Hundreds ‘Rally’ to ‘Save’ Globe
Faneuil Hall was invaded today by a quaint but lively group of Globe supporters. Amid balloon animals, clowns, and strollers—it was a little hard to tell if people came for the clowns or to cheer on the Globe–crowd members sported signs emblazoned with “Support Globe Workers” and “The Globe Belongs to Boston.” Excluding the abundance of minors (it’s school vacation week, after all) the turnout was a mostly middle-aged crowd who patiently waited out the blare of marching band tunes and the stares of inquisitive shoppers. (Said one passerby: “Save the what?”)
Undeterred, Boston Newspaper Guild President Daniel Totten boasted the Globe’s 137 year existence, nearly deafening the crowd as he sang the praises of the “HUMAN BEINGS who bring you the Boston Globe.” City Council President Michael Ross received some of the loudest cheers, as he declared the Globe a Boston institution. “We would fight just as hard to save the Red Sox, the Boston Common, or the golden dome,” Ross said.
Those in attendance would certainly agree. Eddie Beck of Quincy brought his three daughters to hear Totten speak. He’s been reading the Globe for 40 years, and well, Totten is his daughter’s godfather. Dory-Anna Waxman, a city councilor from Portland, ME, traveled all the way to support her husband, a Globe advertising salesman. Her connection to the paper goes way back: Her grandfather was a sportswriter back in the 1920’s.
And for Brenda Brenon, a stay-at-home mom from Concord, losing the Globe would be a tragedy. “If we turn to bloggers to get our news instead of real journalists, I’d hate to see where we are in a couple of years,” she lamented to a blog reporter.
Other highlights included Globe reporter Brian Mooney, who delivered a speech with the refrain, “Hey, that’s not fair; Shame on them,” directed at the New York Times Company. As Mooney cited example upon example of bonuses for Times execs, who are demanding $20 million from the union, the crowd broke into chants of “SHAME ON THEM.”
Despite some impassioned speeches from reporter Bella English and Bob Haynes of the AFL-CIO, the bottom line is there’s not much people can do. There were some calls to email the Times and sign the union petition, posted on its website.
Features Copy Editor Tim Flynn put it best: “If you had told me that the Globe was going out of business when I was 12 years old, I would have thought the streets would be filled with people. But times are different. There aren’t quite as many people as I would have hoped.”
The kids clearly had no idea what it was all about, but had a good time playing with the signs.
–EVA MEDOFF
April 24th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Coupla things: Don’t underestimate what the kids know. I brought my daughter and she took one of those signs because she doesn’t want to see the Globe go under (granted, mainly because she likes the comics, but is that any worse than the woman holding up the sign about saving the sports pages?).
Also, Bella English reminded me why I couldn’t stand her as a columnist: She was whiny and petty, bitching about bloggers in their underwear and slutty newspaper executives giving it away for free. The Guild would really do well to keep her away from microphones in the future.
April 25th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I feel like in the middle of a bad dream. It’s impossible to conceive of Boston without the Globe. When I was a teenager I can remember thinking that I could never live in a town (suburban) without a weekly newspaper since there would be no unifying force. But a city without a newspaper? It is inconceivable. And the Herald doesn’t count.
The speed is picking up in the race down the tubes. It’s not fun to live in a country during its declining years.
April 28th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Very sad — I don’t know if this is a symptom of media companies being too large or just part of the overall demise of newspapers. Is there any talk of a white knight coming in to save the day? I too fear a world without trained reporters checking their sources and with the resources to do good investigative reporting.