The Herald's bankruptcy filing reports that among the debts the paper owes is an estimated $600,000 to the Boston Globe for "trade services," i.e., the cost of printing the Herald on its Taunton printing presses.
Also facing a possible loss: The Herald's landlord at 70 Fargo St. near the South Boston convention center, out a possible $150,000 in rent.
According to Herald workers, though, one potential creditor was paid in full: Brown Rudnick, a downtown law firm publisher Pat Purcell hired, at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars, to advise him over the past couple of months on filing for bankruptcy - even as he was skipping out on more than $700,000 in payments to pension funds for Herald workers.
Purcell wants to sell the paper and its Web site to GateHouse Media, which doesn't want to take on the pensions.
Also possibly getting screwed: Herald freelance writers, who will now get to call themselves "unsecured creditors" in exchange for not getting paid for the past couple of months' worth of work.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Herald bankruptcy filing - scroll down near the end for list of major creditors | 745.48 KB |
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Comments
Lie Down With Dogs, Wake Up With Fleas
By John Costello
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 10:10am
I feel terrible for the Herald reporters and other workers, not the columnists, who should be made to walk down the street with copies of the Fountainhead being flung at them.
You can only write "Bow Tied Bum Kissers" and "Cakes to (Insert sports figure name)" or Roll Out the "Jew Who Loves Christmas" so many times before people just grow tired of the lousy writing and idiotic takes on local political machinations.
The Herald has been rounding the drain for decades. It barely made it through 1982 when newspapers were still punch drunk on money. I know we need a two paper town, the problem for the Wingo Flyer is that UHub has better local reporting and has become that second paper to me.
Globe
By Doug1001
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 10:23am
I can't tell if this is a ringing endorsement of the fine/unbiased/levelheaded reporting at the Globe or not.
Both newspapers are a joke.
Have you ever read another newspaper?
By Mark-
Thu, 12/14/2017 - 8:44am
“Both newspapers are a joke.” Of course you aren’t the only person to glibly write off newspapers like this, but seriously, have you ever compared the Globe to any newspaper in the country that doesn’t have a national readership base? I can’t think of a single paper that has more quality and in-depth reporting than the Boston Globe-except for the nationals like The NY Times, the Washington Post, or the LA Times. As for the Herald, it’s deeply in the shadow of the Globe but still puts out a product that’s far superior to any mid-sized city's newspaper I can think of. Most newspapers these days are a careless blend of wire-copy stories, stock photos, and syndicated features, and their local reports don’t go much farther than the front page. We are lucky to have what we have.
Haven't read many other
By anon
Thu, 12/14/2017 - 3:38pm
Haven't read many other newspapers, huh?
Yes, I've read many....
By Doug1001
Sat, 12/16/2017 - 5:38pm
I just disagree with your assessment.
Money
By BostonDog
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 10:41am
The columnists were the best paid and likely had stashed money away in safe investments anyway. The people who are screwed are everyone who isn't a household name and didn't have the means to stash 20% of their earnings into an investment account.
There should be a law that no owners or executives can profit, directly or indirectly, on any bankruptcy. But seeing as how the current POTUS got where he is today by letting others pick up the tab, I don't see changes anytime soon.
First paper to me.
By Brighton-ite
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 11:31am
It's the first paper to me. Only place I get local news, really. Unless I click on a link on UHub that leads to a newspaper site's story.
Same here
By Boston_res
Thu, 12/14/2017 - 10:17am
I don't even bother clicking on the Glob links.
Think of it...
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 1:01pm
600k a year is allegedly what Purcell was paying that racist scumbag Howie Carr a year to spread his disgusting invective. Notice Howie has been remarkably silent on this. He must be trying to pay Roy Moore to tell him tales of kiddie fucking for his next tome glorifying degenerates like Moore and John Martorano.
I mean, Howie still needs to make a dishonest living.
OMG,
By Patricia-can't ...
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 2:50pm
OMG,
"He must be trying to pay Roy Moore to tell him tales of kiddie fucking for his next tome "
Calm down, I think your imagination is getting a little carried away. I mean, who posts something like this?
I do.
By Brian Riccio
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 10:03pm
And how am I wrong?
The Herald will be this week
By Chris77
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 3:53pm
The Herald will be this week's Cheap Bastard deaL.
The Globe does have some leverage
By Gary C
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 1:17pm
Unless the Herald gets someone else to print their paper, the Globe can tell them, "Pay up or today's issue will be the last."
Gatehouse has their own presses
By Waquiot
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 2:27pm
So that shouldn't be that hard of a obstacle to surmount.
Not if it doesn't want to upset a Bankruptcy Court Judge
By Neal
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 3:39pm
The Herald has contracted its printing out to the Globe, a bankruptcy filing would stay any suspension of that contract or any other related action, regardless of status of payment.
Who could see this coming?
By IGoBackToTheHer...
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 1:34pm
Who could see this coming?
They picked up Barnicle and Borges from the Globe off of Plagiarism waivers.
The beat reporter covering the Patriots gets caught red handed making up a story that is totally bogus and how does Herald management punish him? They put him on the Red Sox beat*>
*Anytime you hear a baseball writer talking about the sanctity of their hall of fame vote remember, a guy who made up a false story about the Patriots has a vote.
I'll miss Howie, he tried to keep those creeps on Beacon Hill honest - it's a total kleptocracy up there now and no one is looking out for the taxpayers.
So wait
By Marco
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 2:39pm
A conservative institution is screwing over a liberal one, leaving them holding the bag of unpaid bills?
I AM SHOCKED.
I love that they paid their bankruptcy lawyers. I imagine those guys demand payment up front, considering the line of business they are in.
Both papers are trash, I am surprised ANYONE but debt collectors gives a rats ass about either of them.
The bankruptcy laws allow for
By JakeD
Thu, 12/14/2017 - 10:42am
The bankruptcy laws allow for attorneys (and any other persons working on a bankruptcy) to get paid because otherwise no one would provide work for a company in bankruptcy. Makes sense, doesn't it?
Skip your knee jerk reaction the next time.
Pat Purcell is a very, very
By marty j
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 4:04pm
Pat Purcell is a very, very rich man.
He hatched this disgraceful plot years ago when he separated the newspaper from the land it was house on, then obtained an ownership stake in what is now Ink Block.
He gets a cut of every lease that is signed in that sprawling complex.
Now that he is ready to retire, he is saying the paper is bankrupt, and he can't pay his bills.
Disgusting.
I hope the Globe does "a Herald" on him, goes to Martha's Vineyard and snaps a photos of his yacht.
Not just chop-shopping assets and declaring bankruptcy...
By anon
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 5:43pm
...trying to skip out on the pensions that were part of the deal of employees working for him.
Could his personal assets cover the pension fund? Can the Herald employees hire lawyers good enough to pierce the corporate veil?
If not, I feel somewhat bad for the Herald employees. At the same time, we have another lesson of rich people getting lower-class people to attack lower-class people (rather than attack their real enemies, the rich people), and there being no surprise when the rich people are so greedy and confident that they eventually screw over everyone, including their own henchpersons.
Maybe some discarded henchpersons would realize this, want to investigate and and communicate this reality to everyone, and be able to do this because they are journalists?
Imagine some mob boss surrounding himself with hitmen, and then announcing to all the hitmen at once that he's stealing their money. Is this rich man more powerful than a mob boss?
Herald may outlast the Globe
By O-FISH-L
Wed, 12/13/2017 - 11:16pm
I'm sure Pat Purcell filed for bankruptcy for tax and other financial reasons after selling the old Headquarters in the South End. I'm surprised he got $4.5 million for the paper. At least Gate House may keep it open in some form.
In recent years, reports said that the Globe's only value was the Morrissey Boulevard Headquarters. Now that it has also been sold, start the countdown clock on Globe bankruptcy. Maybe out of ego John Henry will prop it up (or to give Linda Pizzutti something to do) but newspapers are like the old horse drawn ice-wagon. Refrigerators came along, like the internet. If we could time travel, most papers would be gone in 5-10 years.
The papers never should have gone onto the internet. As I argued 15 years ago, if a restaurant charged full price for dine-in but gave takeout for free, who would pay for dine-in? Who would pay for the printed paper?
Ever heard of a little thing called....
By Brian Riccio
Thu, 12/14/2017 - 12:57am
the internet? I realize you're probably still on Earthlink, but newspapers have transitioned to it and are making money! Ask any kid!
I feel like if I asked any
By anon_wd
Thu, 12/14/2017 - 10:39am
I feel like if I asked any kid- I'd get a response of "What's a newspaper?"
If you think newspapers are
By anon
Thu, 12/14/2017 - 11:58am
If you think newspapers are making money on the Internet you're wrong. They're still all losing money there. Even NYT is losing hundreds of millions online. The reckoning is coming. All that will be left is UHub and other small bloggers. You just can't run a local news org online and make money - the ad rates are far too low priced. It's over for all newspapers. The Globe is a few years from going through the exact same thing - unless John lets Linda run it as a vanity project.
I hope not
By necturus
Fri, 12/15/2017 - 10:47am
Without newspapers there is no journalism, and without journalism democracy is unsustainable.
You sound nuts
By Dave-from-Boston
Thu, 12/14/2017 - 11:54am
Stick with your well-know rendition of the day you cancelled your Globe subscription. As crazy as that story is, at least it was semi-coherent - this edition of stream of consciousness wrapped in word salad is breathtakingly idiotic.
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