BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Friday, March 05, 2004
Barnicle to write for
Herald. It was nearly six years ago that the Boston
Herald reported that then-Boston Globe columnist
Mike
Barnicle had lifted
one-liners from a George Carlin book. Within weeks,
Barnicle was gone amid accusations of fabrication and plagiarism -
charges that he denied, but that he never adequately
explained.
Well, what goes around comes
around. Because now comes word that new editorial director Ken
Chandler is on the verge of announcing that Barnicle will be brought
in as a Herald columnist. The announcement is said to be
scheduled for Monday, although that could be moved up since it's
apparent that the entire Boston media world already knows about
it.
Barnicle's first column is
supposedly scheduled for Tuesday. No word on whether he'll be a staff
member or a freelancer, or if he'll write once, twice, or more a
week. The guess here is that he'll freelance so that he
can keep doing his show
on WTKK Radio (96.9 FM). Perhaps he can be persuaded at least to give
up his low-energy Sunday
column in the New York
Daily News.
No doubt Andy Costello
did much during the past year to keep Chandler from bringing in
Barnicle, a move that had been rumored since last summer. Last week,
of course, Costello was moved out of the editor's job. This week,
here's Mike!
The staff began finding out about
the impending move on Thursday. Media Log's sources suggest there is
considerable unhappiness about bringing in an aging hack at a time
when the mantra is supposedly all about attracting younger
readers.
As for whether that discontent will
extend to anything more than grumbling, Monday should be a good
indication.
posted at 8:54 PM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
