Category: Uncategorized

Globe losing nearly $1m a week?

That’s what Boston Globe executives have been telling union members, according to this story by Boston Business Journal reporter Craig Douglas. That number comes from the summer, before the paper reorganized its sections and saved itself some money. On the other hand, the economy is much worse now than it was then.

As for the possibility that the Globe will soon be sold, Douglas offers this:

“Who wants to catch a falling safe?” said a source familiar with the Globe’s financials. “Nobody’s going to fund a $50 million hole in the ground.”

A falling safe with no money in it, apparently.

Bad as things may be, so far the New York Times Co. has spared Boston the chaos that has rocked other large regional papers such as the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. At some point, though, something’s got to give. (Via Universal Hub.)

Really, folks, the campaign’s over

Maybe it’s because I have no memory, but I can’t recall a time when there has been this much speculation right after a presidential election concerning who might run in four years. No doubt we can expect Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney to form exploratory committees any minute now.

And we’re already down to people I’ve never heard of.

I suspect it’s a consequence of the expansion of the political press (the aforementioned item is from the Politico, which really does have nothing better to do) and the intense interest in politics generated by an unusually dramatic campaign.

Hoax doesn’t affect Palin story

A number of observers seem to misunderstand the meaning of the revelation that a man who claimed to be Carl Cameron’s source for some of his Sarah Palin dish has turned out to be a fraud.

Citing unnamed sources, Cameron reported on Fox News last week that Palin, among other things, didn’t know that Africa was a continent and couldn’t name the countries in NAFTA — or, for that matter, in North America.

Now I’m hearing that the exposure of the fake Martin Eisenstadt shows that Palin really isn’t that stupid. Except that this AP story, posted on the Fox News Web site, reports that Eisenstadt — or “Eisenstadt” — was not Cameron’s source, and that Fox is standing by Cameron’s story.

For what it’s worth, I never believed Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent. But if you want to believe it, there’s no reason to stop now.

Serving coffee with Google Maps

I’ve asked my students in Reinventing the News to file brief reports on coffee shops on and near (and in some cases not so near) the Northeastern University campus so that we can compile them all into a Google Maps presentation. I figured it was only fair that I do it, too. So here is my report on Cappy’s II, a small, storefront-style eatery located at 309 Huntington Ave.

When you think of Cappy’s II, you think of pizza, subs and big salads. My only previous visit had been to pick up a Caesar salad to go. It was quite good. But I’d never thought about Cappy’s for my morning coffee run. It’s a bit too far up Huntington, and I’ve become accustomed to Au Bon Pain, which is closer to my office.

I arrived at Cappy’s at about 8:45 a.m. Before walking inside, I took some photos. That elicited a few suspicious questions when I approached the counter. But once I explained what I was doing, I was greeted in a friendly manner.

It was after the breakfast rush but long before lunch, so I had the place pretty much to myself. A medium coffee set me back a reasonable $1.50 plus tax. I asked for half-and-half, and my server, Eleni Athanasiou (in photo), added it for me before handing it to me. Though I prefer self-serve (it’s why I like Starbucks better than Dunkin’ Donuts, even though the coffee at Dunks is pretty good), she got the mix just about right.

Though Cappy’s mainly caters to the takeout crowd, there are some tables, including a few that are out of the way enough to enjoy a relaxing meal. It’s got a full breakfast menu, which would make it a pretty good spot for a morning meeting. All in all, it was an enjoyable experience.

Cappy’s II is open seven days from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.

A brewing media battle in Newton

A potential battle is shaping up over the Boston Globe’s plans to start a hyperlocal Newton site on Boston.com that could feature, among other things, content from the weekly Newton Tab.

“This is just the latest move from the 800-pound gorilla in the market, which is currently weighing in at 200 pounds,” GateHouse Media New England publisher Kirk Davis tells Amy Derjue at Boston Daily. GateHouse, a national chain based in suburban Rochester, N.Y., owns about 100 newspapers in Eastern Massachusetts, including the Tab.

Davis adds: “We’re not surprised the Globe would like to play in our sandbox.”

Although it’s not entirely clear what the Globe’s got planned for Newton, a report by Chuck Tanowitz suggests that the paper will display headlines and summaries from Newton blogs and from the Tab.

It’s possible that the Globe will make everyone a winner by driving traffic to those sites. But it’s also possible that, for some stories, the headline and summary is all most people are looking for, which means they’ll stay at Boston.com. The stakes are high: both the Globe and GateHouse are trying to sell advertising on their local Web sites.

Depending on how the Globe proceeds, it could find itself facing copyright-infringement issues on two grounds:

  • GateHouse publishes its online content under a Creative Commons license, which allows other Web sites to republish stories as they see fit — a boon to bloggers. But GateHouse’s license specifically prohibits commercial use, which would seem to rule out the Globe.
  • Copyright law allows anyone to publish small snippets of someone’s content under the doctrine of fair use. A good example of that would be Google News. But the Globe might find itself challenged on the grounds that though it’s only taking a little bit, it’s nevertheless taking the most important and marketable part.

When I wrote about this over the weekend, GateHouse’s director of digital publishing, Howard Owens, posted a comment in which he said, “I think we need to have a little chat with Bob Kempf.” Kempf, now a top executive with Boston.com, was a key player in developing GateHouse’s Wicked Local sites.

While the GateHouse folks appear to be gearing up for battle, we haven’t heard much from Boston.com. On Sunday the Globe’s regional editor, David Dahl, sent an e-mail to let me know the Globe would be making an official announcement later this week. I told him I’d welcome comments from him and other Globe executives. So far, though, they’re maintaining their silence.

For those of us who care about local journalism, it’s painful to watch two financially challenged giants battling over a shrinking advertising base. On Monday the Globe’s parent company, the New York Times Co., reported that the value of its New England holdings continues to plummet. GateHouse was recently delisted by the New York Stock Exchange, although its revenues appear to be holding up reasonably well.

It’s possible that once the Globe announces its plans, we’ll see that this is much ado about nothing. But this bears watching.

Photo of Newton City Hall and the Newton Free Library (cc) by the Newton Free Library and republished here under a Creative Commons license. Some rights reserved.

O, the injustice of it all

From today’s New York Times story on the town of Mountain View, House, Calif., which has the highest percentage of underwater mortgages in the nation:

He has cut his DVD buying from 50 a month to perhaps one, and is waiting until the Christmas sales to buy a high-definition television. He does not indulge much anymore in his hobbies of scuba diving and flying. “Best to wait for a better price, or do without,” Mr. Rogers, 52, said.

I’m sure there is real pain in Mountain House. Let’s just say this is not a compelling example of that pain.

Fighting at the end of the world

You must read C.J. Chivers and Tyler Hicks’ account in the New York Times of U.S. soldiers defending a remote, dangerous outpost in Afghanistan. It is horrifying and heartbreaking, and you can’t help but be filled with admiration for the soldiers’ courage.

According to the Times, more soldiers will soon be arriving — a trend that may accelerate given President-elect Obama’s goal of shifting resources from Iraq to Afghanistan.

A nuke in every town

This could be the most important story of the year, if not the decade. According to the Guardian, scientists at Los Alamos have developed technology to build small, cheap, safe nuclear power plants that can power 20,000 homes.

According to reporters John Vidal and Nick Rosen:

The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground.

The article is a bit superficial. There’s no mention of what happens to the waste, and no explanation of why the lack of moving parts ensures that it’s safe.

As for why we shouldn’t worry about terrorists making use of these, we get this quote from John Deal, head of the company that plans to manufacture these mini-nukes: “Temperature-wise it’s too hot to handle. It would be like stealing a barbecue with your bare hands.”

I’m not impressed.

Still, if the safety and terrorism concerns can be properly addressed, this sounds like one of the great technological leaps forward we need to solve both the energy and the global-warming crises. It’s very exciting, and I hope the sudden re-emergence of cheap oil doesn’t make such advances too financially risky. (Via Howard Owens’ Twitter feed.)