Quality Reporting, By Ben Volin

It looks like a colleague of Shank's got punked by a commenter on Barstool Sports:

EXCLUSIVE: Ben Volin's "Report" That The Whole Building Hates Mac Jones Is Based On A Stoolie's Fake DM

If you heard this on Greg Hill this morning it was a real mess. Volin, very sheepishly, said he got a DM (according to the tweet "from someone that would know" but I didn't hear that in the audio, might've been in a different part of the interview) that "everyone in the building knows it." I retweeted it because it was pretty dumb, particularly considering that as the same time this interview was happening Jason McCourty was on Good Morning Football saying he was hanging out with the team on Monday night and everyone loves everyone.

And Now For More Boston Globe Bashing - LXXIV

As was said by Henry Kissenger about Iraq and Iran during their war in the 1980's, 'it's a pity both sides can't lose':

Members of the Boston Newspaper Guild, which represents the newsroom and advertising staff at the Globe, stood outside WBUR's auditorium at Comm. Ave. and St. Paul Street this evening as Globe CEO Linda Pizzuti Henry was inside speaking on a panel titled "Trailblazers: Women news leaders from Katherine Graham to today," led by NPR's Robin Young - who asked if she wanted to say anything about the guild's lack of a contract for three years now. Henry said the panel was not the place to discuss labor issues.

In other news, Linda Pizzuti Henry, who married into the gig, is somehow considered a 'trailblazer' in 'women's news leaders'.

Boston Globe Death Watch - XV

Nothing says corporate self-implosion quite like employees in a dying industry making imperious demands of company management:

Three labor unions representing different groups of Boston Globe employees have sent a joint letter to the newspaper company's ownership and executives, criticizing what they called “a series of aggressive, harmful tactics by management” during labor negotiations.

The main union representing Globe journalists and business employees, The Boston Newspaper Guild, also said that a “super-majority” of members has indicated support for a strike authorization vote, should one be called by a bargaining committee. A statement from the unions alluded to “talk of a potential strike vote,” though the timing on such a vote is at this point unclear.

The letter marks the first time the Newspaper Guild and local chapters of the International Association of Machinists and the Teamsters have joined in coordinated action regarding Globe negotiations, according to the organizations.

If these fools went on strike, all fucking hell will break loose, and I'll love every minute of it.

Boston Globe Death Watch - XIV

Seems the Globies issue whiny, petulant demands on a semi-weekly basis:

.@BostonGlobe reporters have been working on the ground, risking their safety to bring key information and reporting to the public during the pandemic — all while working without a fair contract. Take action: https://t.co/bE8N7X1O8v @newsguild pic.twitter.com/itmsA9zt4E

— Boston Newspaper Guild (@BostonNewsGuild) June 15, 2021

A fair contract will preserve exceptional talent in the @BostonGlobe newsroom and provide quality journalism in New England. Join our fight: https://t.co/bE8N7X1O8v ✊ #1u @newsguild pic.twitter.com/gD07GK7v3J

— Boston Newspaper Guild (@BostonNewsGuild) June 14, 2021

Boston Globe Death Watch - XIII

It's been a while since there's been anything new on this front, but the union representing most of the Globies is still whining:

Without a new contract, @BostonGlobe workers have been forced to go more than 2 years with uncertainty and no cost of living increase during the worst public health crisis in a century. Stand up for us at https://t.co/bE8N7X1O8v @newsguild pic.twitter.com/RtFOdtAd52

— Boston Newspaper Guild (@BostonNewsGuild) June 3, 2021

Staff at The @BostonGlobe are speaking out: At a paper owned by a billionaire, workers still don't have a contract after 2+ years. Tell John Henry and Linda Pizzuti Henry that our work is worth a fair contract. Join us at https://t.co/bE8N7X1O8v @newsguild pic.twitter.com/bEJlqbJTBd

— Boston Newspaper Guild (@BostonNewsGuild) June 1, 2021

If you clowns don't like the pay / conditions there, then quit. Learn to code, bitchez!

And Now For Some More Boston Globe Employee Bashing

Some tweets don't age very well, like this one:

#TBvsGB #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/4qMq3b79OF

— Freezing Cold Takes (@OldTakesExposed) January 24, 2021

Hat tip - Boston Radio Watch

Boston Globe Death Watch - XII

The end must be near if you're pathetically begging the owner of your corporation for your collective jobs:

Well, @John_W_Henry dumped Mookie Betts and just laid off a bunch of @RedSox personnel. I hope he sees your value, but
... https://t.co/KASfkMq7YL

— Bruce Allen (@bruceallen) September 8, 2020

The level of entitlement on display here is astounding. Learn to code, bitchez!

Boston Globe Death Watch - XI

I'd call this 'arranging the deck chairs on the Titantic'.

Boston Globe employees were told Wednesday that employees should continue to work remotely through the end of the year, although they may choose to come in to the office for no more than two days a week after Labor Day. What follows is the top of the memo from the Boston Globe Media Partners executive team, which I obtained from a trusted source.

Hello all,

On behalf of the Executive Leadership Team and Safety Committee, we want to provide some important updates and clarification on opening the Boston Exchange Place / 53 State Street office, as well as the Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. offices. We have talked before about how the Boston office would reopen after Labor Day to serve as an optional amenity for people who needed a break working from home, and that it would still be limited to not more than two days per week. We want to emphasize that while we greatly miss being together, not only are you not expected to return work in person, but we do not want or need for you to come in.

We are arranging the office to be safe for people who want to use it on a limited basis, but the preference is that you continue to work from home. We have been monitoring the pandemic and will continue to respond based on state guidelines, but in the meantime, we are extending this phase of limited, optional-only use of the office through the end of the year.

To be clear, we want the Boston offices to be as empty as possible for the remainder of 2020. While we realize that there could be an expectation that managers may want you to show up in person, or that you may miss out on an opportunity if you are not in the office, we want to dispel that notion by emphasizing that managers do not and must not expect you to return to the office for the remainder of the year. If you have concerns or questions about this, please talk to your manager or reach out to your HR partner to discuss.

UPDATE AT 2:12 PM - You see, it's much easier to fire people this way!

Just What The Boston Globe Needs - Another Shank

Bruce Allen has some fun with the Boring Broadsheet:

Must love baseball and be willing to pledge fealty to John Henry. The ideal candidate will exhibit skill in disdaining and trolling readers, football knowledge not required. https://t.co/jQjEYN4SKD

— Bruce Allen (@bruceallen) August 25, 2020

Sorry, Bruce - that position's already taken!

The One Where Shank Shits On His Boss

John Henry is the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and owner of what's left of the Boston Globe. The following tweet makes me wonder - does Shank have a professional death wish?

Red Sox ownership gave up on this team in February. Players obviously got the message.

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) July 28, 2020

I'll give him this much - it does take balls to throw out a tweet like that.

A Question For Astronomy Buffs

If you have a rising star at a dying newspaper, that's called a red dwarf, isn't it?

Julian new globe star on the rise https://t.co/thLCzPiLQW

— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) June 24, 2020

Boston Globe Death Watch - IX

WBUR (political sisters-in-arms with the Boston Globe) performs the ancient ritual of bloodletting:

WBUR lays off 29, freezes salaries and says goodbye to four senior leaders

This is heartbreaking.

Show of hands? That's what I thought.

WBUR Radio (90.9 FM) is laying off 29 people “because of the economic fallout of the past several months,” according to a memo sent to the staff by the station’s chief executive officer, Margaret Low. A salary freeze has been imposed. In addition, senior executives Tom Melville, John Davidow and Peter Lydotes are leaving, and Sam Fleming will retire later this year.

Overall, Low says, the current budget of $46 million will be reduced to $40 million in the next fiscal year.

The memo also contains some ideas and observations about increasing the diversity of the staff and about the station’s ongoing commitment to local news.

Learn to code, assholes.

Boston Globe Death Watch - VII

Well, this is interesting...

Boston Globe employees, according to a survey of Guild members by the union, are nervous the Henrys are pushing for removal of the successors and assigns provision because they intend to sell the newspaper.https://t.co/1JRAFucN1z

— CW Magazine (@CommonWealthMag) June 1, 2020

Boston Globe Death Watch - IV

Just in case you didn't think the Boston Globe is run by a bunch of scumbags with an axe to grind against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, this 'news' item, this ought to confirm it. Check out the fucking headline:

Medical workers share concerns about masks delivered by Patriots plane

Isn't that the most astounding placing of blame - not on the masks themselves but the courier who delivered them. Was Kraft himself supposed to inspect all the masks before leaving China?

By the way - the story does go on to say the FDA cleared these masks for use; a bitchy complaint from one Mass. General doctor says they're 'not the gold standard' for use in the ER. Good enough for the Globe to run with, though!

Safe to say that will put a bit of a dent in the circulation numbers of the already battered 1988 Hyundai Excel that is now the Boston Globe.

Boston Globe Death Watch - III

When Boston Globe sports reporters like these two clowns start banging on the digital tin cup to try and drum up support for a dying newspaper in a dying industry, it would take a heart of stone not too laugh:

$1 per month for six months is pretty tough to beat. Please subscribe to stay informed and support local journalism https://t.co/mT18y1vFBq https://t.co/HTI4EUA8G7

— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) April 9, 2020

It's bad enough we have multiple elected leaders at the state level that ordered large swaths of the economy shut down for at least three weeks and looks like a lot of them will do so for a few weeks more, but of all the industries most vulnerable to outright seismic collapse because of this is the newspaper industry. With the Globe recently announcing 50 layoffs and 55 buyouts sought, their position is precarious at best. That part I have no problem with, but the self-inflicted wound of economic misery that will likely follow is / was entirely predictable and preventable if only these same politicians from both sides of the aisle didn't hit the panic button like they did and force millions of people to stay at home, get fired / laid off and suffer like they are now. The voluntary social distancing and other measures were by and large happening on their own and this massive overreaction is only being done, in my opinion, to save these 'leader's' political reputations at the expense of the rest of us. As far as this cat's concerned their reputations are as worthless as tits on a bull.

We will eventually look back at this and realize what a galaxy-class fuckup it was to force large parts of the economy to shut down by executive orders. Every one of these assholes that ordered this should be tarred & feathered at a bare minimum.

Boston Globe Death Watch - II

If this is any indication (and I believe it is), ad revenues are drying up:

In an internal memo, Townsquare Media announces it has laid off 65 employees (26 at corporate level) and suspended 401K matching, while 18 executives are taking 10% temporary pay reduction.

— RadioInsight.com (@radioinsight) March 30, 2020

This tweet is courtesy of Boston Radio Watch. He's a sharp, insightful sort who pays serious attention to this sort of thing, and he watches that particular metric (ad revenue) pretty closely, as it's a prime factor into a company's revenue in the newspaper industry. The Globe just shitcanned 50 employees, want to get rid of 55 more through buyouts and now a primary source of revenue is under serious threat. One wonders how long John Henry continues to prop up this money-losing company.

Boston Globe Death Watch - It Begins

I've long ragged on the Boston Globe on this site for many reasons, business model being chief among them in changing times. Industries rise and fall all the time and print media is no exception.

I'm gonna now make the Boston Globe Death Watch official in light of recent events - a tweet from Peter Abraham (below) which I take to be a certain / solid exquisite indication of desperation and loss of business, and now we get this beauty:

NEW: The @BostonGlobe is laying off nearly 50 workers at its Taunton mailroom, and is offering buyouts to 55 more, according to a union official, in conjunction with a plan to outsource its work on its direct marketing business, @globedirect https://t.co/RRaSTTyb1X

— Don Seiffert (@BosBizDon) March 23, 2020

Since financial, employment and other metrics are no longer publicly available, I cannot figure out accurate / ballpark numbers for the Globe. Nor would I care to, because I consider it a waste of time to spend any more thought on a dying company I've hated since the second month I started reading it. Best I care to guess - 15% overall drop, bare minimum. It is clear, however, that they are on a southward trajectory, bleeding slowly from a thousand cuts, or a thousand knives if that's how you roll.

A Picture With Many Possible Meanings

Is this a rallying call? A self-congratulatory pat on the back in this, our most trying of times? The beginning of the latter stage of the Boston Globe Death Watch? Throwing shade at Shank for being a lazy asshole while Pete and the rest of the gang soldier on, bending and never breaking? Is Shank retweeting this because he thinks he's flipping off Pete for ragging on him? A clever way to conserve on wood pulp newsprint by selling newspapers with less paper in it? It sure is a mystery!

Eight-page sports section and 12 staff bylines with no games being played. @BGlobeSports doing our thing. News staff is doing phenomenal work, too. Our digital readership is growing because news matters. pic.twitter.com/Qwues5zFVT

— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) March 22, 2020