Media Nation

Jessica Heslam reports on the Herald’s Web site that WRKO has canned John DePetro for his idiotic remark about Grace Ross. Boston.com has the statement from Entercom, ‘RKO’s corporate owner. (Via Hub Politics, which, naturally, is defending DePetro.)

I’m not going to stick up for anyone who goes around calling someone a “fat lesbian” on the air. But the hypocrisy is rank. It should be interesting to hear what Howie Carr says today.

But this editorial from the Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union gets at the larger truth.

Globe columnist Steve Bailey, having broken the news that Jack Welch and his rich buddies were interested in buying the Boston Globe, reports today that it’s not likely to happen. Why? No one — certainly not the New York Times Co. — is going to sell the Globe when it’s at the bottom of the market.

Still, Bailey offers some intriguing stuff on how it could happen. Throw in the Times Co.’s Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Boston.com and its share of the Red Sox, and suddenly you’re talking about a price that would approach the $1.1 billion the Sulzbergers paid for the Globe in the early 1990s (not when you factor in inflation, though).

My prediction: The Times Co. will sell in two or three years, when the newspaper economy has recovered enough for the Globe to bring a better price. And Jack Welch will not be the owner.

Clarification: I wrote that Bailey “broke” the story, but the Herald had it at more or less the same time.

Did WRKO (AM 680) punish John DePetro for gay-bashing — or for diluting the brand?

You may have heard that DePetro, the self-styled “Independent Man,” was taken off the air yesterday after calling Grace Ross a “fat lesbian.” (Ross, the Green-Rainbow Party’s candidate for governor, is indeed an out lesbian. I do not know what her BMI is.) This comes several months after DePetro was suspended for referring to former Massachusetts Turnpike head Matt Amorello as a “fag.” (Amorello is not gay.)

Herald reporter Jessica Heslam has the goods here. Don’t bother with the Globe story. Here’s a highlight: “It was unclear last night what DePetro said on the air, other than a description of [Ross’] sexuality and weight.” Sheesh.

But here’s what I don’t get. For years, WRKO’s signature personality has been Herald columnist Howie Carr, who holds down the afternoon-drive-time shift. One of Carr’s principal stocks in trade is making fun of lesbians and gay men. Another is making fun of overweight people — or “fat bastards,” as he invariably calls them.

Nor does Carr eschew the specific. He and his crew find it impossible to talk about gay politicians such as U.S. Rep. Barney Frank or former congressman Mark Foley without playing a deeply offensive sound effect that never fails to elicit titters. (Carr’s excuse is that it’s a tape of former Boston city councilor David Scondras clearing his throat. Could be, but that sure isn’t what it sounds like.)

For years, Carr referred to former Massachusetts House Speaker George Keverian, who’s struggled with his weight his entire life, as “George Keverian, D-Papa Gino’s.” Again, Carr’s got a ready-made excuse: Keverian allegedly once got in an altercation over a parking space at a Papa Gino’s.

DePetro trucks in the same garbage, but I would argue that he delivers it in a less sneering and offensive manner. Mind you, I’m not excusing DePetro. If his punishment is a preview of sweeping changes at WRKO, I would welcome it. But there’s no evidence that management is going to hold Carr to the same standard.

And let’s not forget that WRKO broadcasts the deeply homophobic Michael Savage‘s syndicated show every weeknight.

So what is DePetro’s real sin? Gay-bashing? Or stepping onto Howie Carr’s turf?

“This corporation has zero tolerance for this type of nonsense. We have a high standard,” George Regan of Regan Communications, which represents WRKO, told the Herald. (For what it’s worth, Regan also represents the Herald.)

I’ll believe it when I hear it.

Disclosure: DePetro replaced Pat Whitley when Whitley retired from the daily grind a few years ago. (He still does his weekend restaurant show.) That brought an end to my paid Friday appearances with Mark Jurkowitz and Monica Collins, as DePetro and his producer decided they didn’t want to continue with Whitley’s “Mess with the Press” segment.

DePetro comes across as a decent guy in person, and I’ve made one or two unpaid appearances on his show. So make of this what you will.

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.

It should have been in black and white. There should have been cigar smoke wafting through the hall. The candidates should have been waving their arms in the air, drenched in sweat and gesticulating madly.

There was something weirdly anachronistic about tonight’s gubernatorial debate, from the echo chamber of an auditorium to the cheesy podiums to the howling mob.

Lately it’s become fashionable to say that Kerry Healey is better than her campaign. Well, tonight she was as nasty as her campaign, or close to it.

And Grace Ross finally lost it, whining incessantly that Healey and Deval Patrick were refusing to engage her.

Tonight was the last of the 117 televised debates. And yes, it’s time to bring this show to a close.

It is a failing typical of media critics, or at least of me: I rarely get around to calling attention to good work. So let me just note that today the Boston Globe wraps up as fine an example of narrative journalism as you’ll see all year.

Thomas Farragher’s four-part series on post-traumatic-stress syndrome, told through the stories of three Iraq war buddies, is heartbreaking and important.

Fortunately, we live in an age when work such as this does not disappear with yesterday’s trash. It will continue to be available on the Web, with more photos, audio and other storytelling enhancements.

So if you haven’t read it, bookmark it, and go back when you get the time. It’s well worth it.

Jay Fitzgerald on the Kerry snafu: “The guy’s a first-class dork. We all know it. We all know he didn’t mean what he said. We all also know he didn’t mean what he said what he said when he was defending what he said. We all know his criticism of the Bush adminstration’s criticism of his criticism and his counter criticism of the Bush adminstration’s criticism was total BS. We all know it.”

Jon Keller: “The Republicans apparently believe Sen. John Kerry’s typically obnoxious ‘joke’ about President Bush, bungled in the delivery to sound like a slap at the educational achievements of our troops, is a blunt instrument they can use to beat the Democrats bloody … We’ll see what the next few days bring. If this story has legs, backlash builds, and it winds up demonstrably hurting the Democrats on November 7, Kerry can pretty much kiss his 2008 presidential hopes goodbye. Even if it doesn’t, Kerry’s grating, self-serving gracelessness has once again been exposed to an appalled electorate.”

Interesting. Neither Fitzgerald nor Keller likes Kerry particularly — in fact, I think it’s fair to say that Keller loathes him — yet each immediately understands that Kerry’s ridiculous joke was meant to be aimed at President Bush, not the troops. Yet neither Fitzgerald nor Keller is inclined to cut Kerry any slack, either. Kerry just hasn’t engendered any good will over the years, so there’s nothing he can fall back on now this side of the Daily Kos.

Two anecdotes.

This morning, someone from the heart of Kerry’s political base — a liberal professor who was, yes, wearing a bow tie — told me that he immediately took Kerry’s “joke” as an insult to American troops who weren’t smart enough to go to Yale and live in Louisburg Square. Wow. I disagree, but, on the other hand, Kerry said what he said, didn’t he?

On the other hand, Don Imus (yes, he’s still on the air) slapped Sen. Rick Santorum when Santorum tried to claim that Kerry was insulting the troops, telling him that not only did he not believe it, but he didn’t believe Santorum believed it, either. For what it’s worth.

The subhead on the Boston Herald front page today says it all: “Gaffe may cost Dems … and KO his prez bid.”

Jeff Jacoby reminds us of a column he wrote two years ago on Kerry’s uproarious sense of humor.

Finally, a Media Nation request: If you find the full transcript of Kerry’s remarks from Monday, please pass it along — I’d like to post a link.

I almost forgot. One more reason that print circulation at the Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette may be falling more steeply than elsewhere in the country is the credit-card disaster of last winter.

Now, what would make me remember that?

Earlier today we received a message on our answering machine to call a fraud hotline for one of our Visa cards. A half-hour ago, a very helpful woman at Chase told us that $2,700 had been transferred from that card and into someone’s pocket just yesterday. We canceled the account immediately.

I have no one to blame but myself. Shortly after the story broke some months back, I checked to see whether we were among those whose credit-card numbers had been stolen. We were, but I figured that if nothing bad happened immediately, then we would be OK. Inertia is a powerful force.

And how stupid and/or naive am I? I just got finished entering a different credit-card number at the Globe’s customer-service site.

Do I know for a fact that this attempted $2,700 transfer was related to the Globe? No. But I’m willing to bet that it was.

Have a look (sub. req.) at former Boston Globe columnist John Ellis’ latest for the Wall Street Journal, in which he analyzes the Jack Welch/ Jack Connors/ Joe O’Donnell play for the Globe. His take on how Welch managed to prevent an auction that would drive up the price is fascinating, if a little hard to follow.

Still, Ellis’ bottom line strikes me as exactly right: “Mr. Sulzberger would be a fool, of course, to sell the Globe to anyone at this juncture.”

Oh, and in case last week’s ridiculous back-and-forth over the meaning of “in play” isn’t completely dead, here is Ellis’ lede:

Last week in Boston, a group of local businessmen led by Jack Welch let it be known that they were interested in acquiring the Boston Globe from the New York Times Company for $500-$600 million. The offer served to put the Globe “in play” (as the talking heads say) and to galvanize Class B (non-family) shareholders of Times stock, already up in arms about mismanagement and financial performance.

Don’t feel as though you have to respond, Mike.

Thanks to Adam, who also points to a fuller summary of Ellis’ column for those who aren’t Journal subscribers.