If you thought Boston Phoenix political reporter Adam Reilly’s recent media critiques (like this and this) presaged his move to the “Don’t Quote Me” slot, you were right.
Today the Phoenix made it official: Adam will succeed Mark Jurkowitz, who left a few months ago to become associate director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism in Washington.
Obviously I have a vested interest, having held the slot myself for 11 years. I think Adam will do a terrific job, and I wish him the best of luck.
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o-fish-l
Is the appointment of the juvenile, card carrying liberal Adam Reilly to a “media critic” job last held by the acclaimed Mark Jurkowitz really a good idea? What are Adam Reilly’s credentials compared to Jurkowitz’ or even your’s Dan?I realize the Phoenix is a freebie, owned by the ultra-liberal Steve Mindich and as such his ideology will pour in, but in the wake of Jurkowitz relative neutrality does this appointment really enhance the realm of Boston media criticism or does it tarnish it? Your thoughts?
Dan Kennedy
Fish: What do you mean “even” mine? I’m a huge admirer of Mark Jurkowitz and consider him a friend. But I’m not going to yield anything to him or anyone else in terms of credentials. Bone up here.
MeTheSheeple
Interestingly, the Boston Phoenix is now seeking an editor.
Adam
Oafish One, since you’ve been kind enough to correct my grammar/punctuation in the past, I’ll return the favor here:”What are Adam Reilly’s credentials compared to Jurkowitz’ [sic] or even your’s [sic] Dan? I realize the Phoenix is a freebie, owned by the ultra-liberal Steve Mindich and as such his ideology will pour in, but in the wake of Jurkowitz [sic] relative neutrality does this appointment really enhance the realm of Boston media criticism or does it tarnish it?”This should read:”What are Adam Reilly’s credentials compared to Jurkowitz’s or even yours, Dan? [I threw in a comma to make you sound better.] I realize the Phoenix is a freebie, owned by the ultra-liberal Steve Mindich and as such his ideology will pour in, but in the wake of Jurkowitz’s relative neutrality does this appointment really enhance the realm of Boston media criticism or does it tarnish it?”Re: your closing question, my guess is that Dan would go with option #1, since he predicted I’ll do a “terrific job.” (Thanks, Dan.) Finally, I’ll admit to being a “card-carrying liberal” (note the hyphen). But “juvenile”? Oafish One, that’s just too much!
Anonymous
Fish,Who did you expect them to hire, Jacoby? The Phoenix is what it is. Some of Reilly’s work is inarguably superb. Some, like the ‘RKO piece, disingenuously accuses others of the same level of partisanship present at the Phoenix. So what? If you disagree with them, start a blog yourself and try to influence people too. You will reach the same demographic for which Mindich is killing many innocent trees and you won’t have to advertise outcall services. Finally, give DK his props. He may be way liberal but he’s honest enough to cop to it, without phony claims of being a centrist. That’s more than you can say about the others you mentioned.
Anonymous
Hey Dan, Off topic, but did you see that Globe article about some RKO host getting yanked for making fun of Grace Ross? I don’t have a link, but it’s front-paged at boston.com.
Peter Kadzis
Having edited Mark, promoted Dan, rehired Mark, and now moved Adam from politics to media I think I can offer some insight: Adam is smart. That’s his foundation — it’s THE foundation. In the week’s to come he’ll be redefining himself — and Don’t Quote Me — as he goes along. Adam caught my attention several years ago at a New England Press Association awards dinner. He won a handful of prizes for writing thoughtfully about a very wide range of subjects. As soon as we had the right opening, we hired him. Aside from brains, the Don’t Quote Me column requires someone with range and judgement. It is, of course, fair game to question any writers’s judgment. But I think over the years Dan and Mark stood the test. I have no doubt that Adam will. Media criticsm today is a contact sport and it reqires the flexibility to range over newsprint, glossies, online, and a host of broadcast systems. Two of the best, our host here, Dan Kennedy, and Slate’s Jack Shafer, walk that high wire with ease. I think Adam — and Phoenix readers — are going to have some fun as he earns his place on that tightrope.
Anonymous
Thank God! Reilly’s great. I don’t care how qualified Jurkowitz was, his columns were snoozers.I moved to New Jersey month ago and the Phoenix is the thing I miss most about Boston.
Anonymous
Is this the same Adam Reilly who thought Marie St. Fleur was a savy pick for Lt. Governor? The guy made some real bonehead local political predictions this year.
Lisa
One minor gripe: the Pheonix keeps moving the URL of the Media Log, which unneccessarily breaks it up into parts. Get a URL and stay there! And display your RSS feed prominently.
Adam
Yo, anon. 3:39–I’ll grant that I didn’t expect St. Fleur’s candidacy to last one day. Who did? That said, here’s the last line of the story I wrote on January 31, the day Reilly announced his ill-fated pick: “Given everything that could go wrong, Tom Reilly may well wake up the day after the election and wish he’d chosen Chris Gabrieli after all.” In other words: get your facts straight.
Anonymous
Post your entire original article up then.
Anonymous
Alright Adam, since you haven’t responded in a awhile, why don’t I post a little bit of what you wrote:”I think Reilly’s decision is great in the short term”. Now forget about the whole “short term/long term” thing for just a minute, do you care to elaborate on just why you thought Attorney General Tom Reilly’s decision would in fact be “great” for any amount of time? You must have known (as most casual observers of local politics did) that Marie St. Fleur was a tax cheat disaster before this pick was made (at least I would hope you would have known given your exalted position). With this in mind, why did you think this decision was “great” for the short term (24 hours as it turned out)? I’ll be waiting for your response.