March 06, 2006
What They Say 3/4/06
It's been a while since the last Ombudsman's blog entry. My apologies. I'll try to be more consistent with entries.
Here is the latest version of my weekly report for all Globe journalists and executives of the highlights of feedback from Globe readers from the past week. I will try to post this on the Ombudsman's blog so that readers can see what other readers are saying about the Globe. This is the way the report looks when I distribute it to the staff.
What They Say
March 4, 2006
The comments from readers this week varied from reaction to the Ombudsman's column on letters to the editor to new complaints about the quality of newsprint and production. Some readers complained about the comics - both daily and Sunday. Others commented on the early coverage of the Dubai Ports story There were also some nice comments.
The highlights follow, with some light editing for length.
Letters, letters, letters…
When I saw your Ombudsman article on letters to the editor in today's Sunday Globe (2/26), I thought you might address an issue I have wondered about. Since you didn't, I thought I would write.
If my memory is correct, I have written five letters to the editors of the Globe over a period of about 10 years. Two have been published. On those two occasions, I was surprised and angered to see the extent to which my writing had been edited. I can understand editing to correct spelling or grammar or to shorten a letter that is too long. For both published letters, I found that your editors changed my words much more significantly than that. Words were changed. Sentences were left out or reordered. The meaning was not the same as what I wrote.
I write a lot in my work. I am used to being edited and am not particularly sensitive about people changing what I have written. On the other hand, I always get the final say when something is going out over my name. I understand that the Globe needs to take responsiblity for the quality of things it prints. The obvious power you maintain is not to print the letters I send you. It is not proper for you to change my words and publish them as mine without my permission. I understand that I was warned that my words would be edited. I assumed that it would be done respectfully. When I found that it was not, I stopped writing.
(Note: the writer requested that his name not be published and this letter was not edited.)
Why not post all electronic letters received unedited on a special web page. its cheap and more and more readers read the globe electronically.
Geoff Mitchell
Exeter, NH
Your column I found to be very interesting and informative. And may I presume to suggest another basic rule for the new letters editor: If the content of a news item or column is derogatory towards and individual or organization, that he give priority to publishing a letter in defense of that individual or organization. The Globe has been very lax in this regard in the past. Omitting such is rather like striking someone who has his hands tied behind his back. The rule also helps insure that the original writer will be careful about his facts.
Richard F. Russo
Arlington, MA
Thank you for taking the time to give more insight into the Globe's criteria for printing letters. I just think it strange that in all my years of reading the Globe, I have seen plenty letters which are consistent with the Globe's ideology. I have only seen one intelligent, well written, clearly "conservative" letter in the Globe, such as I can see in papers like the USA today, etc. Which is not surprising, since from the way conservatives (especially those of the Christian genre), are often depicted in the Globe, it does not consider that there are any articulate, intelligent conservatives out there (Jeff Jacoby being a token exception).
I have written over a dozen with not even an acknowledgment (since about 2002), while the Metro (yes, I know who owns them) has printed a high percentage of the few I sent. I am not whining, just pointing out that while the Globe seems to consider itself an objective-reporting medium, its selection of stories and letters reveal something quite different.
Dan from Chelsea
I am a firm believer of the reader being able to express his/her views. I read the Letters to the Editor and The Ombudsman religiously.
The readers of the Herald and the Globe may represent two different points of view. I f the Globe receives many letters supporting their views I don't think that they should be dismissed. The 'opposition' may have their letters published with no 'right on' letters, leading the reader to believe that there are no other readers who may share the views of the article or opinion piece.
Perhaps a better approach would be to say, at the conclusion of letters on a certain subject, is that "we have received X letters in opposition and X letters in support; and we have published a representative sample." To deny supporters the ability to be heard is wrong.
Angus Crowe
Dover, MA
Creases, curls and folds…
I have written several letters, none have been printed or answered, perhaps because they have been critical of The Globe.
First, the manufacturing quality has become very poor, I never get a paper without pleats, tears, blank pages or pages stuck together at the top, when is the Globe going to invest in new equipment to print a first class newspaper. Second, the sports department does not seem to be aware that there are High School sports north of Boston and in particular the existence of a Northeast Conference.
Myron S. Stone
Swampscott, MA
Now that the winter Olympics are over, I can get back to my favorite winter sport - curling. No, not the one on ice, but my newspaper. Obviously in an effort to save money on paper, the Globe is using an inferior paper product. No sooner is the paper out of the plastic bag it is delivered in, it does its best imitation of the Dead Sea scrolls. It has been very noticeable in the last few months. I am sure you are not going back to the old thicker paper, but I do not seem to have a similar problem with the NY Times. Do they save the best paper for themselves and leave us the dregs? I am sure I am not the only person to have noticed this.
Jeff Seifert
Medford, MA
Just want to voice my dissatisfaction with continuing issues with the Sidekick section, and with the comics page of the Sunday Globe.
Sidekick is never folded correctly. The crease is about 1/2 inch away from where it should be, resulting in uneven tails, and sometimes obscures part of a column or comic. When it first came out, I figured you just needed a little time to get the kinks out. But it's gone on long enough now... It just looks like you don't care.
You've really messed up the Sunday comics page. Last week some of the comics were barely legible, as they were noticeably squeezed and distorted to fit into a small area. What's is the purpose here? I shouldn't need a magnifying glass or a fun-house lens to read the comics. Layout needs work.
Long time reader, maybe not for much longer.
Steve
Littleton, MA
As a faithful home delivery subscriber for 40 years, I'd like to pitch a small beef about the recently added "SIDEKICK" section. With all your newspaper experience and ingenuity can't you fold the section along the center seam? It is very awkward to hold for reading or doing the puzzles when it is always a quarter to a half-inch off center. (Today it was 3/4 inch off.)
Frederick C. Richardson
Lincoln, MA
Dubai story coverage
The Globe has lost its ability to follow news stories. The fact that you have treated the P&O port security issue as a an Associated press story proves that fact. Ted Bridis article was hardly informative - retread of SOME of the facts- it was neither a factual BALANCED report or opinion it was a waste of the readers time. We expect better but you seemed to think that Ann Romney's travels around the US was a more important story. Is there anyone left in the mainstream media that wants to report on a news story or have you guys decided that to write a real news story is some how NOT profitable. Please at least make an attempt to report real front-page news, your current paper is a poor example of a once great news organization.
Bill Win
Comics comments…
Comics are about pictures and words. Why is the Globe scrunching up the comics so it can save one sheet of paper? If you mess with the comics you know you are going to lose circulation.
Michael Biales
PLEASE, PLEASE, stop, and I mean STOP, doing the idiotic things you've been doing to the comics. Most recently, someone who clearly has no background in graphic design, perhaps the same someone who has been making all of the fantastically bad layout decisions on the e comics pages, decided it would be good to use non-proportional scaling on comics such as Curtis, Jump Start, Rose is Rose, and Adam@Home. What a vapid, misguided, and broken idea. THIS IS NOT WHAT I PAY MY INFLATED SUBSCRIPTION RATE FOR.
I am a subscriber, and have been for years, because I want to be able to read the newspaper, including the comics, not because I want to torture my eyes.
You, sirs, are doing an excellent job of alienating your subscribers. It's as if you are doing it intentionally, as if you WANT to drive your newspaper into the ground.
J. Pezaris
Cambridge, MA
I have exchanged emails with your predecessors and decided not to bother you guys any more about Mr. Tinsley and his Duck (Mallard Fillmore 2/27). Then today's entry appeared and I wonder again if anyone at the Globe reads his stuff. The idea that it is appropriate in this era to actually PRIINT in the "Comics" section a vignette including the prospect of "Beheading Jay Leno" just seems callous beyond redemption. At the same moment that the country is holding its breath about Jill Carroll . . . Today's Tinsley is just too repulsive.
Just put him on the editorial page, please. I would not want to stifle him.
Dan Langdale
Can you please add another comics page to your paper, featuring some of the best comics that the Boston Herald has eliminated like: Hi & Lois, Beetle Bailey, Blondie, Cathy, Peanuts, Andy Capp, Lockhorns, and Rex Morgan? I loved those strips and now I can't find them in either of these papers. Or could you at least find a way to include these in your paper. Chicago and Los Angeles allowed some of these comics to come back into their papers, you should be able to do that too.
Mike Popp
Massachusetts
What would Foghorn do?
We've just been immersed in two weeks of Olympics coverage on NBC from Torino, Italy. Yet the Boston Globe persists in calling Torino "Turin", the name that xenophobic Brits gave this city centuries ago. They also called Livorno, Italy "Leghorn". Perhaps they couldn't handle the real names of the places, or they just wanted to put their imprint on those nasty foreign names.
However, after the Olympics, Torino has become much more a part of us today. Isn't it time the Globe changed its style sheet to call Turin "Torino"?
Sam Coulbourn
Rockport, MA
What's a "plonk?"
I'm writing this email as a means of clarifying an apparent misunderstanding on your part, in reference to your "plonk of the week" wine article.
I work in wine retail in the south end of Boston. every week many of my customers come in with your article seeking the weeks newest bargain wines. While I applaud your efforts in informing the public of today's wide range of good inexpensive wines, you are misusing the word "plonk".
"Plonk" does not mean inexpensive wine. "Plonk" is in fact an entirely derogatory term. Simply put, the word actually means bad, undrinkable wine, no matter whether it cost $5 or $100. This slip up has made your paper a bit of a laughing stock amongst members of the beverage industry, as well as consumers in the know.
Keep up the good work with the article, but please find a more appropriate name for it.
Giuseppe Timore
Nice photo…
Loved the photo by John Tlumacki titled "Dog Days" on pg. B3 of the Sunday (2/26) Globe. Our family found it very amusing and the photo now hangs on our fridge. Thank Mr. Tlumacki for us.
The Shannon family
Saugus, MA
Thanks…
Thank you for your article, "Future of the Internet Highway Debated" which appears in the February 26 Boston Globe, online.
Recently I have read several articles on this topic, from various writers, including some at a supposedly tech-oriented news service, but yours is the only one that makes a clear statement of the issue and more importantly, provides clear statements from opposing points of view.
Please pass my congratulations to those involved with the article. Who knows, maybe they are deserving of a more tangible reward?
Steve Rimicci
Massachusetts
As you can see, the comments from readers are varied and enlightening. I may not always agree with the comments, but I think these viewpoints should be seen - by the Globe staff and by other readers.
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