Democracy requires public control of social media giants In this edition of DigBoston, our Editor-in-Chief Chris Faraone has already written at some length about how Medium—which is essentially a glorified blog farm with a puzzlingly opaque social media component—screwed our nonprofit, the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ), a few days back by […]
URBAN MISSION
The solution to UMass Boston’s woes could start with a city-run college There was an interesting conversation recently between two people who I often criticize for being… um… insufficiently public spirited. The Boston Globe’s Shirley Leung asked Boston mayor Marty Walsh a great question: “What if the city took over the University of […]
BROKEN MEDIA, BROKEN POLITICS
If Mass journalists were doing their jobs, Baker would not be so popular It’s always funny to hear that Charlie Baker is a very popular governor… The most popular governor in the country at the moment, according to polls. Because he doesn’t do anything very differently than his predecessor Deval Patrick did. Or […]
YOUR MOVE, BOSTON
Only a massive protest movement can stop government giveaways to megacorps Boston politics—in both its state and local variants—seems to consist largely of backroom deals between government officials and major corporations punctuated by rituals of representative democracy that are increasingly put on just for show. Perhaps it has ever been thus. But that […]
TOWNIE: MASS REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITIES FACE MAJOR BUDGET CRISIS
Gov. Baker’s proposed cuts throw gasoline on raging policy fire A quarter-century ago, I lived in Lawrence for a few months. Because it was the closest place to Boston that I could find a cheap apartment on short notice. Unfortunately, I had a low-paying job in the city and couldn’t afford a car. […]
TOWNIE: UMB DRUBBING, PAWSOX GRUBBING
University cuts and a (possible) corporate scam just in time for the holidays UMass Boston admin lays off more staff, unions push back The neoliberal war on public higher education continues unabated in Massachusetts as the UMass Boston administration announced the layoff of 36 personnel last week, and a reduction in hours for […]
GENERAL ELECTRIC FAIL
Conglomerate’s woes throw Boston HQ deal contradictions into bold relief What a surprise. General Electric is tanking, and the scheme to bring the multinational’s headquarters to Boston is looking worse by the day. And whom shall the public blame if that once-secret deal cut by Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh in […]
THE VERTEX SHELL GAME
Pharma’s Donation to Boston, Other Cities Converts Public Funds to PR Gold Vertex Pharmaceuticals made a big PR splash last week with an announcement of a significant donation to Boston and other cities where it does business. The Boston-based company, best known for its cystic fibrosis meds, has pledged to “spend $500 million on […]
JUST ASK DIAPERS.COM
More reasons Boston should take a hard pass on Amazon There are myriad practical reasons why Boston should walk away from the Amazon headquarters sweepstakes: an out-of-control real estate and rental market, chronic transit and traffic problems, and an overheated tech sector, which is exacerbating inequality. But the most compelling reason is that Amazon […]
AMAZON OCTAGON
Mass pols stand ready to fight each other for the right to bribe a multinational At least 17 Massachusetts cities and towns are now preparing to do battle with each other—and hundreds more municipalities nationwide—for the dubious “honor” of “winning” the right to throw enough public money and tax breaks at Amazon to become […]
