Shank And The Globe's Editorial Process

Having read Mike's recent post about Shank and the deleted Don Orsillo sign removal sentence, a Globe hack responds thusly:

That led David Skok, the Globe’s managing editor for digital and general manager of BostonGlobe.com, to respond: “Story was published early, sourcing was weak so the line was removed. Our coverage on this speaks for itself.”

It speaks, all right, and just furthers this blogger's contention that Shank does not have an editor, or doesn't until something blows up in Shank's face.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but a cursory review of this site's posts since inception for the search word 'editor' shows 24 results. Out of the first twelve, I rediscovered five clear indicators of this lack of editorial oversight:

* Dec. 30, 2007 - three spelling mistakes, never corrected.

* Dec. 7, 2008 - Semi-confusing (and definitely annoying) references to the (Sea)Hawks and potentially the Atlanta Hawks.

* Jan. 26, 2010 - same as above.

* Nov. 23, 2014 - misstatement of fact; a Google search of two minutes could have prevented this one.

* July 9, 2015 - misstatement of fact / complete lack of research. Again, a two minute Google search was all that would have been required to get this story straight.

Oh - and my all-time favorite is right here:

Skaters know there’s a purity about the outdoor game. No Zamboni fumes.

A quick Google search turns out the following:

Drive Train:
Four-wheel drive. Rugged Spicer axles have high capacities. Full floating rear axle. General Electric 17.5 HP electric motor provides superior on-ice power even at low speeds.

By the way, Zamboni machines have had electric drive trains for over fifty years.

The only time a Globe editor is mentioned in the same sentence as Shank's is in this case or when Shank's wife donates $250 to Nikki Tsongas' congressional campaign from a joint checking account and a Globe editor has to pull Shank's ass out of the fire, piously declaring nothing to see here, move along.

If any of you want to continue to buy into the notion of Shank having constant editorial oversight, these examples out ought to persuade you otherwise. It is clear to me that the offending sentence in Shank's latest column was removed after someone, presumably at NESN and / or the Red Sox organization, spotted it and 'requested' that it be removed.

Hacktastic!

UPDATE at 5:28 PM - Commenter Anonymous points out this egregious example, to wit: Dodgers StadiumThe Coliseum opened was the Dodgers baseball field in 1958, and Shank's article as linked to above has Humphrey Bogart attending at least one game at that stadium. All well & fine, were it not for the fact that Bogart died in January 1957, one year before the stadium opened.

Like I noted before, this is not an exhaustive list of evidence that Shank has no immediate editorial oversight; any additional examples would simply be shoveling more dirt on this notion.

UPDATE at 7:11 PM - Typo has been corrected as noted above, which makes this site more accountable than Shank's columns on this sort of thing...

UPDATE, 9/2/2015 at 12:58 AM - Change of Los Angeles baseball venue as noted above, thanks to commenter Anonymous.

New suggested DSW masthead - 'At least we acknowledge and correct our mistakes!'

The CHB's Belichickian Response

As Anonymous was so good to note in the Comments to the post below, The CHB's piece today on Don Orsillo's pending departure had the following line deleted: "Two Sox employees told the Globe that workers at Fenway turnstiles were ordered to confiscate any signs supporting Orsillo as fans entered Fenway."

Media watcher Dan Kennedy, who has the story over at Media Nation, asked The CHB about the
edit." The CHB, naturally, is less than forthcoming in his response, claiming the deletion is "just part of the editorial process" and not commenting further.

But Deadspin is on the attack, asserting that Shank's sourcing is either weak or outright wrong.

Only Flounder from Animal House can do this justice:

Shank Talk on Orsillo Exit Just a Lot of Hot Air

Looking for threads, The CHB continues to yank John Henry's. But his goal, if he has one (doubtful), remains vague.

In typical hyperbolic fashion, The CHB claims the "firings" of Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, GM Ben Cherington and announcer Don Orsillo were "classless."

But were they? Let's take them one at a time, shall we?

1. Lucchino: The CHB has repeatedly argued that the Red Sox has underachieved. So, if that's the case -- and three World Series titles in 10 years would bring out the ecstasy of every MLB team, Yankees included -- shouldn't the architect been canned? After all, it was more than a year ago that Shank called him an "absentee owner." Going back to 2013, The CHB said Lucchino deserved blame for the 2011 collapse and 2012 wipeout. And even before that The CHB was claiming Lucchino was on his way out because he didn't have a contract.

Then last month The CHB asserts Larry is bailing because he "just got tired of being there."

Make up your mind, Danny Boy. Was it Lucchino's choice or not? And was it time for him to leave or not?

 2. Cherington: See above. If the team is as bad as The CHB claims it is, why shouldn't the general manager be shown the door? Back in early 2013, The CHB was mocking Cherington was being -- can we say it? -- dumb: "Some of us (me) think Cherington is a little slow-moving for the combustible Lucchino." We can read between those lines. After all, the point of the piece was that Cherington wasn't getting blamed for the Red Sox' 2012 performance, but that he should have been.

3. Orsillo: His contract was also up. And yes, it's a huge shame he is getting the boot. It happens. Before he became the drunken face of the Cubs (something The CHB probably can relate to) Harry Caray was dumped by the Cardinals. His son, Skip, was relegated to Peachtree TV after 20-plus years calling Atlanta Braves games on TBS. The handling of this was inelegant, to say the least, but it happens, even to Hall of Fame announcers.

My take: The CHB has been frozen out of the loop on what remains the region's biggest beat -- the Red Sox -- and he's seething over it. As is his passive-aggressive style, this is his response.

Don Orsillo Gets Axed

Shank finally gets around to the firing of Red Sox TV announcer Don Orsillo.

This Tuesday, while the Sox were in Chicago, WEEI reported that Orsillo would be done with NESN at the end of this season. Sox owners and NESN officials (the team owns 80 percent of NESN) did not respond to reporters’ inquiries after word leaked, and Orsillo issued a polite “no comment” from Chicago.

At 7:50 p.m. Tuesday, shortly before the Sox played the White Sox, NESN issued a statement on its website confirming Dave O’Brien would replace Orsillo for the 2016 Sox season.

Ratings are down, the Sox are in last place for the third time in four years, and they can’t simply fire another pitching coach.

And so Don Orsillo is gone. Without any explanation from ownership or Orsillo’s bosses at NESN. And he’s apparently expected to finish out the season as if none of this is happening. Awkward.

If anyone runs into the suit responsible for this (Joseph Maar), kick him in the nuts for me, ok?