Here at Boston Daily, we think that until the zombie outbreak swine flu hysteria subsides, all news articles concerning the epidemic should bear the subtitle, DON’T PANIC! Ex. “Swine Flu Pandemic Sweeps World: DON’T PANIC!” See, doesn’t that feel better? (If it’s good enough for The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, it’s good enough for our local media.)

Speaking of which, judging from the Herald’s front-page picture and accompanying story, it appears the influenza struck the “churlish booth jockeys” collecting tolls on the Pike about two years before the outbreak in Mexico. The disease appears to have mutated the pictured toll collector into Wolverine (ed. Product placement for X-Men Origins: Wolverine?).

In another Herald article, “Lowell pair feared first Mass. swine flu victims” the Herald reports on the risk of the flu touching down in Boston:

“As health officals sought to reassure the public, they also braced for the inevitability of swine flu touching down in Boston. ‘I suspect there is a little bit more swine influenza right now than we are aware of, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see cases in Boston,’ predicted Dr. Anita Barry, director of the city’s infectious disease bureau.”

And yet there are no reported cases in New England. (more…)

Day nine and the Boston media continue to document every lurid development relating to the Craigslist killer. Boston’s print dailies fought out the media battle in typical form—on their front pages. The Herald opted for “SICK SICK SICK” followed by a blurb detailing the discovery of “hoarded panties” (!!!) in Philip Markoff’s apartment. The ever chaste Globe went with a picture of Boston Police Sergeant Detective Daniel Duff and a story describing the “old-school stakeout.” Yawn.

The “underwear” angle was stuffed on page A11. They managed to go even more conservative in the actual story, using 1950s-style terminology “underpants” and “undergarments.” This sounds less like prostitute gear and more like what grandmothers wear.

We’re guessing the Herald moves some papers today. “Panties” is really the only word one needs to see in a headline to make the story worth reading. Hell, we think this detail stops short. Don’t leave us hanging… Boy shorts? Thong? Lace? Granny? (more…)

The daring rescue of Captain Richard Phillips is front-page news all over the country this morning, and a welcome respite from more pension abuse stories, the Globe’s swing and a miss on Monster.com, and fast-food joints in Eastie.

Phillips’ rescue is the stuff of legend already, but Channel 7 was not content to air sound bites of Vermont’s favorite son and went the extra step of providing a graphic re-enactment of the Navy’s shootout with Somali pirates that needs to be seen to be believed. (Go to WHDH’s site and click on the video with the boat). (more…)

This is how I found out that the New York Times Company was issuing a cut $20 million in 30 days, or we’ll shut you down ultamatium to the Globe. I was courtside at the Celtics-Hawks game Friday night when I saw Bruce Allen’s Twitter feed linking to the Herald’s online story. Working backward, I went to Dan Kennedy’s Media Nation site and Adam Reilly’s Dont Quote Me blog on the Phoenix’s site.

To review: While writing for a website, I got the news in an arena with Wi-Fi access from a social-networking feed, and because I was curious about the story, I went to two other websites for (free) instantaneous analysis and information.

That’s how a lot of people consume news these days. To be sure, several of the scribes in what used to be known as press row heard about it the old-fashioned way: By hitting refresh on boston.com. But by the time my Saturday Globe hit my front step I had read almost everything there was to know. (more…)

In the matter of Don Imus vs. Jay Severin, does anyone really care?

Apparently the two had a falling out. Severin showed up at Imus’ St. Patrick’s Day show, ostensibly to make peace, and the I-Man told him to scram, adding a helpful hint that he’d “shoot” him if he didn’t. Nice.

Now Severin’s people are making a big deal out of this and while we love a good media feud as much as the next blog, the whole thing feels like a cheap publicity stunt designed to draw interest to a fading medium. (more…)

There’s been a relatively minor amount of word mincing during the municipal unions v. mayor showdown of the past few weeks. Still it’s fair to say that those words imply a little more than is printed. In that vein, we’ll take their sound bites and add some decoding. Try it out loud next time you read the paper.

Act I: City faces a budget shortfall of $131 million. Mayor Menino asks for the municipal unions to take a one-year wage freeze.

Menino on March 6, speaking at the annual meeting of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau: “Listen to your [union] membership. You may think you have the luxury of waiting. But you don’t. You may think I will bow to political pressure. I won’t.”

You better take those wage freezes. I’m not kidding. I’ll cut 700 jobs. Seriously. Beware the Ides of March. (Then makes spooky fingers and ooooh noise.)

Richard Stutman, President of the Boston Teachers Union: “This is the first time we’ve gotten any hard numbers from the city, and we’re glad that we finally got some details… We want to do our part like anyone else, but we need a little more information to go on.”

Ha. He’s bluffing. I don’t buy the 700 figure. No way are we going to take those wage cuts without a fight. I only get three months off out of the year as it is.

Thomas Nee, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, stalls and blames the media: “There’s no blanket no, but there’s no guarantee, ‘Yes, I’m going to take a wage freeze,’… We’re still in the process of dealing with this, and I don’t want to do it in the paper… The ultimatums [March 15 or else] aren’t serving anybody’s interests.”

Yeah, the media. They are the ones behind all of this. Does it make sense that I’m telling this to the media? (more…)

The release from Comcast SportsNet arrived in my Inbox a little while ago, entitled: Boston’s Top Sports Media Pros Compete in Comcast SportsNet’s Third Annual Media Madness Tournament.

Now, first things first. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes Bruce Allen’s head explode over at Boston Sports Media Watch where it seems that only in Boston would sports media types engage in this kind of navel-gazing ego stroke. (Note to Bruce: It happens everywhere).

But, naturally I did what any part-time talking head would do: I looked for my name. There are 32 sports media members in CSN’s bracket including my weei.com homeboys Rob Bradford and Joe Haggerty and my Celtics partner in crime, Jess Camerato, and they are well-deserving to take on Ron Borges and John Tomase et al, but there is nary a mention of yours truly.

I am thus left with three courses of action. (more…)

Let’s get the disclaimers out of the way up front. City Council President Mike Ross has blogged for us in the past. He also employs Amy Derjue, who was a staff writer for Boston magazine and Boston Daily.

Ross has pitched legislation that would compel colleges and universities to assist in enforcing the ban on apartment buildings renting out their units to more than four undergraduates. As one might expect, the reaction from the universities has been mixed, and the reaction from the undergrads has been outrage.

That’s fine.

But a sharply-worded editorial in the Berkeley Beacon, Emerson’s independent student-run newspaper, crossed a line. (more…)

Adam Reilly did some digging into the state of the Globe’s proposed buyouts and found, not surprisingly, that there is little motivation on the part of staffers to leave gainful employment in the distressed economy. That echoes what we’ve been hearing in casual, off-the-record conversations with Globies, which leads to the inevitable conclusion that things are going to get messy on Morrissey Blvd. (more…)

Like a lot of journos I spend way too much reading Romenesko to get a handle on the latest industry gossip (read: staff cuts, wage freezes, joint operating agreements. Not exactly TMZ, but enthralling in a watching a car wreck in slow motion kind of way).

This week has been excruciatingly bad for the most blighted industry this side of the car makers. On Monday, the owners of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News filed for Chapter 11 protection. Brian Tierney, the paper’s Chief Executive, swears he won’t shut down the Daily News, which had been a rumor long before Tierney’s group took over operations.

Of course he also had to back off a planned 38 percent raise after it was uncovered in the filing. (more…)