So, today is D-Day for the Boston Globe. They need to find $20 million in cost cuts by midnight tonight.
I was recently joined in-studio by Jay Fitzgerald of Boston’s most financially stable daily paper, the Boston Herald and the outstanding Hub Blog as well as Todd Hyten, aka Armchair General Savin Hill, for a discussion about the sudden, near-death experience of the Boston Globe specifically, and newspapers in general.
Here is my position on the demise of the Globe: Beleive me, I understand the schadenfreude. However, despite their arrogance, liberal leanings and biases, we still need to the Globe to do the kind of reporting necessary to keep an eye on the hacks on Beacon Hill. These people already run unopposed about 90% of the time. The thought of them operating without media coverage is scary. We need the Globe, not for their liberal world view, but for the reporting on state government. If you think reform is nearly impossible now, what do you think will happen without the Globe around? For one, Marion Walsh would be making $175K and in her new hack-for-life position. It was Frank Phillips who broke the story and pushed it until we (taxpayers) got a happy resolution (Walsh taking a hike).
Reading Adam Reilly’s Phoenix article on the Globe got me thinking about this scene from one of my favorite movies,