BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Thursday, August 12, 2004
NOMAR-BASHING BY PROXY. The
Globe's Gordon Edes might want to lay off the second-hand
accounts of sports-radio tidbits. Today Edes writes:
"Curt on a car phone" -
a.k.a. Curt Schilling - phoned in again yesterday afternoon to
radio station WEEI to offer a few opinions on "The Big Show."
According to co-host Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal,
Schilling said Francona was being unfairly blamed for the team's
erratic performance. During the course of a discussion regarding
Nomar Garciaparra, Schilling brought up a comparison with Derek
Jeter and said, "Derek Jeter is a winner."
I happened to be listening during
an interminable drive home. And though that is what Schilling said
about Nomar, it's not all that he said, and what got left out in
Edes's account changes the meaning considerably.
In fact, Schilling said Garciaparra
is a quiet player in the mold of his former teammate Randy Johnson,
and that any Red Sox players who think Nomar's lack of more-vocal
leadership had hurt their own ability to perform have no one to blame
but themselves.
As to the matter of "Derek Jeter is
a winner" (with the implication that Nomar isn't), Schilling said
that in most respects he considers them to be nearly identical
players. He added that Jeter has the image of a winner because he's
been lucky enough to be on a team that gets into the World Series and
help them win a championship - an opportunity Nomar hasn't
had.
POLICY MEETS REALITY.
Allegations of a horrible crime on the North Shore have led to an odd
divergence in the way the media are playing it. Last week, police
arrested Mary Jean Armstrong, 35, of Beverly, and charged her with
prostituting her nine-year-old daughter in return for cocaine. Two
men - Richard Lapham and Robert L'Italien - face charges as
well.
The Globe has refrained from
reporting that Armstrong is the mother of the alleged victim. In a
piece published yesterday, reporter Katie Nelson wrote:
"Because it is Globe policy not to reveal the identities of victims
of alleged sexual crimes without their consent, the paper is
withholding the children's connection to the suspects."
WBZ-TV (Channel 4) and WBZ Radio
(AM 1030) have been following the same policy. I do not know what
other broadcasters have been doing.
The Herald is making it
clear that Armstrong is the girl's mother, as you will see from
this
Tom Farmer story. More to
the point, so is the hometown paper, the Salem News.
This
piece, by Julie Manganis,
was blasted across the front page yesterday. Manganis's lead: "Police
say Mary Jean Armstrong confessed to bartering her daughter for
cocaine, claiming she was so desperate for drugs that she traded sex
with the 9-year-old as many as 50 times since last
summer."
Nor was yesterday a first. Since
the story broke last week, the News has reported on the
mother-daughter connection on several occasions. (To my knowledge, no one has reported the daughter's name - nor should it be.)
What's the right answer? I'm not
sure, though I'm leaning toward the News and other media
outlets that have reported the relationship. This is a terrible
story, and it's one that can't fully be told without noting that
Armstrong has been charged with letting men rape her own daughter. I
think the benefits to making the public aware of this outweigh any
theoretical negatives.
As for the Globe and WBZ
deciding to continue withholding that fact - well, two cheers for
standing on principle. But they're no longer in a position to protect
the victim, because the Salem News has already made the
decision for them.
In a small community, what the
local paper does is far more important than the choices made by big
media organizations. That's because readers of the News are
far more likely to know Armstrong and her daughter than are the
Globe's customers.
NEW IN THIS WEEK'S
PHOENIX. Forget the national polls. The presidential
election will be decided in as few as 10 key states. So far, at
least, it's looking
good for Kerry.
Also, the sputtering economy forces
belt-tightening
at 135 Morrissey Boulevard.
posted at 11:21 AM |
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MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
