Smack-down on Herald Square
My first thought is that the Herald's stunning page 1 photo today of an unidentified heroin user in the process of killing himself in the Public Garden probably shrunk the tragic story of the cabbie apparently killed over a $7 fare from a full front-page splash to a half-page tease. Death in the Garden
(The Globe also played the cabbie death on page 1, which devalues the story for the Herald, which is trying hard, understandably, to be the anti-Globe.)
My second thought is that's too bad. To me, the tale of the Haitian cabbie studying to be a clergyman killed over a pittance is one of those grinding, aching, and infuriating stories about life in the big city that begs for the full tabloid treatment. The tale and picture of the dead junkie, which the Herald captured because its photographer, amazingly, just happened to be at the Public Garden at the time, is something else: A freaky and freakish occurrance that has no real value other than shock and no real context other than death. (I'm not saying the story and photo didn't belong in the paper, just not on page 1.)
Now I know Herald defenders will claim the story is about the scourge of drug use, even in one of our city's most precious green spaces. And the paper included a short sidebar with a quickie stat about growing drug abuse deaths beween 2002 and 2003. Fine, if heroin is really a serious problem that we should be worried and care about -- then let's see more.
My real complaint is that the heroin story doesn't work on page 1 because there's no emotional connection between the readers and the tale -- a key element of the most effective tabloid journalism. It's an unidentified man dying at his own hand in front of our eyes in a fashion that leaves us in the role of dispassionate and disapproving voyeurs.
I understand what the new streamlined Herald with its "enterprise story" mantra is doing. It makes sense and it's starting to work. After a rocky patch of inconsistency -- and sometimes incoherence -- the Herald's new model and page 1 strategy is taking shape. And anyone who loves journalism in this town is rooting for it to work.
I just think that today -- regardless of what the Globe did -- the O.D. belonged inside the paper and the cabbie deserved every ounce of the Herald's passionate page-one populism.
(The Globe also played the cabbie death on page 1, which devalues the story for the Herald, which is trying hard, understandably, to be the anti-Globe.)
My second thought is that's too bad. To me, the tale of the Haitian cabbie studying to be a clergyman killed over a pittance is one of those grinding, aching, and infuriating stories about life in the big city that begs for the full tabloid treatment. The tale and picture of the dead junkie, which the Herald captured because its photographer, amazingly, just happened to be at the Public Garden at the time, is something else: A freaky and freakish occurrance that has no real value other than shock and no real context other than death. (I'm not saying the story and photo didn't belong in the paper, just not on page 1.)
Now I know Herald defenders will claim the story is about the scourge of drug use, even in one of our city's most precious green spaces. And the paper included a short sidebar with a quickie stat about growing drug abuse deaths beween 2002 and 2003. Fine, if heroin is really a serious problem that we should be worried and care about -- then let's see more.
My real complaint is that the heroin story doesn't work on page 1 because there's no emotional connection between the readers and the tale -- a key element of the most effective tabloid journalism. It's an unidentified man dying at his own hand in front of our eyes in a fashion that leaves us in the role of dispassionate and disapproving voyeurs.
I understand what the new streamlined Herald with its "enterprise story" mantra is doing. It makes sense and it's starting to work. After a rocky patch of inconsistency -- and sometimes incoherence -- the Herald's new model and page 1 strategy is taking shape. And anyone who loves journalism in this town is rooting for it to work.
I just think that today -- regardless of what the Globe did -- the O.D. belonged inside the paper and the cabbie deserved every ounce of the Herald's passionate page-one populism.
12 Comments:
sorry, mark, but you missed the mark on this one. seeing an unstaged photo sequence of someone booting up and dropping in a public urban park on a sunny day surrounded by all ages of passersby is a stunning piece of photojournalism period, tabloid or broadsheet.
it doesn't matter that wilcox stumbled across the scene. thirty years ago, stanley forman did the same at a fire and an anti-busing protests two years in a row and we know how that turned out.
tabloid journalism is about "select and project'' and pictures do it best. a tabloid by nature and by definition is photo-dependent and if those pics are real life as opposed to illustrations, all the better.
you may have had a pedantic reaction to where that story should have been played and what should have been dominant on page 1 but i can tell you as an editor and a newspaper reader, john wilcox caught my attention in a most visceral fashion.
one of my colleagues at the patriot ledger sent me a link to the herald story this morning with a note: "So who wants to go for second place in BPPA this year?"
i agree the herald's new remake is jagged but forming and as an alumnus of its reporting and editing corps can only hope it survives. it's stuff like this that holds promise for its future.
The Patriot Ledger ... is that still publishing?
ouch and touche. i guess that will teach me to wade into thoughtful postings that are open to anonymous respondents.
I found the Herald's work compelling and moreover, startling, not just for the nature of the composition but for the series of photos used to tell the story.
Wish we would see a little more of that.
Mike_B
Ah, Mark, the Herald's "half-page tease" means they played the cabbie killing (which happned where I grew up) better thna the Globe did. And their story itself is a bit better, I'd argue. Less vague and more direct on the motive.
Why diss the paper you're supposedly rooting for?
Jim McGrath
editorial writer
Albany Times Union
jmickgee@aol.com
Ooops. Posted before I was ready.
Sorry for the typos.
-- jmcg
I have to agree with Jack on this one. Herald is doing a better job at being the anti-Globe than the Globe is at being the "Boston NYT". And as far as the Patriot Ledger? They and the Enterprise do a passable (read budget-driven) job at covering the only part of the state seeing demographic growth. Could it be better? Yeah, but look at the alternatives. The South Edition of the Globe is a joke. Daily Ledger beats the daily Globe by 24-48 hours on breaking South Shore news, it's not even close. If you want to see whom the Globe considers their constituency, check the number of out-of-state and country letters to the editor. These folks are mostly writing for themselves.
What was the last big story the Ledger broke?
Three factual questions on the Herald's drug photos and story. 1) It's been described as "an unidentified heroin user in the process of killing himself." I went through the photo gallery several times, and I don't see a photo of the guy who died shooting up. We have a photo of his friend shooting up, but not the guy who died. Do we know that he did? 2) Do we know that he died of an overdose of heroin? 3) Did the photographer really show the cops photos of the other guy shooting up, leading to his arrest? Is that the right call?
Three things:
- When the Herald publishes something about homeless or dispossessed or drug-user, it is not because they care. It is because they make a buck out of it and they think that particualr problem is a nuisance and has to be dealt with , meaning carted off our view and shielded from our' hard earned tax dollars' You know the line and you heard it many times from Fascist Howie Carr who wants to cart off the bums somewhere distant and stop them from taking 'HIS' hard-earned money. THAt is the attitude of the Herald and its motive is solely sensationalist and their interest is not making us aware of a problem hitting close to home. The sad truth is that we would not like to see anyone taking advantage and languishing at the expense of the public because they screwup their life but then why would such a problem be so rampant in city that is a fiancial and educational Mecca for the whole world. For the smarts and money floating around we should take care of our people better. Shame on all of US. steps away from Posh Beacon Hill and the House, where all these rich and powerful people [pretend they care and work for us every waking hour. BS.
- Both stories are extremely sad. But for any paper to be taken seriously, how can we ignore all the important stuff happening all around the country and world and so many of our soldiers losing lives everyday and they are mentioned in page B19. Their faces SHOULD be on page one to remind everyone what they stood and stand for and what we ar ebleeding everyday in blood and treasure. Local crime , however sad, belongs in the crime or local section. Buthtn again, I think I am setting a higher standard here for two papers that think they're big but act very small and petty.
- The two stories remind us yet again of how much of a failure the honorable Menino has been. Drug use is on a huge upswing around that rarea and a couple of miles away, under his rule, Southie is the state's highest heroin usage area. Great leadership, huh!?!?! Then we have an ever increasing murder rate in a city that is arguably easier to control than NYC. Giulianni had a right to jab about crime and murders in Boston. We have a Comish who is busy being on the front pages of magazines and Globe stories and not deploying enough officers on foot, bikes and patrol cars to deter aggression from happening at all. We spend sooooo much money in overtime pay for all the detail and what not and yet still fall short in having a fuller presence of more officers in the city's affected areas. Let's hire more policemen and donate less to hacks.
What is sadder is that in a great city, with so many great people around, we don't have a classy effective mayor nor do we have a great challenger. Maura, please don't bother. You'd waste the money and you don't have what it takes. You are part of the system.
N.
PS: Sullivan and McGrath, are you angling for a move to the Herald. Usually we don't see people describing who they are until this 'Herald' story hit?!?!? Because if you are, we'll save you the hassle. No big loss there...it is a crappy paper, with a crappy revenue prospect and a bunch of crabby writers not afraid to lie and exagerate..i.e, NO FUTURE.
Whether you do a good job or not, you'd get fired or 'cut back' anyway just like a bunch of Herald members have recently.
'Was supposed to be an alternative...'Missed that train so many times....long ago.
Previous post sent after 2 a.m. Enuf said.
What does that have to do with any substance within the post, braindead.
You must be a huge Sean Vanity and Howie Carr fan...you forgo the whole message and grab to a couple of insignificant details and try to latch on.
On Sunday nights I like to listen to whiny b!tch Grudge on Radio and then catch Art Bell since he is only on on weekends while I am doing my own company's work, but that has no bearing on what you read, snoozy loser! You fall asleep at 9 Pm to catch your 12 hours of umemployed beauty sleep.
Skip right over dozens of sentences and grab on the very last characters "2:22 AM"
I'm impressed!
Even more impressing were your two measly incomplete sentences.
Get a brain. If you take the effort going through the steps to post something to attack a fellow poster, at least put a whiff of an idea, opinion, response or statement in it.
Classless ignorant!
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