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McGrory named metro editor

The Herald’s Jesse Noyes has the news, and Universal Hub’s Adam Gaffin has the link. All I’ve got are the leftovers, but what the heck.

Globe metro columnist Brian McGrory has been named the paper’s new metro editor, replacing Carolyn Ryan, who recently left for a job at the New York Times. According to editor Marty Baron’s memo to the staff, McGrory will be replaced. So much for my theory that, with Pulitzer-winner Eileen McNamara already gone, Baron would find a new home for remaining metro columnist Adrian Walker and let the position wither away.

Gee, this won’t short-circuit McGrory’s sideline as a restaurant critic, will it? Check out his review today of Mamma Maria. The first reference to the food comes in, yes, the 10th graf.

Buckingham departs

You may have forgotten this, but Virginia Buckingham’s arrival at the Herald was controversial. A Massachusetts Republican operative, she’d been in charge of Logan Airport on Sept. 11, 2001. So when she began working as deputy editorial-page editor at the Herald in January 2003, she was greeted with a petition, signed by 40 of her new colleagues, that referred to her partisan background as an “embarrassment,” and by questions as to whether she could ever be tough enough on the folks with whom she had once served.

When I checked in on her, 10 months later, she’d done a pretty good job of answering her critics. Buckingham switched to column-writing in 2005, which gave her more of an identity. But her timing was lousy. The paper was shrinking and loading up on gossip and flash, and there just didn’t seem to be much room for a cautious, moderate voice.

Now Buckingham is leaving to become a lobbyist for Pfizer. Her last column appears today. I like this:

The first thing I’ve learned that government officials should understand about the media is that having a bias is not the same as having an agenda. The issue of liberal or conservative bias in the media is way overplayed. Journalists are human and bring their life experiences to their job. How could they not? But Herald State House reporters are no more looking to uncover a Patrick administration scandal than the Globe was looking for a Romney one. Both are looking for stories — good stories (which, granted, are often scandals) that will interest readers, shed some light on how government works and, as an added benefit, maybe help someone out, like a family that’s about to lose their home. Journalists aren’t cheerleaders but most are equal-opportunity critics, no matter their own political ideology.

She’s also got some worthwhile things to say about cheap-shot artists in the media and a journalistic aversion to nuance.

I wish Buckingham well, although, considering who her new employer is, not at the expense of consumers and taxpayers.

Another take on the Herald libel case

I’m going to pronounce myself officially blogged out on the subject. But I do want to call your attention to Adam Reilly’s smart piece on the Herald libel decision, which has been posted on the Phoenix’s Web site and will appear in tomorrow’s paper.

Pay careful attention to the words of First Amendment lawyer Jonathan Albano, who wasn’t involved in the case, but who did help write an amicus brief on the Herald’s behalf. Albano tells Reilly: “You’ve got some very talented lawyers out there who are going to be looking at this decision, and saying, ‘What can I take from it?'”

In other words, you don’t have to produce something as sensationalistic and error-filled as the Herald’s articles on Judge Ernest Murphy to be worried about the implications of the Supreme Judicial Court’s opinion. This could harm freedom of the press for all of us.

Down’s, dwarfism and eugenics

I highly recommend Amy Harmon’s story in today’s New York Times on efforts by parents of kids with Down syndrome to educate medical professionals and expectant couples about the good lives many folks with Down’s lead. With prenatal screening for Down’s and other genetic conditions becoming more and more pervasive, activists are trying to get out the word that abortion should not be an automatic choice.

A major theme of my book on dwarfism, “Little People,” is the degree to which our culture remains profoundly uncomfortable with difference — and what we would do about difference if we were offered the chance to eliminate it. Within the dwarf community, there’s a sense that several of the most common types of dwarfism could be routinely screened for at some point in the not-too-distant future. If couples are told that their child, as an adult, would be four feet tall, with disproportionately short arms and legs, and would walk with a waddling gait, what would they choose to do?

In most cases dwarfism, which does not affect mental development, is not nearly as debilitating a genetic difference as Down syndrome. (Although, to be fair, Down’s families assert that the condition is often not as serious as it’s generally portrayed.) Yet plenty of people would choose abortion. More important, that attitude is more pervasive among medical professionals than among prospective parents.

One of the people I interviewed for “Little People” was the late Dorothy Wertz, a psychiatrist who was affiliated with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center in Waltham. In the late 1990s, Wertz conducted a study of about 2,000 people — 1,000 genetics professionals, 500 primary-care physicians and 500 parents. Among her questions: If achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, were detected in utero, would you opt for an abortion? Here are the results:

  • Genetics professionals, 57 percent
  • Primary-care physicians, 29 percent
  • Patients, 24 percent

I’ll bracket this with two more of Wertz’s findings. For Down’s, the breakdown was geneticists, 80 percent; physicians, 62 percent; and patients, 36 percent. For a genetic predisposition to severe obesity, it was geneticists, 29 percent; physicians, 13 percent; and patients, 8 percent. Thus, dwarfism was right in the middle. And the obesity finding, I think, is significant in that it reveals an underlying aversion to virtually any kind of difference. It’s no wonder that activists often refer to genetic screening as “eugenics.”

The problem, of course, is that when expectant parents receive a diagnosis of a genetic condition in utero, the first thing they are told to do is to schedule an appointment with a geneticist — a person who, statistically, at least, is far more inclined to think they should terminate the pregnancy than the parents themselves. The parents, of course, have a right to choose, but it should be an informed choice. And an informed choice involves knowing something about the real lives of people who have that genetic condition.

With dwarfism, at least, attitudes may have changed for the better in recent years thanks to the “normal” roles played by actors and actresses such as Peter Dinklage and Meredith Eaton, and, most notably, by the Roloff family, stars of the TLC reality series “Little People, Big World.”

But the threat posed by a future of cheap, pervasive genetic screening, coupled with a social expectation that we’re all entitled to the perfect child — whatever that might be — makes stories such as Harmon’s, and the work of the parents she portrays, more important than ever.

The Obama difference

To quote Alex Beam, I write this with my head, not my heart. I don’t have a dog in the 2008 presidential hunt. But I’m mystified by Beam’s assertion in today’s Globe that Barack Obama is this year’s version of Howard Dean, Paul Tsongas, Bill Bradley and Bruce Babbitt.

Dean, Tsongas, Bradley and Babbitt were all utterly without charisma; Dean and Bradley came across as rather unpleasant fellows to boot. Tsongas, Bradley and Babbitt got a big boost from media types who were suckers for their cerebral, moderate politics. (Yes, Bradley ran as a liberal in 2000, but that wasn’t his reputation as a senator.) Dean was the darling of the netroots, but actual voters never warmed up to him.

By contrast, Obama oozes charisma. His campaign’s biggest asset, by far, is himself. Members of the Beam Quartet were small-timers trying to break into the the big time. Obama is a big-timer who may not quite be ready.

Obama may or may not be chosen as the Democratic presidential nominee. But if he’s not, it certainly won’t be because he’s suffering from Howard Dean syndrome. And unlike the Beam Quartet, if Obama falls short, I suspect he’ll get another chance somewhere down the line.

The Times’ misleading account

Not to keep flogging the equine carcass, but I’m puzzled by this passage in today’s New York Times account of the Herald libel case. Times reporter Pam Belluck writes:

In February 2005, a jury found [for] the judge after testimony about some inaccuracies in the articles and statements from two of Mr. Wedge’s sources that instead of “tell her to get over it,” Judge Murphy might have said “she’s got to get over it,” a compassionate statement.

Two points, both drawn from my Phoenix report, written during the 2005 trial:

1. Depending on how you count, Herald reporter Dave Wedge had either three sources or one — but definitely not two — for his assertion that Superior Court Judge Ernest Murphy had said of a teenage rape victim, “Tell her to get over it.” Wedge at the time claimed three. But it turned out that he had one eyewitness source, then-prosecutor David Crowley, who, in turn, told Wedge’s other two sources, then-district attorney Paul Walsh and Walsh’s spokesman, Gerald FitzGerald.

2. More important, Belluck takes it for granted that if Murphy had actually said “She’s got to get over it,” then that would be “a compassionate statement.” Not necessarily. Murphy’s lawyer, Howard Cooper, certainly tried to make that case, and the Supreme Judicial Court bought it in its decision yesterday. But there was plenty of evidence cutting the other way, too.

For instance, Crowley, in his pretrial deposition, said he found “She’s got to get over it” to be an “insensitive” statement on Murphy’s part. At the trial, Crowley — obviously a reluctant witness — testified that Wedge had gotten the “gist” of Murphy’s quote correct.

Walsh himself testified that Crowley was upset enough by Murphy’s “get over it” statement to tell him about it. “The particular words didn’t make any difference to me…. Mr. Crowley was none too happy about the statement, and neither was I,” Walsh said.

Finally, as I noted yesterday, a Globe editorial, citing “prosecutors,” reported that Murphy had said of the rape victim that she had to “get over it” and criticized Murphy for acting “as if rape were somehow one of the bumps on the road of life.” Clearly the Globe’s editorialist didn’t believe it mattered whether Murphy had said “tell her to” or “she’s got to.”

It’s too bad the Times missed these distinctions, because the story makes it appear that Wedge, by botching part of the quote, had deliberately transformed a compassionate statement into one that was demeaning toward the victim.

Yes, that is what the jury found and the SJC affirmed. But there was just as strong a case — stronger, in my view — that the “tell her to”/”she’s got to” dispute was a distinction without a difference. And if Wedge knew or strongly suspected that what he was reporting was false, as the “actual malice” standard requires, then Crowley and Walsh committed perjury. Just to be clear: I don’t think they did.

Statements from Purcell, Wedge

Boston Herald publisher Pat Purcell on the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to uphold a $2.1 million libel award against his paper:

We are disappointed with the Supreme Judicial Court’s relentlessly one-sided view of Dave Wedge’s reporting on a public controversy within the judicial system, and are unwavering in our complete confidence in Wedge’s journalistic skills.

In one of his threatening letters to me, Judge [Ernest] Murphy correctly predicted the Herald had “zero chance” that his colleagues on the bench would side with the Herald rather than one of their own. Wedge accurately reported what his longstanding sources told him and no shred of evidence exists, as Justice [John] Greaney alleged in his opinion, that Wedge altered the quotation provided by his trusted sources.

While we are deeply troubled by the SJC’s decision, it will in no way affect our newsgathering operation and we will continue to bring readers thorough and relevant enterprise stories and public criticism of judges.

Dave Wedge’s statement:

I vehemently disagree with the SJC’s decision. As I have since the beginning of this case, I continue to firmly stand behind my reporting on these stories. Any insinuation by anyone, including the SJC, that anything in any of the stories on Judge Murphy was fabricated is completely reckless, irresponsible and untrue and is not borne out by the facts of the case.

Quick comment: Purcell goes too far. Wedge had one source, not “sources,” and that source, former prosecutor David Crowley, testified at the trial that he believed Murphy had said “She’s got to get over it,” not “Tell her to get over it.” Greaney made much of that difference in his opinion.

However, as I’ve said repeatedly, I don’t think Wedge fabricated anything, Greaney’s opinion notwithstanding.

Sticking with Blogger (or not)

Recently I made a promise: As soon as the semester was over, I’d start looking into switching Media Nation from Blogger to WordPress. Now I’m not so sure.

Being more interested in blogging than fiddling, I naturally signed up with WordPress.com rather than trying to install the full version of WordPress on a server somewhere. I experimented a little — you can see the very minimal results here.

But the documentation seemed practically non-existent, and, in poking around, I found this: “You cannot edit any template directly…. You cannot add or remove any html to any theme. This is for security reasons.”

Well, now. So much for making the type a little bigger, switching from justified to ragged-right or, for that matter, adding the code that makes Media Nation part of the Boston Blogs network.

Maybe I’m missing something. Right now, though, my inclination is to try to deal with what I don’t like about Blogger — especially the comments system — without switching. If anyone has some hand-holding advice, that would be appreciated as well.

The Herald wasn’t alone

The Boston Herald’s reporting on Superior Court Judge Ernest Murphy may have been egregious, but it was hardly the only news outlet that ran stories on Murphy’s perceived leniency.

Dave Wedge and Jules Crittenden’s first Herald story on Murphy, “Murphy’s Law,” appeared on Feb. 13, 2002. (Crittenden’s contribution was not an issue in Murphy’s libel suit.)

Here are a few examples of what others were saying before, during and after the Herald weighed in.

From the Associated Press, Feb. 9, 2002:

A Superior Court judge has come under fire from prosecutors after he released three accused rapists without bail, and gave probation to a man who admitted raping a 14-year-old girl.

Judge Ernest B. Murphy, who began his rotation in New Bedford this week, placed Dean McSweeney on eight years’ probation Tuesday, after McSweeney admitted to twice raping his friend’s 14-year-old sister and holding up a Mansfield motel. Prosecutors had recommended a 7- to 10-year sentence.

“Rapes, robberies, bails, it doesn’t matter,” Bristol District Attorney Paul F. Walsh told the The Standard Times of New Bedford. “He doesn’t care. He’s gutless.”

Murphy also released without bail a Fall River man charged with raping a young girl, and overturned bail rulings allowing two other accused rapists, including one man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl at gunpoint, on personal recognizance.

From the Boston Globe, Feb. 11, 2002:

Prosecutors in New Bedford are fuming over the rulings of a judge who recently released without bail three alleged rapists, one of whom had eluded police for more than a year. Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy also gave a probation sentence to a man who pleaded guilty to raping a 14-year-old girl, said Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Gerald FitzGerald….

“The word is out,” FitzGerald said. “When Judge Murphy’s on the bench, the gates are open. The drawbridge is down.”

In fact, FitzGerald said, “If he knew that Ernest Murphy was sitting on the bench, it would be enough to bring Whitey [Bulger] back home.”

From The Standard-Times, Feb. 12, 2002:

NEW BEDFORD — A man accused of raping a 15-year-old New Bedford girl was released without bail yesterday, the fourth such ruling by Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy in seven days.

A District Court judge had ordered Lance Bovill, 28, of Mattapan held on $75,000 bail after allegedly raping a girl he met on a local telephone party line.

Judge Murphy, who was blasted by prosecutor Walter J. Shea last week for being “the worst person in a black robe I have ever seen,” overturned that bail, saying he believed the man would return for trial.

“Whether or not she was really raped, or whether she made it all up is not for me to decide,” the judge said yesterday. “I’m ruling on the bail statute, and I’m familiar with the bail statute.”

From the Associated Press, Feb. 14, 2002:

He [Murphy] created a furor among prosecutors and victim’s rights advocates earlier this week when he released on bail a teen-ager accused of planning a Columbine-style rampage at New Bedford High School.

“Clearly, there’s a pattern here,” [Bristol County District Attorney Paul] Walsh said. “Everywhere I go, people are shaking their heads at these decisions.

“The compassion always seems to come down on the side of the defendant,” he said. “We’re not here just to hope that defendants cure their ways … there are some people getting hurt out there and punishment has to be factored in.”

Mansfield Police Chief Arthur O’Neill has called for Murphy’s resignation. Several relatives of victims whose cases were heard by Murphy said they plan to file complaints against him with acting Gov. Jane Swift and the Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigates allegations of misconduct against state judges.

From the Associated Press, Feb. 18, 2002:

A 14-year-old rape victim said on Monday that she “will never be free” after a judge sentenced her attacker to eight years probation and allowed him walk out of the courtroom.

The sentences for Dean McSweeney and other accused rapists have become the center of a controversy over New Bedford Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy, whose rulings have sparked outrage from prosecutors.

“Other victims are going through the same thing I am, because Judge Murphy chose to free their attackers, too,” the girl said at her home not far from where McSweeney lives. “Judge Murphy made me feel like I was guilty, and that Dean was the victim. Dean walked out of the courtroom a free man. I will never be free.”

From The Standard-Times, Feb. 19, 2002:

MANSFIELD — A 14-year-old rape victim said yesterday that she “will never be free” after a judge sentenced her attacker to eight years probation and allowed him walk out of the courtroom.

The sentences for Dean McSweeney and other accused rapists have become the center of a controversy over New Bedford Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy, whose rulings have sparked outrage from prosecutors.

“Other victims are going through the same thing I am, because Judge Murphy chose to free their attackers, too,” the girl said at her home not far from where McSweeney lives.

“Judge Murphy made me feel like I was guilty, and that Dean was the victim. Dean walked out of the courtroom a free man. I will never be free.”

From the Boston Globe, Feb. 19, 2002:

A 14-year-old rape victim yesterday said a controversial judge’s decision to spare her attacker prison time and release him to his home within a mile of her Mansfield house has left her fearing for her safety….

“I will have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life,” she read from a prepared statement. “I looked to Judge Murphy to help and support me to get over this by putting Dean McSweeney behind bars where he belonged. Instead, he’s right down the street…. All because Judge Murphy felt more sympathy for Dean than he did for me.”

The next excerpt — from a Globe editorial published on Feb. 22, 2002 — is particularly interesting. Note that the writer concludes that Murphy’s alleged “get over it” quote is demeaning, without regard for whether Murphy said “She’s got to get over it” or “Tell her to get over it.” Also, the writer attributes the quote to “prosecutors.” Did someone at the Globe get that quote from Walsh’s office? Or did the Globe simply pick this up from the Herald? Anyway, here it is:

In recent weeks Murphy released four accused rapists without bail after more-experienced district court judges had set significant bail. His decision to give a probationary sentence to a man who admitted to raping a 14-year-old Mansfield girl has created a barrage of criticism related both to Murphy’s sentencing judgment and judicial temperament. According to prosecutors, Murphy stated that the victim should “get over it” — as if rape were somehow one of the bumps on the road of life.

Now, I’m not saying that these excerpts are no different from what the Herald reported. To my knowledge, no one has questioned the accuracy of any of these stories. (On the other hand, if Murphy never said the teenage victim should “get over it” in a demeaning way, then the Globe editorial is wrong on precisely the point on which the Herald lost.) The Herald’s reporting, by contrast, was plagued with errors.

But I can’t help but think that Murphy, under intense pressure, lashed out at the Herald not because he had been wounded so much more grievously than he had by the other news outlets, but because it set off an enormous public outcry.