Daily Hampshire Gazette and Springfield Republican editors awoke Sunday morning with collective egg on the face. A small nuclear bomb detonated next door and somehow they managed to sleep through it.Let's hear it for the distant BIG city bricks-and-mortar institution who still knows how to break a fully fleshed out story, even though they had to rely on unnamed sources "familiar with the evaluation."
But when you are the iconic Boston Globe you can get away with quoting unnamed sources.
Of course now the fun game is to watch closely and see who will first catch up to this Front Page story (and whether they assign a reporter to get a different quote or two from their own sources) on their webpage, since the ink presses will not run again until Monday morning.
UPDATE: 9:10 AM My ultra reliable source at the Gazette just sent me a link showing they just updated their Gazettenet main page with a "breaking story" citing the Boston Globe. OK they win, but still come in second place overall. And in journalism second place might as well be last.
And it may very well have been a tie since my Facebook buddy Scott Coen did put up a blogpost on Masslive--the Springfield Republican website-- with the story at 9:15 AM. Okay, so now we just need to hear from Ch. 22 (Scott Coen also absolves his main employer WGGB Ch 40)
Now I'm told by another Facebook buddy--who works for the Republican--that indeed the Gazette won as he published Scott Coen's blog post around 9:30 AM, about 15 minutes after Mr Coen hit his publish button and a few minutes after the Gazette went cyber.
And he also pointed out that there is no embarrassment being scooped by the likes of the Boston Globe. The young lad has been working less than a year and he's already complacent. Yikes!
Well I guess not that complacent. He responds:
"1.) I work for MassLive.com, a sister company to The Republican.
2.) I didn't say there wasn't any "embarrassment," just that it wasn't an upset i.e. I would expect the Globe to get this story because it's not, per se, a local one. The Holub decision will likely be made in Boston, not Amherst.
Acknowledging the good work of competitors is hardly complacency. You can quote me on that."
And so I did.
Larry -- I knew about this a month ago -- just because I am paying attention to my schoolwork in an attempt to graduate doesn't mean I still don't hear things....
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's why the local print media (and CH 22) should be sooooo embarrassed.
ReplyDeleteIn this day and social media age you would think somebody local would have picked up the rumor and ran with it first.
Nothing wrong with publishing a "rumor" as long as you back it up with solid facts that substantiate it.
Larry, your story is about the media coverage but not about the substance nor the implications of the Holub ouster.
ReplyDeleteNor do the comments here address the news.
The Repub recycled the Globe story and has not updated. Gazette likewise.
Collegian: likewise.
News broke late last night and so far only one single source has actually written a story about the Chancellor "ankling."
Not a peep from UMass News & Communications arms.
The silence is deafening . . .
Yes it's all very interesting--both the actual story and how the news is currently playing out.
ReplyDeleteThis morning's Gazette has of course a front page above-the-fold story with some original reporting but the print edition of the Republican, nada.
And Google news shows it has yet to be picked up anywhere else. So yes, if it had been the Daily Collegian or an unknown blogger that broke the story, I would certainly question the merits of the case.
But not the Boston Globe.
I had planned to do a more in depth analysis this morning by 8:00 AM, but I'm going to wait to see how the meeting with President Wilson goes.
If Jack Wilson (a stand up guy) does not stand by him, then Holub is indeed all done.
If Jack Wilson (a stand up guy) does not stand by him, then Holub is indeed all done.
ReplyDeleteHolub is all done BECAUSE Jack Wilson is a stand up guy...