Good Herald, bad Herald

Good Herald: Today’s Herald leads with a pretty amazing story that the Globe missed. On Monday evening, Boston Mayor Tom Menino was walking through Dorchester with top police officials when a gunman ran right past him. “I saw this guy running past me in a black shirt. All the sudden, the police who were with me were running and chasing this individual,” Menino told reporter Michele McPhee.

Bad Herald: Aggressiveness isn’t always a virtue, especially if it leads to running a misleading story. On Monday, the Herald reported that “an alleged break-in artist” fell to his death while he was trying to enter a home via an unsafe spiral staircase. On Tuesday, the Globe caught up — and found that the victim, identified as 27-year-old Irish visitor Martin Lenaghan, had merely attempted to enter the wrong house after becoming disoriented. The Herald’s Tuesday follow-up made no mention of the “break-in artist” line.

Adam Gaffin asks: Worthy of a correction?

Correction: The Globe actually did have this story on Monday, and it managed to report the then-unidentified Lenaghan’s death without suggesting that he was a “break-in artist.”


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2 thoughts on “Good Herald, bad Herald”

  1. The gentleman’s death was a tragedy. That said, unless he was experiencing a medical condition of some sort beyond his control, being that hammered in a foreign country, (in the wee hours), speaks to personal responsibility at some point. (He was in the 2nd MONTH of his vacation?) Looks like nobody has clean hands on this one.

  2. How is it Dan that you asssume the tale of disorientation is true? cops thought he was a second-story man on the first day. now he’s what — some poor innocent? .. just happened to be climbing those stairs … ? news breaks fast at daily papers, dan. you should try working at one some day — it might make your commentary less glaringly ivory tower.

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