Hey, there! Log in / Register

John Henry to WGBH: That all ya got?

This evening, Emily Rooney at WGBH reported that John Henry and Globe CEO Mike Sheehan ignored warnings from their own circulation department that the new home-delivery system could fail.

Henry fired back tonight in a tweet:

WGBH now has added a fiction writer to its news lineup. Makes for great stories!

Topics: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

First of all, Rooney's version of events seems to be getting significant push-back, both from Henry, in the tweet you quote, and from Sheehan, as seen in this addition to Rooney's piece (original also in bold italics):

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post has been updated.
Globe CEO Mike Sheehan does not agree with the sequence of events as reported in this article.

I wish it would include Sheehan's version; maybe that's on the way.

Second, and more puzzling to me, is how the delivery debacle is being reframed by the Globe as a "monopoly-busting" effort. It looks to me like the PCF-to-ACI switch was more like transferring the monopoly, not breaking it up. Now that they've had to divvy up their deliveries, suddenly the Globe is acting more like creating competition was the plan all along.

up
Voting closed 0

there's just some base human instinct to believe that The Leader, be it the head of the family, the mayor, the president, the boss, or the CEO knows what he's doing in some rudimentary capacity.

This instinct is subject to confirmation bias in the sense that most extant organizations have somebody in there that does know what they're doing, otherwise they would cease to be, well, extant. The part where your intuition and instinct serve you poorly though, is when you automatically assume that the public face of this organization, and/or its head, is the competent one.

There is a reason that we start to tell our children the story of the emperor's new clothes when they're young. The reason is to try to diffuse this counter-productive instinct before it becomes completely hardwired into their personalities, leaving them gullible and easily controlled. And that is also the reason we should remind ourselves of this parable: so that when crap like this gets aired out into the open, none of the spin and BS from the talking heads in the corner office can create any ambiguity about the fact that the emperor is, in fact, buck naked.

up
Voting closed 0

The monopoly the Globe was probably referring to is that all newspapers in the area use PCF; by switching to another provider, they were spurring competition. One oneself doesn't actually have to use 2+ service providers to be trying to bust a monopoly in a sector of the economy...

up
Voting closed 0

What do the leadership of PCF or ACI have to say?

up
Voting closed 0

If either of them has a PR firm worth its salt (or indeed, if anyone working at either place has spoken to a sister-in-law working in PR), they're saying nothing. There's no way for either of them to add anything to this debacle without making themselves look worse.

Luckily, John Henry has apparently never talked to a PR person, and is creating a fiery ball of flaming wreckage for us to enjoy.

up
Voting closed 0

Is there some way both of these turd-loads can both lose?0

up
Voting closed 0

After the way Terry Francona was let go, I can't believe a word Johnny Henry has to say. Plus quit hiding behind your computer and say something in public to your subscribers.

up
Voting closed 0

Finally received a timely delivery from the Globe. A bill. Sent a letter to John Henry.
Dear John, I want you to know that I am sitting in the smallest room in my house., I have your bill in front of me, shortlly ti will be behind me.

Thank you

up
Voting closed 0