Wow, the newly invigorated Boston Herald is really punching up these days: Yesterday, it ran a shocking expose on how a newspaper that's been dead for six years, its archives now stored at Northeastern, used to run lots of ads for escort services.
Now that America is woke to the plight of human trafficking after the scandal embroiling Robert Kraft and his trips to the Orchids of Asia Spa, should Northeastern University come clean about a dirty little secret hidden deep within its archives?
Woke? Dirty little secret? Is the Herald writer the one person in Boston who never saw the Phoenix's "Adult" section?
One can only hope he next turns his eyes inward, to the days when the editors at the Hearst paper in Boston (part of that proud Herald heritage) would ask their police reporters "is it dark out there?" about victims of violent crimes to determine if their attacks merited attention in print.
In the meantime, here's the Herald story, but you'll need a Herald subscription to read it.
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Comments
Unrequited admiration
By Kapil
Fri, 05/03/2019 - 6:48pm
Another reprimand from you, Adam. Never have I tried so hard to get someone to like me. I am going to work hard on this. I actually thought you might like the above post as an interesting thought experiment.
You should take him to
By baustin
Fri, 05/03/2019 - 7:49pm
You should take him to Cheesecake Factory! Always works for me!
The Yellow Pages
By Oscar Worthy
Fri, 05/03/2019 - 5:28pm
The phonebook (kids, ask your parents) used to have pages of escort services. And they were often among the biggest ad buyers, some with swanky full and half-page display ads. Them and personal injury lawyers. They were under E, and not P for prostitution, but who was dumb enough to not figure it out . . ?
Oh, yeah, you're right!
By adamg
Fri, 05/03/2019 - 5:34pm
Proof.
By Never, You Need The Phoenix
By BobN
Fri, 05/03/2019 - 5:40pm
Howie used to call the Phoenix a "one hand rag".
Owner Mindich dead and while there's a "Portland Phoenix" up in Maine it only
uses the old name.
I got rid of Herald subscription and now it's behind a paywall just like the Fenway Gazette.
The Portland Phoenix closed earlier this year
By Ron Newman
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 7:43pm
though it could return:
Publisher folds Portland Phoenix but hopes ads for legal pot can revive it (Portland Press Herald)
It was the last survivor, after the deaths of the Worcester, Boston, and Providence Phoenix papers, as well as WFNX radio and Stuff magazine.
really.
By scollaysq
Fri, 05/03/2019 - 8:51pm
Was there a person left that didn't know this?
Good grief.
By jmeltzer
Fri, 05/03/2019 - 9:44pm
Everyone stuffed that section back into the box.
Not everybody...
By Boston T. Party
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 9:51am
Not everybody...
Political Correctness gone awry again
By In The Know
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 7:16am
A grasp at ratings and page hits.
The Phoenix was not the only newspaper or magazine in those days that carried questionable advertisements for various escort services.
Dirty Little Secret? This is a move to try to get a historical archive wiped off the face of the earth. This is the same mentality that wants to white-wash (or choose what ever politically correct color suits you) pretty much all kinds of history, lovable or hate-able.
We should also destroy all news articles on Sacco and Vanzetti case because its anti-Italian, or maybe the Rosenberg Trial because its anti-Jewish.
Let's also remove all mention of Mayor Kevin H. White, because ... after all... his name indicates white privilege, right?
One has to wonder if Russian infiltration was limited to just Presidential Elections.
This level of political correctness runs a risk of eliminating history, good and bad, including important items such as the Holocaust of WWII. After all that's way too violent a subject to even discuss right?
Stop. Just... stop.
So Adam, why do you hate the
By anon
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 7:23am
So Adam, why do you hate the Herald? Would you prefer a one newspaper town? That wouldn't be world class.
I sit here all day thinking up ways to hate the Herald
By adamg
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 1:45pm
Bwahahah!
Um, what? Criticizing the framing of exactly one article is just that - who said anything about wanting the Herald to die? That would be stupid, like bringing up the business practice of a long dead newspaper to complain about the treatment of a horndog sports-team owner.
Did you read the article Adam
By anon
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 7:30am
Did you read the article Adam?
Yes
By adamg
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 1:46pm
Glad I could clear that up for you.
People are missing the larger question
By Waquiot
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 1:15pm
Why?
Why was the article written? Who does it benefit? Or specifically, who was it meant to attack?
From my reading, this was a swipe at Dan Kennedy. Someone at the Herald has an axe to grind with Dan Kennedy.
I hate to be a cynic, but I find that with the media (including social media) often what is written bears little relation to what the writer's intent.
Dan Kennedy, or NU
By Irma la Douce
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 2:37pm
Having read ALL THREE* articles/columns, it seems to me that it might be Northeastern as an institution that is the target, for whatever reason.
*Each by a different reporter/columnist, yet the writing is uniformly cringe-worthy. Favorite example, from Casey Sherman:
So nobody in America thought human trafficking was bad before Robert Kraft?
But why?
By Waquiot
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 2:58pm
I mean, they can do coverage of Kraft on their own, peddling anything from the arrest being entrapment to attacking the video surveillance. Why come down on Northeastern, except to give cover to something else?
I am reminded of another Herald story from years past. They did some work on Vinny Marino, his relationship to Mayor Menino, and also his relationship with organized crime. The point was show Vinny that it is not wise to threaten a reporter (in this case, a writer from the Parkway Transcript, which at the time was owned by the Herald's owners) by embarrassing him and his best friend.
I put my money on the true target being Kennedy, but I could be wrong.
DK and Herald ownership
By Irma la Douce
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 3:33pm
Dan Kennedy has repeatedly attacked the current Herald ownership (recently calling DigitalFirst Media "the worst of the bottom-feeding newspaper chains"), so there's that. On the other hand, he's hardly the only media commentator to do so. We'll see if the Herald starts publishing stories unflattering to others....
I re-read the original story
By Waquiot
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 3:42pm
First, it should be noted it was a column, not a news story, since I do see a difference.
More importantly, there was definitely an attempt to show that Kennedy's views on the Kraft story is hypocritical based on his relative silence on the business model of his former employer. The other articles are either people piling on or an attempt to stir the pot more.
It's the Herald, so ...
By adamg
Sun, 05/05/2019 - 4:41pm
They've made it a news story.
Indeed
By Waquiot
Sun, 05/05/2019 - 7:04pm
Which is a classic example of groupthink in journalism.
Dan Kennedy statement on Twitter
By Irma la Douce
Sat, 05/04/2019 - 3:51pm
which also posts a statement from the Dean of Libraries at Northeastern
https://twitter.com/dankennedy_nu?ref_src=twsrc%5E...
I feel like this was really common for a while
By BOSinBCS
Sun, 05/05/2019 - 10:28am
I'm not sure about today, but at least in the early-mid 2000s, even upscale, highbrow Boston Magazine had these kinds of advertisements in the back. I'm not sure it's fair to single out the Phoenix here.
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