BU J-School Snags NY Times Media Columnist David Carr for Newly Endowed Professorship

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The Boston Globe reported today that The New York Times' prominent media columnist David Carr will join Boston University's College of Communication ("COM") in January as a professor in a newly endowed chair devoted to exploring business models to sustain journalism in a digital age.

Carr will continue to write his Times column, but will teach one course a semester at COM where he will spend two days a week, according to the Globe article. Carr will be a non-tenured professor of the practice on a contract with COM. Tom Menino, Boston's Mayor the past two decades, also will be joining BU's faculty next year in a similar arrangement.

The new professorship was endowed by a $1.66 million gift from BU alum, trustee and Bloomberg Media Group CEO Andrew Lack, with BU trustee Alan Leventhal kicking in more than $830,000.  Among other courses, Carr will teach media criticism.

It will be intriguing to see how the outspoken Carr adjusts to academia, given that he wrote in a March 31, 2013 column: "Having seen many journalism programs up close, I can say that most are escalators to nowhere."

The hard-working staff of "TUOL" just completed his 16th year of teaching Media Law at COM.

Hyperlocal News Losing the Hype? Boston Globe Sheds Half of Your Town Staff

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The Boston Globe found a rich uncle in soon-to-be-boss, Boston Red Sox owner John Henry, but that didn't prevent the Boston.com Web site from axing roughly half the correspondents for the Your Town hyperlocal news sites.

Six correspondents were pink-slipped, Globe Regional Editor David Dahl told the Boston Business Journal last week, though he didn't identify the unlucky correspondents, the towns affected by the move or the savings realized by the cutbacks.  Dahl was quoted as saying the more than 100 Your Town sites covering Boston neighborhoods and suburban communities, as well as 15 Your Campus sites assisted by local colleges, would remain up and running.

Although articles by staff reporters and freelance writers that appear in the Globe's print edition also provide content for Your Town, simple math suggests some communities are going to get short-shrifted by the remaining six or seven correspondents having to cover a broader area. The Globe, which The New York Times is unloading to Henry for $70 million (see "TUOL" post 8/6/13), has a workforce of 1,600, roughly 350 of whom are newsroom staffers, according to the BBJ article.

The five-year-old, advertising-starved Your Town experiment began inauspiciously when GateHouse Media Inc. sued the Times, alleging copyright infringement concerning content from its Wicked Local hyperlocal news sites. Given the massive staff reduction last month by AOL Patch (see "TUOL" post 8/19/13) and GateHouse Media's slow dance toward pre-packaged bankruptcy (see "TUOL" post 3/27/13), journalism industry prognosticators, who five years ago considered hyperlocal news the greatest thing since sliced bread, may be looking for new sources of "bread."

Don't Mess With the Lessig

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Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School Professor and champion of a less copyright-restricted Internet, last month joined forces with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to file suit in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts against a Melbourne, Australia-based record company that accused the professor of infringing on a copyrighted song by using it in a lecture presented on YouTube.

In his 11-page complaint, Lessig v. Liberation Music Party Ltd. (Case No. 1:13-cv-12028), the professor is seeking injunctive relief, damages and declaratory judgment from the Court under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act [17 U.S.C. sec. 512] that his use of a 2009 tune, Lisztomania, by French songsters Phoenix in the YouTube lecture was protected by the Copyright Act's Fair Use provision [17 U.S.C. sec. 107].

Under the Fair Use defense against infringement claims, the Court weighs factors, including the purpose and character of the use of the copyrighted material, whether the use was for commercial or nonprofit educational purposes, the nature of the copyrighted work, and the amount and substanitality of the portion used.

According to an account of the case in The Boston Globe, Liberation Music claims to hold the copyright on Lisztomania and sent correspondence to Lessig accusing him of violating its license. In turn, Lessig claims in his complaint that the Down Under record company is abusing the Copyright Act and abridging his First Amendment rights.

HuffPo Next Month to Require Commenters to Use Real Names

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Beginning in September, the Huffington Post will require commenters on their posts to use their full given names, founder Arianna Huffington said yesterday.

As reported in The Boston Globe and elsewhere, HuffPo, which claims to have generated more than 260 million comments on its posted stories (& sideboob images of celebs of the Miley Cyrus & Rhianna ilk, no doubt) since its inception in 2005, will no longer allow comments by pseudonymous posters. Presently, the mega-news aggregator employs 40 human monitors and an advanced screening algorithm, but Huffington says more is needed in our ever-coarsening culture.

The Globe story quoted Huffington as saying: "I feel that freedom of expression is given to people who stand up for what they say and not hiding behind anonymity."

The U.S. Supreme Court did not share those sentiments in McIntyre v. Ohio Election Commission, 514 U.S. 334, 341-42 (1995). Anonymity, the High Court said, "exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and of the First Amendment in particular." In leaving it up to authors to decide whether to identify themselves, the Court wrote: "Under our Constitution, anonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and of dissent. Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority."

Keep that in mind, Arianna, when you ask followers to add monikers to their reactions to stories such as Jen Aniston Wows in white bikini.

NYT Endures Forgettable First Quarter

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The New York Times last week released gloomy First Quarter results that reflected an 11.2 percent decline in ad revenues and plunging net income.

Net income was $3.1 million, or 2 cents a share in FQ 2013, compared to $42.1 million or 28 cents a share during the comparable period a year ago. Overall ad revenues dropped 11.2 percent, but the Times' print properties, which include the Boston Globe, Worcester Telegram & Gazette and the International Herald Tribune, suffered a 13.3 percent decline in ad revenues. Digital advertising sank 4 percent compared to year-ago FQ results.

In response to the grim figures, Times management plans to unveil reduced cost subscription models, along with a premium subscription rate that would include access to Times-sponsored events.  As previously reported, the Times also is focusing on its own brand and attempting to unload its New England newspapers (see "TUOL" post 4/16/13).

On a bright note, digital subscriptions of the Times and Intl. Trib jumped 49 percent in the First Quarter compared to 2012 figures, reaching 676,000. 

Prospective Buyers of Boston Globe Will Submit Bids This Week

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With the looming April 18 deadline set by The New York Times and Evercore Partners investment bankers to receive initial bids to purchase the New England Media Group (NEMG), two groups of buyers have surfaced, according to a report by NEMG property The Boston Globe.

Former Globe publisher Ben Taylor and cousin Steve Taylor have joined with a group fronted by former Time, Inc. CEO Jack Griffin and are expected to submit a bid, the Globe reported. So too is a group that includes former Globe president Rick Daniels and private equity mogul Heberden Ryan, according to the Globe article.

The Times announced a couple of months back that it was seeking a buyer for NEMG, which includes the Globe, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and their respective Web sites, along with direct mail marketing co. GlobeDirect (see "TUOL" post 2/21/13).

Any offers received this week would not be binding, according to the Globe article.

UPDATE: 'Boston' Rocker Scholz Loses Boston Herald Libel Suit

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Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Frances A. McIntyre yesterday dismissed the defamation lawsuit brought by Tom Scholz, co-founder and keyboardist/songwriter of legendary rock band Boston, against the Boston Herald and two of its gossip columnists based on allegations concerning the March 2007, suicide of the band's lead singer, Brad Delp, according to reports in the Boston Globe and Boston Herald.

Scholz sued the tabloid in 2010 for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleging that Fee & Raposa, who penned the Herald's Inside Track gossip column, implied he was to blame for Delp taking his own life, by quoting Delp's former spouse Micki, who said the singer was despondent over Boston's long-ago breakup and subsequent changes in the band (see "TUOL" posts 9/15/11 & 3/18/10). Scholz claimed the defendants made up the quotes attributed to Micki Delp and suggested that personal problems contributed to Delp killing himself, including his fiancee's purported infidelity and the discovery that Delp allegedly secreted a camera in the bedroom of his fiancee's younger sister.

In the 24-page opinion in Donald Thomas Scholz v. Boston Herald, Inc., Gayle Fee  & Laura Raposa (Case No. 10-1010), Judge McIntyre wrote that Scholz could neither prove nor disprove what prompted Delp to commit suicide, and "[a]ny views on the subject necessarily would be opinions." That is critical in defamation cases, which are rooted in false statements of fact, because, as Judge McIntyre noted, "an opinion cannot be false; the free expression of opinion on any matter of public interest is constitutionally protected by the First Amendment. Therefore, the publication by these media defendants of their opinion about the cause of Delp's suicide is not vulnerable to a claim of defamation."

Although acknowledging that Delp's suicide was a "private tragedy," Judge McIntyre wrote that "for the public who cared about him during his life, his death was an issue of public concern." The Herald account of the decision noted that the court rejected Scholz's assertion that the defendant columnists fabricated remarks attributed to Micki Delp. Among the alleged defamatory statements was a headline, "Pal's snub made Delp do it; Boston rocker's ex-wife speaks."

Boston's 1976 debut album sold 17 million copies, the second-biggest debut in U.S. rock history, according to the Globe article. The band's hits included Don't Look Back and Peace of Mind.

Scholz's counsel said his client has yet to decide whether to appeal Judge McIntyre's decision. If he decides to pursue an appeal, as a public figure saddled with the heightened defamation burden of proof of actual malice, Scholz is going to have to show by More than a Feeling that his reputation was sullied by false assertions.

Gray Lady 'Having Some Work Done': NYT Restructuring

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As part of its brand-strengthening strategy, The New York Times at the end of this month will restructure into digital, print and advertising divisions, according to an internal staff memo cited by Bloomberg News.

The Gray Lady will tear down the wall between its corporate operations and the New York Times Media Group, the Bloomberg article reported, as Media Group CFO Ronald A. Caputo will head up print operations, former chief advertising officer Denise Warren will command digital products and corporate side CFO Jim Follo will stay put.

Advertising revenue and circulation hits on the print edition side have prompted the Times to cast off About.com, plan a restructure of the International Herald Tribune (see "TUOL" post 2/25/13), and look for a buyer for its stable of New England newspapers, including The Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram-Gazette (see "TUOL" post 2/21/13). The Times, however, has enjoyed some success with paywall subscriptions for its digital edition.

New York Times Looking to Unload Papers 'en Mass.'

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The Gray Lady apparently is weary of  long-distance relationships, as Reuters, AdWeek and others are reporting that The New York Times wants to sell The Boston Globe and The Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

The Times has enlisted the aid of Evercore Partners to advise on the sale of the properties in its New England Media Group, which include the Globe, Telegram & Gazette, the two dailies' Web sites and GlobeDirect, a direct mail marketing company.

Newspaper industry analysts expect the Times to take a bath in the deal. One analyst, according to Reuters, thought the purchase price for the Globe, New England's largest daily newspaper, might be in the $150 million range, a far cry from the $1.1 billion the Times paid to acquire the broadsheet in 1993.

The Times' Media Decoder Blog reported that the Times rejected a $35 million offer to sell the Globe in 2009, the AdWeek article stated.  The 360 or so souls in the Globe newsroom are understandably antsy, while media prognosticators are reveling in the parlor game of identifying the Globe's suitors.  Times CEO/President Mark Thompson said the Times wants to concentrate on its own brand and journalism as explanation for why his paper wants to end what at times has been a trying marriage.

The Globe is "TUOL"'s local newspaper, and the devoted staff, which currently is exasperated by increasingly late delivery of the paper, expects a local buyer to step to the forefront, rather than an out-of-state entrepreneur or media conglomerate.

Catching the Local: Boston Globe Names McGrory Editor

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Fifty-one-year-old Brian McGrory, who joined The Boston Globe in 1989, has been named Editor, effective immediately, the paper announced today, replacing Marty Baron, 58, who ended his 11-year tenure at the helm of the Globe last week to lead the Washington Post beginning next month (see "TUOL" post 11/14/12).

McGrory, who has been penning a twice-weekly column in the Globe's Metro section since 2010, has held numerous positions at the Globe, including White House correspondent, general assignment reporter and deputy managing editor for local news. He will report to Publisher Christopher M. Mayer.

The Globe is owned by The New York Times. Rumors abound that the paper, which has suffered losses in circulation and ad revenue, may be unloaded by the Times. McGrory, who has also worked for the Quincy Patriot-Ledger and New Haven Register, has big shoes to fill, as the Globe earned six Pulitzer Prizes while Baron was at the helm.

McGrory, a Boston native, joins the fairly exclusive club of Globe Editors-in-Chief that has included Marty Baron, Jack Driscoll, Tom Winship, Michael Janeway and Matt Storin. He is the author of Buddy: How a Rooster Made Me a Family Man.

WaPo Hints at Paywall

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Not only will The Washington Post roll out former Boston Globe Editor Marty Baron as its new Editor in January (see "TUOL" post 11/14/12), but also, 2013 appears to be when the WaPo finally will overcome its reluctance and join its digital newspaper brethren by erecting a paywall.

Poynter.org picked up on the story, originally reported by The Wall St. Journal, that the Post plans to limit digital readers' unpaid access to its homepage and section fronts, though print subscribers will continue to have unlimited access to the Post's online edition. Paywalls impact about one-third of daily online newspaper readers, the Poynter post noted, and WaPo would be joining a roster of more than 300 dailies nationwide that have erected paywalls, including The New York Times, Wall St. Journal, and Baron's Boston Globe, which has attracted a disappointing 25,000 subscribers to its year-old premium digital service.

The Post has sustained circulation losses at a higher rate than the newspaper industry ovrall, according to the Poynter post.

Gray Lady Wants 30 Staffers to Accept Voluntary Buyouts

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Plagued by declines in print and digital advertising, The New York Times wants 30 nonunion managers to accept voluntary buyout packages by January 24, 2013, the daily announced today.

The buyout offer, which is unavailable to editorial staffers, according to Executive Editor Jill Abramson, is in response to a near 11 percent drop-off in print advertising among New York Times newspapers, which include the Times, Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram & Gazette, and a 2.2 percent decline in digital advertising, according to the Gray Lady's most recent earnings report.

If the Times doesn't reach its goal of 30 workers accepting severance packages, Abramson indicated that the daily would resort to layoffs.

Editorially Barren WaPo Becomes Baron's WaPo

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Marcus Brauchli, 51, has stepped down as Executive Editor of The Washington Post after a four-year stint, paving the way for 58-year-old Boston Globe Editor Marty Baron's assumption of the mantle on January 2, according to reports in The New York Times and The Huffington Post.

Brauchli, formerly of the Wall St. Journal, will remain as a WaPo vice president overseeing new media opportunities. The daily won four Pulitzers under Brauchli, but also experienced a circulation decline to 507, 615, compared to 698,116 five years ago. Baron, a former Senior Editor at The New York Times (which owns the Globe) and Executive Editor of The Miami Herald, has been at the helm of the Globe since 2001, during which the daily has won six Pulitzers.

Brauchli's relationship with Publisher Katherine Weymouth reportedly has grown frosty. No word on whether the Globe will replace Baron with an internal candidate, someone from the Times' stable, or an outside editor.

Pink-Slipped Journos Feeling Blue in R.I. & Mass.

The Providence Journal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's the same musical refrain: shrinking circulation, declining ad revenues and a redirection toward digital editions, but it has New England journalists singing the blues.

WPRI.com reported this week that The Providence Journal trimmed its 460-member workforce by 5 percent, including three photographers among the 23 employees given their walking papers. The Journal, which also saw 11 staffers accept a voluntary buyout in September, must make do with its remaining 10 photographers.

Journal parent company A.H. Belo pointed to sagging advertising linage, noting a 13 percent plunge in advertising revenue during the 3Q of 2012, compared to the same three-month period ending September 30 a year ago.

Meanwhile, The Boston Globe Web site, boston.com, reported this week that the Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. ("CNH") chain, whose stable of dailies includes The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, Gloucester Daily Times, Salem News, The Daily (Newburyport) News, also slashed 5 percent of its 375-member workforce, cutting 21 jobs.

CNH, which is headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, did not detail which papers would be impacted, though it was reported elsewhere that the Eagle-Tribune (against whom the ink-stained staff of "TUOL" competed at a rival paper back in the day) lost a couple of reporters.

Globe Takes Turn for the Worst: Voluntary Buyouts Offered

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)Forty-three Boston Globe workers, union members and management alike--including 20 newsroom staffers--have been offered voluntary buyouts, and another 10 employees were laid off, according to Globe Publisher and New England Media Group ("NEMG") President Christopher M. Mayer.

According to a report by the Globe's rival, the tabloid Boston Herald, the New York Times-owned broadsheet in May saw its daily circulation drop below 200,000 for the first time ever, fueling speculation that the Globe and another Times property, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, may soon be offered for sale. Reportedly, the Telegram & Gazette laid off one staffer and offered voluntary buyouts to another 10.

According to a report by the Poynter.org Web site, the T & G will eliminate slots and layoffs will ensue if the buyouts are not accepted.  The Globe, which boasts a work force of 1,881, does not anticipate universal acceptance of the buyout offer. As part of a cost-savings measure, the Globe reportedly plans to close its suburban bureaus.

Boston Globe to Publish Boston Herald; Will Red Sox & Yankees Soon Share a Dugout?

Image via WikipediaTeamsters yesterday unanimously gave their blessing to a deal that will have broadsheet The Boston Globe printing and delivering its rival tabloid Boston Herald beginning January 23, the dailies announced separately.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, though 50 Teamsters--drivers and other personnel--will be laid off by the Herald. According to a story in the Herald, the Globe will print and deliver the city edition of the tabloid Sunday through Friday and the paper's entire Saturday run, but the Herald, Sunday through Friday, will print most of the copies of the paper from its plant in Chicopee, Mass., which will be distributed by wholesalers, some of whom are Globe-controlled.

The deal makes fiscal sense for both dailies, which, of course, will maintain separate newsrooms and editorial identities. The Herald report of  the business arrangement stresses its imminent move into "state-of-the-art" offices in Boston's fast-growing Seaport District, while the Globe account of the deal emphasizes the Herald's personnel layoffs in the lead paragraph, so the competitive newspaper spirit captured by The Front Page may not entirely be dead.

Fed Judge Quashes Street Performer's Subpoena of Globe Journo

Image via WikipediaIn Bruce Peck v. City of Boston(Civil Action No. 09-10606-JGD (D. Mass)), In re Subpoena to Donovan Slack (Misc. Case No. 11-00073(BAH)), U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Beryl A. Howell this week quashed a subpoena of Boston Globe reporter Donovan Slack by the plaintiff, a street performer, who alleges the City of Boston has violated his First Amendment rights.

As reported by Suits & Sentences, a legal blog by media conglomerate the McClatchy Co., Peck sought Slack's testimony based on an article she wrote in August 2008, entitled A Rhythmic, Rocking Cradle of Liberty No More, City Corrals Street Artists at Faneuil Hall, that detailed restrictions imposed by the Hub on street performers that confined them to a small space where they could display their talents to the tourists who flood the shops, restaurants and bars at Faneuil Hall.

Slack invoked reporter's privilege when she received the subpoena, and Judge Howell, in a 14-page decision, ruled that Peck failed to show that he attempted to secure the information he believed Slack possessed from alternative sources before resorting to the extraordinary remedy of subpoenaing Slack. Judge Howell voiced First Amendment concerns in noting that reporters' testimony should be compelled as a last resort, and chided the plaintiff for not detailing his efforts to obtain the information before pursuing Slack.

Taking the Globe for a Spin

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeA 37-year-old Internet mogul and greeting card magnate is readying a bid over the next couple of months to present to The New York Times to purchase The Boston Globe, according to a Globe story today.

Aaron Kushner of Wellesley, Mass., has the backing of 64-year-old Benjamin Taylor, former Globe publisher, and his cousin, Stephen Taylor, 59, a former executive vice-president at the Globe, for the venture. The Taylor family sold the Globe to the Times in 1993 for $1.1 billion.  Benjamin & Stephen Taylor were unsuccessful in their 2009 bid to reacquire New England's largest daily.

Kushner's venture, dubbed 2100 Trust, is looking to build sufficient capital to purchase the New England Media Group, which includes the Globe, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Boston.com and Telegram.com from the Times.  No word from the Times about whether the Globe is for sale. Any deal would not include the Times divesting its 17 percent ownership interest in the Boston Red Sox and its sports affiliated properties, according to the Globe story.

2 Sides of the Globe

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Beginning in the latter half of 2011, The Boston Globe will debut BostonGlobe.com, a subscription-only pay site, while continuing to offer gratis the ad revenue-generating news site, Boston.com.


New England's largest daily newspaper, which is owned by The New York Times Co., will not charge subscribers to the print edition of the newspaper to access BostonGlobe.com, and has yet to announce the subscription rate for digital-only readers.  The digital version will offer all the content of the print edition, along with interactive features, video, and in-depth analysis.


Boston.com, which attracts roughly five million visitors monthly, good enough to be the eighth largest newspaper Web site, according to Nielsen NetRatings, will have limited access to the Globe's news stories, but will include breaking news, sports, classified ads, social networking, and restaurant and entertainment information.