The Globe calls its new front page a "cleaner, leaner homepage that makes it easier to find the stories, sections, and topics you care about most." A "Hot Topics" bar (which just makes us think of goth clothes) and "Best of Boston.com" sections are designed to help you find what everyone else is reading as well as what you want to read.
See a sampling and answer our poll after the jump.
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Results tagged “newspapers”
Journalists can whine about the demise of the newspaper all they want—at least their research and writing skills can be used to create content for other media, including online publications (the question of whether these other media will make any money remains separate). But what about the pressmen? The Globe has an article today on the tenuous future of newspaper pressmen, whose ability to run huge printing presses is less and less in demand. A strong family tradition and strong union presence for pressmen seemed to guarantee that such jobs would be around for, if not forever, at least long enough for a good career. But with the Globe offering buyouts, print papers going online-only, and the Globe's future up for a big vote in about two weeks, will local pressmen with "lifetime" jobs even have employment next week? Some pressmen are looking into new careers like green energy, labor management, library work. Maybe they can someday be on the forefront of making news, not printing it.
Slate's Jack Shafer wants to bring back yellow journalism. Could sensationalistic muckraking be the future of the nonprinted word? Clay Shirky asserted this month that "Society doesn't need newspapers. What we need is journalism." He didn't say yellow journalism specifically, but maybe there's something to that argument. Even as newspapers have slid, the demand for off-color items of interest has certainly grown: witness the recently-31 Perez Hilton's fame or the insane amount of visitors to TMZ.
In news news, the Metro—everyone's favorite T entertainment—has decided to drop its AP contract and amp up its original material. The decision was made both to save money and increase the unique content in the paper. We're interested to see the results—or if there's even any difference.
The Herald laid off 24 people recently, 13 voluntarily and 11 involuntarily. In a twist on recent reductions in reporting staff, the cuts were made on the business side of the paper instead of in the newsroom. The voluntary departures were partially in response to a buyout offer sent to 20 folks. The Globe is also suffering in this economy, recently offering buyouts to 50 employees; 24 accepted.
Much as we mock the Globe, it has always seemed to sometimes aim a little higher than its tabloid counterpart. So it was interesting to see the Globe at #5 on a list of the top ten newspapers most likely to fold or go online-only (also at Time). Number 1 on the list, the Philadelphia Daily News, is already nothin' but an edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer and #2, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, has filed for bankruptcy. Time notes that the Globe suffers from being part of the troubled New York Times' New England Media Group, dead weight the NYT might have to shed to survive (UHub commenters point out a Boston Business Journal article that pegs the Globe as worth about $192.8 million, down from $1.1 billion when the NYT purchased it in 1993). So what does this bode for Boston? Will the Metro (also partly owned by NYT and subject to its woes) and Herald be our only daily print options? Will Boston.com save the day? Is it all up to citizen journalists?
Our beloved Herald has offered buyouts to 400 employees in a bid to shed at least 20 people. Newspapers are dying left and right, but publisher Patrick Purcell says the Herald is doing well and the buyouts are just a "proactive" move. As long as the Herald can maintain its Tom and Gisele coverage, everything should be fine.
The Globe reported that the Metro was shrinking, and Joe Keohane at Boston Daily noted that the Globe got details wrong. Then the Metro trumped that little blunder by reporting that the Globe was planning "hundreds" of layoffs and would raise the price of the paper to 75 cents.
Yesterday, Bostonist spread the word that the daily paper the Metro is going through a tough time, a fairly standard story as far as journalism is concerned. While comparing the Globe and the Herald's takes on the Metro shakeup, which included staff dismissals and the publisher's resignation, Bostonist noticed a change in tone between the articles.
Guess the Metro really is in trouble. Without a buyout from the Examiner, they are cutting staff positions, including a sports editor, and the publisher has resigned.
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