Former Boston Herald political reporter and Tom Reilly operative Dave Guarino has been engaging in some interesting speculation on his blog about the future of the Globe’s metro columnists now that Pulitzer Prize winner Eileen McNamara has taken early retirement.
Guarino, an unabashed fan of Brian McGrory, thinks McGrory’s rare Sunday column was a sign that he’ll be getting McNamara’s marquee Sunday slot. As for McNamara’s replacement, Guarino says it has to be a woman, and mentions metro editor Carolyn Ryan and staff reporters Yvonne Abraham and Beth Healy as leading possibilities.
Those sound about right to me. Let me toss Living/Arts writer Joanna Weiss into the mix as well. And would it be possible to pry Joan Vennochi out of her op-ed slot? She’s influential already, but she’d have more visibility if her mugshot were on page B1 twice a week.
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Joan Vennochi, Dan? Wouldn’t it better serve the paper and the poor readers if the Globe located someone who 1) has something to say and 2) can say it in something less than a shrill-bordering-on-hysterical voice?P.S. That’s a rhetorical question!
Apparently Mr. Guarino missed the note on the end of McGrory’s column this Sunday that clarified this part of the transition.”Brian McGrory’s column will appear on Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at mcgrory@globe.com.”
Of the possibilities mentioned , I think Abraham would be the best. She is a tremendous talent. Vennochi’s style also seems to fit the mold. Ryan has a huge role as an editor and to move her to a columnist position would mean the Globe would have to do a fair amount of shuffling around
Vennochi does a mix of local, state and national commentary. If she were on B1, would she have to up the local content and diminish the national? Would she be willing to do that? Hey, maybe Dan Shaughnessy is hankerin’ to pull a Mitch Albom and move to a general-interest column. (Sorry, just wanted to get a rise out of “mike_b1.”)
The CHB can’t butcher state matters any more than he does sports. And it gets him away from the Red Sox.It’s not a bad idea.
Two words: Joe Fitz. Because any time there is an international incident, I say to myself: What would Red Auerbach say about this?The Arranger