• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

MEDIA FARM: IF EBOLA CAME TO SOMERVILLE, THE GLOBE WOULD PRAISE IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR AVANT-GARDE VOMIT ART

Written by DIG INTERN Posted October 17, 2014 Filed Under: A+E, NEWS+OPINIONS

Image by Kent Buckley

Pop quiz: You’re the editor of a major metropolitan newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts, where the former governor, also a one-time candidate for President of the United States, surprisingly testifies on behalf of the friend of an accused domestic terrorist. Do you:

A) Run a massive pic and story about this happening above the fold?

B) Take this completely serious issue and use it as an opportunity to mock the aging gov?

C) Play it safe below the fold and use prime real estate for a puff piece on Somerville?

Somerville_City_HallTabloid readers likely picked the second option, while more serious folks probably chose the first. At the Boston Globe, decision-makers opted for the third, and why not? Praise should be showered on the City of Somerville on all occasions, in every last section. If Mayor Joe Curtatone peed himself in public and his pantaloons stuck to his pelvis, the Globe would commend him for sporting the same skin-tight jeans worn by his hip constituents.

The problem isn’t just today’s odd placement of an article about how Somerville is so rad that it must be carbon-copied. Nor is the sole issue that Globe editors have pushed this line relentlessly, or that they always tend to include gratuitous and voyeuristic urban porn galleries with titles like “Hipsters in Somerville.” Part of the torture comes from lines like, “Specialists say several factors must combine to spark an invasion, for better or worse, of knowledge workers, foodies, and bicyclists.” But the biggest annoyance of all is that despite this farm-to-table facade, which accurately reflects some corners of life there, Somerville is not Candy Land. It is a real city, with real problems, and real people, and skyrocketing costs.

We know what you’re saying: the Dig spent much of last year impugning Somerville, has a hard-on for the place. You’re damn right we do. In all our 15 years of publishing, we’ve found that approximately half our readers have lived north of the river. More freelancers, reporters, editors, designers, interns, and sales people than we can count have and still do hang their hats there, and many of them have faithfully helped cover food, music, and art in Somerville for more than a decade.

So without ranting further, let’s just say we were taken aback by this latest affirmation of the city’s superlative status. Especially considering how in the past few weeks, there was no mention in the Globe about how Curtatone clashed with the Board of Aldermen over campaign finance reform (Note: Boston.com has been on the case). Par for the course, but if evergreen real estate drip is going to trump the former governor testifying in federal court, it’s our duty to remind readers that the less savory side of Somerville was yet again ignored.

 

[Media Farm is wrangled by DigBoston News + Features Editor Chris Faraone]

 

FURTHER READING

THE SOMERVILLE FILES PART I: THE FIXED GEARS

THE SOMERVILLE FILES PART II: GHOSTS OF ASSEMBLY SQUARE

THE SOMERVILLE FILES PART III: RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

THE SOMERVILLE FILES PART IV: THE MAN IN THE MAYOR SUIT

A RESPONSE TO THE CITY OF SOMERVILLE

 

DIG INTERN
Related posts
  • DIG INTERN
    https://digboston.com/author/dig-intern/
    November 6, 2014
    SPECIAL FEATURE: BOSTON'S STRANGE AND PROBLEMATIC NEW APPROACH TO CURBING PROSTITUTION (AND ADDRESSING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN)
  • DIG INTERN
    https://digboston.com/author/dig-intern/
    October 29, 2014
    GET WITCH OR DIE TRYIN': SURVEYING SALEM'S CRASS AND SURREAL TOURISM GAUNTLET
  • DIG INTERN
    https://digboston.com/author/dig-intern/
    October 27, 2014
    INTERVIEW: THE RETURN OF ROADSTEAMER
  • DIG INTERN
    https://digboston.com/author/dig-intern/
    October 27, 2014
    MEDIA FARM: THE BUTCHER, THE BAKER, THE CANDIDATE MAKER

Filed Under: A+E, NEWS+OPINIONS Tagged With: Cambridge, Cambridge City Hall, Carlone petition, central square, Chris Faraone, davis square, Dennis Carlone, Dig Boston, DigBoston, Donald Norton, George Dilboy, Herb Foster, homeowners, Massachusetts, Mayor Joe Curtatone, MIT, Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, Richard DiGirolamo, Sean O’Donovan, SOMERVILLE, Somerville News, SomerVision, Ten Hills neighborhood, The Somerville Files, VFW, Zoning Board of Appeals. ZBA

WHAT’S NEW

A View of the Harvard Square Pit in June 2022. Photo by Jason Pramas. Copyright 2022 Jason Pramas

Why This Pit Kid Is Not Going to ‘Pit-A-Palooza’

Reader Responses: "Unruly, Argumentative Governor's Council ..."

Reader Responses: “Unruly, Argumentative Governor’s Council …”

Inbox: Legislation To Protect Vote for Eligible Incarcerated Voters on Baker’s Desk

Inbox: Legislation To Protect Vote for Eligible Incarcerated Voters on Baker’s Desk

Mental-Health Program Provides Alternative to Emergency-Room Boarding

Mental-Health Program Provides Alternative to Emergency-Room Boarding

Unruly, Argumentative Governor’s Council Inflames Parole Board Hearings

Unruly, Argumentative Governor’s Council Inflames Parole Board Hearings

Photos courtesy of CAIR-MA

Food, Folks … and Fear?

Primary Sidebar

FEATURED EVENT

Advertisement

Most Popular

  • Dig This: The Return Of the Boston Seafood Festival
  • No Smoking, No Thank You. Advocates Decry Cannabis Social Consumption Rules in Mass
  • Meet the Phantom Behind Greater Boston’s Awesome Food Feed Everybody Gotta Eat
  • Dig This: The Hot Dog Safari Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival
  • FOTOBOM: WILCO’S SOLID SOUND FESTIVAL

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]