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Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr may have bigger problems with David Boeri than with Whitey Bulger or Kevin Weeks. Boeri, a respected reporter for WCVB-TV (Channel 5), has written an exhaustive deconstruction of Carr’s much-hyped book, “The Brothers Bulger,” for the new Boston Phoenix.

The numerous Carr errors that Boeri cites strike me as piddling for the most part, although I can understand why someone who has done as much reporting on the story as Boeri has would be irritated. Probably the most egregious error Boeri alleges involves what might be called “the tale of two cars.” It’s arcane, but it speaks to the crucial question of how hard the FBI did or didn’t try to find Bulger when he disappeared a decade ago.

More damaging to Carr is what all these small errors add up to: that “The Brothers Bulger” is little more than a clip job, pieced together from what reporters for the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald have written over the years — right down to the inevitable mistakes that get made in the rush of daily journalism, but that certainly should have been fixed before being placed between two hard covers. As Boeri tells it, Carr just didn’t have the time to do any original reporting for his own book.

As Boeri observes, Carr is hardly the Lone Ranger of the Bulger saga. A host of first-rate Boston journalists have unearthed voluminous amounts of information about Bulger and his corrupt ties to the FBI. Carr, despite his self-styled persona as the world’s oldest juvenile delinquent, is a reliable and fearless reporter, which Boeri acknowledges. But so are current and former Globe reporters such as Dick Lehr, Gerry O’Neill, Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy, all of whom come in for kudos from Boeri. So is Boeri himself.

Though Boeri doesn’t name names at the Herald, columnist Peter Gelzinis immediately comes to mind as someone who was every bit as courageous as Carr in his willingness to go after Bulger — and Gelzinis did it while living on the Bulgers’ turf, in South Boston, rather than in the wealthy suburbs. (Not that it matters. If former Bulger associate Kevin Weeks is telling the truth, Carr’s living in Acton was no obstacle to the Bulger gang’s almost taking murderous revenge. Carr today lives in the even-more-upscale Wellesley.)

Will Carr fire back? He’s certainly got plenty of opportunities — in the Herald, on his radio show on WRKO (AM 680) and on either of his two Web sites (click here and here). My guess is that he won’t. Boeri is too respected, and he’s got the goods.

Besides, Boeri isn’t accusing Carr of being an unethical journalist — just lazy. I suspect Carr can live with that, as long as the checks keeps rolling in.

I’m late getting to this, but did you see the “Editors’ Note” in today’s New York Times? To wit:

The cover photograph in The Times Magazine on Sunday rendered colors incorrectly for the jacket, shirt and tie worn by Mark Warner, the former Virginia governor who is a possible candidate for the presidency. The jacket was charcoal, not maroon; the shirt was light blue, not pink; the tie was dark blue with stripes, not maroon.

The Times’s policy rules out alteration of photographs that depict actual news scenes and, even in a contrived illustration, requires acknowledgment in a credit. In this case, the film that was used can cause colors to shift, and the processing altered them further; the change escaped notice because of a misunderstanding by the editors.

Nothing about making Warner’s teeth look too big for his head, but it’s a start.

Irene Sege’s profile of Jason Wolfe in today’s Boston Globe raises a lot more questions than it answers. Wolfe, the 38-year-old vice president of programming at all-sports WEEI Radio (AM 850), was recently named to the same position at its news-talk sister station, WRKO (AM 680).

Wolfe helped turn WEEI into a huge success by encouraging a crude, locker-room approach that often veers into homophobia. (To be fair, he also presided over the hiring of Michael Holley and Mike Adams, the two best things to happen to the station in years.) Now, what will Wolfe do to WRKO? It’s a station many of us still care about thanks to the glory days of Jerry Williams and Gene Burns, even though it has offered less-than-compelling listening in recent years. (Disclosure: I’ve been known to cash a few freelance checks from the station, although not for quite a while.)

Wolfe tells Sege he wants to make the station “more exciting.” That sounds like a code phrase for something bad. Certainly mid-morning host John DePetro has made things more exciting by telling his listeners that murder victim Imette St. Guillen was “asking for trouble.” I don’t want to make too much of this — I’ve also heard DePetro says that what happened to her was not her fault (obviously). But I agree with Mark Jurkowitz’s observation that WRKO has been “shamelessly milking this for all its worth.”

Also, Wolfe seems to have liberated afternoon host Howie Carr to be himself, which is surely an ominous sign. I’ve definitely noticed that the David Scondras tape, which had been banned for a while, has been restored to airwaves.

When Wolfe took the helm, WRKO was in the midst of adding more local programming with a greater emphasis on quality. It would be a shame if he decided that what the station needs is WEEI-style towel-snapping “excitement.”

The New York Times Magazine, to put it mildly, is not known for its flattering photo-editing. Still, I thought yesterday’s treatment of former Virginia governor Mark Warner was over the top. After all, the magazine was introducing a potential presidential candidate to a readership that, overwhelmingly, had not seen him before. Far from being another take on a well-known person, this was our first look at the Democrat Who Might Challenge Hillary.

And what a first look photographer Alexei Hay gave us — 1940s-style lighting combined with a supremely unattractive obsession with Warner’s teeth and chin. Warner ends up looking like a half-forgotten character actor who plays a small-town murderer in an old movie you think you might have seen some years ago.

For comparison, I’ve included an official photo of Warner. Maybe its depiction of Warner as a steel-jawed man of destiny is as deceptive, in its way, as the Times’ — but surely it’s no more deceptive than the Times’.

Two competing versions of the sale of the Knight Ridder newspaper chain to McClatchy Co.

First, from a New York Times story that, according to the home page, was updated at 7:33 a.m. today:

Analysts speculate that the company could shut down The Philadelphia Daily News and possibly sell The Inquirer, since the business climate in Philadelphia is sluggish and the papers face tough competition from a ring of suburban dailies. On the other hand, they say, The Inquirer generates a lot of cash, something McClatchy will need as it goes into debt to pay for Knight Ridder.

From a Wall Street Journal story stamped 7:38 a.m. today:

McClatchy, which is paying $67.25 a share for the rival publishing chain, plans to sell a dozen Knight Ridder newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and the San Jose Mercury News. McClatchy said those papers are located in cities that “do not fit the company’s longstanding acquisition criteria, chiefly involving growing markets.”

Based on this, at least, it looks like while the Times was speculating, the Journal was finding out what was really going on.

Catching up: From the Times’ 8:47 a.m. update:

The combined company plans to sell 12 Knight-Ridder papers, including both its papers in Philadelphia, the Inquirer and the Daily News, along with The San Jose Mercury News, according to the announcement. Knight-Ridder papers, including both its papers in Philadelphia, the Inquirer and the Daily News, along with The San Jose Mercury News, according to the announcement.

Tom Fox sounds like he was a remarkable person. A Quaker working with the people of Iraq, he was kidnapped several months ago. This weekend it was learned that he’d been tortured and murdered by his captors. Lest we forget, he leaves three fellow hostages behind. Their organization, Christian Peacemaker Teams, released a statement on Friday that says in part:

We mourn the loss of Tom Fox who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone.

We renew our plea for the safe release of Harmeet Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember. Each of our teammates has responded to Jesus’ prophetic call to live out a nonviolent alternative to the cycle of violence and revenge.

Fox kept a blog during his time in Iraq called Waiting in the Light. At the moment, it’s still online. ElectronicIraq.net has posted excerpts here and here. I find Fox’s analysis of how the United States ended up in Iraq particularly striking. Wrote Fox:

It has become increasing evident to me that after stripping away all the rationales for the US invasion of Iraq, what is left is the reality that the current U.S. Administration felt compelled to invade from a basis of hate. I can envision them saying, ‘Saddam is evil. We hate evil. Therefore we need to rid the world of this evil man and his cronies.’ I can see that actions taken by Saddam could lead them to feel hatred towards him. He and his associates built palaces and enclaves where they lived in luxury while across the Tigris River was a slum where over a million residents of Baghdad lived in poverty and squalor. He maintained control of the country by devoting huge amounts of material resources to his military and security forces, a decision that allowed the infrastructure of the city to deteriorate. And most hateful of all was his use of imprisonment and torture to keep the population of Baghdad living in a state of fear.

This is rather complex — after all, shouldn’t we hate evil? What I think Fox is saying is that though it may be natural to hate evil, it is dangerous to act on the basis of that hate, because it becomes easy to become caught up in the same evil that you’re trying to vanquish. Sadly, Fox himself, a man who had transcended such weaknesses, fell victim to the weakness — to the evil — of others.

By the way, there’s a story making its way around blogland that Rush Limbaugh actually poked fun at Fox and his fellow missionaries when they were taken captive last November, saying, “But any time a bunch of people that walk around with the head in the sand practicing a bunch of irresponsible, idiotic theory confront reality, I’m kind of happy about it, because I’m eager for people to see reality, change their minds if necessary, and have things sized up.” See the Daily Kos on this. Unbelievable, except that it’s not.

If he wanted to, Limbaugh could have an apology up on his Web site right now. He does not.

Howie Carr ought to give Kevin Weeks a cut from the sale of his book, “The Brothers Bulger.” Weeks, a one-time associate of the notorious James “Whitey” Bulger, tells “60 Minutes” that he nearly assassinated Carr several years ago, but couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger because Carr was holding his infant daughter.

The Boston Globe today runs a low-key story on Weeks’ claim on page B2 by Ralph Ranalli, himself the author of a Bulger-related book on FBI corruption called “Dark Alliance.” But the Boston Herald, understandably, goes nuts. The front-page splash reads, “Howie Carr to would-be assassin: YOU DIDN’T HAVE THE GUTS.” Carr’s column (sub. req.) begins:

Kevin Weeks didn’t have the stones to shoot me.

That’s what I told Ed Bradley of “60 Minutes.” And for the record, I don’t believe any of the stuff he told Bradley about my alleged near-murder. You watch Sunday night and tell me who you believe.

So his serial-killing boss Whitey Bulger hated me. This is news? Whitey wanted to murder me. Stop the presses. There’s an old saying: Never send a boy on a man’s errand, and that’s what Kevin was, a boy. He played Robin to Whitey’s Batman.

Good stuff! And talk about having it both ways — Carr can simultaneously market himself as someone who was nearly killed by the Bulger mob while at the same time mocking one of Whitey’s hit men for lacking the testicular fortitude to follow through.

“The Brothers Bulger” is sitting at #10 on the New York Times Best-Seller List right now, but that will change — especially after the “60 Minutes” interviews with Weeks and Carr air this Sunday.

Amazon.com’s ratings are so flaky that they’re almost meaningless. But for what it’s worth, “The Brothers Bulger” is at #90 this morning, while Week’s own “Brutal” is at #1,192. Methinks Weeks’ “revelation” is going to do more for Howie’s sales than for his.

More: Jay Fitzgerald on why this is bad news for Bill Weld.

Who is that robed man? Apparently the winner of the Boston Globe’s Seán O’Malley Lookalike Contest. The photo at right ran Monday to illustrate a story on the archbishop’s personal, “colorful” side. Taken at one of O’Malley’s favorite bookstores, the picture did not survive the transition from the paper edition to the Globe’s Web site. Fortunately, the official Media Nation copy of Monday’s Globe had not yet been recycled when I read the “For the record” column in today’s Globe. Here is the relevant item in full:

Clarification: A photo caption that accompanied the continuation of a Page One story Monday on Archbishop Sean O’Malley gave the impression that it was showing O’Malley looking at books at Schoenhof’s Foreign Books in Harvard Square. Although the newly named cardinal likes to shop at the store, the photo was of a customer who identifies himself as Father Paul of Jesus.

Well, now. Why a clarification and not a correction? Here is the caption that ran with the photo: “Archbishop Sean P. O’Malley is a regular at Schoenhof’s Foreign Books in Harvard Square. Store manager Rupert Davis (left) said he buys books ‘that will help him better grasp the people.’ ” No, the caption does not specifically say that the guy in the robe is O’Malley. But come on. It’s a photo of a bookstore where O’Malley likes to shop, and the image is dominated by someone who looks almost exactly like O’Malley. A wimpy clarification isn’t good enough; it deserves a correction.

This calls to mind the thumbs-up photo that the Boston Herald ran of O’Malley the day after he was designated a cardinal — a photo that looked like the archbishop was celebrating when in fact the small type revealed that it was just a file shot. It’s nice to see that a lack of access isn’t stopping folks at the dailies from running precisely the pictures of O’Malley that they want to illustrate their stories.

When our daughter, Rebecca, was born more than 13 years ago, we never would have suspected that the genetic anomaly with which she was diagnosed — dwarfism — would one day be the media flavor of the month. Actually, it’s been quite a bit more than a month now, as media depictions of people with dwarfism are becoming increasingly common.

Just recently, the Discovery Health cable channel broadcast an outstanding documentary on a dwarf couple from San Francisco, Joe and Ginny Foos, and their children. Called “Dwarf Family: Meet the Fooses,” it did so well that it migrated up the dial to channels that people actually subscribe to, like TLC and Discovery. The Fooses themselves have started a blog for anyone interested in learning more about the film.

Now comes a far more ambitious effort by TLC — if, by “ambitious,” you mean an attempt to connect with a wider audience. “Little People, Big World” stars Matt and Amy Roloff and their four kids, who live on a 34-acre farm outside Portland, Ore. The New York Times ran a lengthy feature on the program last week in advance of its Saturday debut.

We were out on Saturday — at a Little People of America function, actually — but last night had a chance to see both the hour-long pilot and the first two half-hour episodes in a TLC rebroadcast. The series is to run over about 20 weeks. TLC has put together a comprehensive fan site with video clips and interviews.

The program — about 90 percent straight documentary and 10 percent “The Osbournes” — was fascinating to watch. We know the Roloffs a bit: Matt is a past president of LPA, and I interviewed the entire family for my book, “Little People: Learning to See the World Through My Daughter’s Eyes,” at the LPA national conference in Salt Lake City in 2002. The following year, LPA’s conference was held in the Boston area. The photo I’ve included with this item is of Becky with Matt and Amy at that 2003 get-together. (Am I hoping “Little People, Big World” gives my book a new life? Oh, yes. Did I mention that you can buy it by clicking here?)

I think what people will find most interesting about “Little People, Big World” is its depiction of the Roloffs as an absolutely normal family with normal desires and problems. There is a tendency when depicting people with disabilities to show them as somehow better than ordinary — courageous, perfect beings who overcome all odds. By contrast, the Roloffs’ four kids — three of whom are average-size, which may surprise some viewers — are as wild as any normal kids would be. Matt and Amy argue over money and her need to work two jobs following his being laid off. Their house is every bit as much of a disaster as yours and ours might be.

When Becky was a baby, about the most positive depiction of dwarfism we could find was an Argentine film called “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” a coming-of-age story about a young woman who’s a dwarf. It’s a fine piece of work that falls apart in the last 15 minutes when the heroine decides that the only way she can truly find herself is to run away — and, I kid you not, join the circus.

Now, positive media depictions of dwarfism have become almost routine, thanks to Meredith Eaton‘s role as an attorney in the television series “Family Law,” Peter Dinklage’s wonderful movie “The Station Agent,” and even dumb reality shows like “The Littlest Groom.” Will this help Becky Kennedy ease herself into a more accepting world? I don’t know. But it certainly can’t hurt.

As promised, here is the link to Jon Keller’s new political blog. It’s fairly tame so far, but that could be because Keller hasn’t had a chance to sink his teeth into John Kerry yet.