)

in its current state worth saving at all?  Jordan Marsh/Macy's ads propped up the paper for ages.  Once they cut back on those, it was all over but for the shouting.

To stay in business, the Globe could get leaner and meaner.  Seems to me they waste a ton of paper/ink on sections that mostly hit the circular file anyway.  

Give advertisers a better return, the paper stays in business.  Simple stuff.

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by: Old Scratch @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 10:06:52 AM CDT

Ok Ernie good start old man (6.00 / 1)

How about the Globe NYT starting a  Bloomberg model local news all the time channel. Competition with NECN and they could sell shares of the service to Verizon and RCN to compete with Comcast.

Double their advertising with a tabloid scroll on the station to mirror print copy.

Drags them into the 20th century anyway then into the 21st with a pay to play internet sight they do it with online gaming but the content has to be fresh and informative to sell.

As Usual just my Opinion

Ethics reform should be more then a dream!
Boycott AIG!Save the children's Future

Edward R. Quinn

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by: WoburnDem @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 10:08:51 AM CDT

Bake sale (5.00 / 2)

Surely there's money to be made from selling some of their half-baked editiorial perspectives.

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by: gary @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 10:54:27 AM CDT

"let's put on a show" (0.00 / 0)

oooooooh another ebiii classic.

will EB2ATA perform "the blues"?  

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by: GoldsteinGoneWild @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 12:05:45 PM CDT

Gonna Gonna Gonna Gonna Gonna Gonna Buy Me A Rainbow (0.00 / 0)

Putting on a show would work.  I saw it on The Brady Bunch back in the day.

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by: RegularJoe @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 16:11:48 PM CDT

Try reporting the news the old fashioned way (6.00 / 1)

Setting aside the oft-mentioned accusation of bias, what may help revive the Globe are better news reporting and editing standards.  Most Globe articles reads more like a human interest feature than the daily news.  For god's sake, bring back some hard reporting.

Who's writing from the city desk?  High schoolers?  I can't begin to tell you how many articles I have to re-read to make sure it isn't me that skipped over facts crucial to the story.  Don't they teach the inverted-pyramid anymore?  

And who's editing these "reporters"?  College interns?  

More often than not, the basic facts -- when, where, who, you know, actual news reporting -- seem to get disconnected with the led, scattered across column inches, or they're omitted altogether.

It's as if the editors don't give a sh*t about quality of the reporting, and run most anything the reporters produce.  I know they're capable of better: an example of top-notch reporting at the Globe was the interactive feature about the BFD's fatal fire-truck accident.  It was detailed, accurate, and informative.  I wrote to all those involved in its creation to commend them.  But that seems to be the exception.

Set aside the issue of political bias.  I'm talking about nuts-and-bolts reporting.  The Globe is very weak on this.  Look at any of the WSJ reporting.  For the most part, you get ALL the facts right on top, in the first paragraphs or three.  If the article is about a person, their age appears, like clockwork, in the 2nd paragraph.  They MUST have a style book which all reporters follow.

If the Globe demanded some reporting standards, maybe people would turn to it for the news.

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by: bostonshepherd @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 16:36:05 PM CDT

More local news is the ticket - become THE paper for finding out the facts again (0.00 / 0)

When was the State House office basically closed?

Sadly, there is usually more local news in the Herald.

It is investigative reporting, local news, and good old fashioned "scoops" that see papers.

What sells advertising these days?  Darn.  I don't know.

Deborah Sirotkin Butler
AmberPaw dot @aol.com

"Failure to plan is planning to fail."
Proverb

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by: AmberPaw @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 19:03:41 PM CDT

Maybe the Sports Teams should buy it (0.00 / 0)

Hey why not the Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins all form a partner ship and buy the paper. I suspect that you will find that a fair amount of circulation revolves around the sports section. It certainly is the most comprehensive.

If any one could I suspect that this crowd is more likely to have the funds and certainly it would serve their interests to preserve the paper. who would not consider a 10% surcharge on a ticket for the globe and if you have season tickets to one of the teams you get a free copy delivered to your home or office.

As Usual just my Opinion

Ethics reform should be more then a dream!
Boycott AIG!Save the children's Future

Edward R. Quinn

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by: WoburnDem @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 07:33:53 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Why not regionalize? (0.00 / 0)

The reason I no longer subscribe is that the Globe doesn't cover any of my interests.  Not that most "news" stories are just the press releases of a business or agency - all newspapers in the US do that.  Most everything is national or international or Boston.  I live 50 miles from Boston.  The Globe or Herald doesn't cover anything local, so I need to get a local paper if I want local news.  My choice for local papers is two, both are equally pathetic.  Both are dying.

What if there could be some partnering between regional newspapers and a Boston paper?  Today Boston isn't the hub of the universe.  People live elsewhere, too.  Could the Globe (or Herald) publish their paper and include a page or two from a local region?  School sports?  Obits? Crime?  I'd pay for that.

In this age of communication, how difficult are the logistics?  The local papers can either merge with the larger paper or become independent information agents.  I imagine the biggest problem would be correct delivery.  The local papers could work out a billing scheme for their input, much as the newspapers deal with news agencies now.  

Not revolution, evolution.

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by: John Beresford Tipton @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 10:58:49 AM CDT