Rally 'round the Globe

A couple hundred Globe workers, members of other unions and politicians rallied today at Faneuil Hall, telling the New York Times to accept the same sort of cuts they're demanding from Globe workers, keep the Globe going and keep their hands off Boston. City Councilors Mike Ross and Charles Yancey spoke out for the Globe, as did Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes.

Ross on the importance of the Globe:

Dorothy Clark, a news copy editor at the paper, said Boston simply would not be the same without the Globe: "This city, this region, we people, cannot afford the collapse the dissppearance of the Globe would surely bring about. And where would the Herald be without the Globe? Would the Herald become even more irrelevant [without competition to keep it sharp]?"

"The Globe starts the conversation and referees the debate," reporter Brian Mooney said. He asked what else you could buy in a convenience store for 75 cents that provides as much value as the Globe.

And then he laid into New York management. He said workers are not the reasson the newspaper business is failing but that they are willing to do their part to help save it. Management, however, is not, he said. He acknowledged Times managers are looking at furloughs but said that's nothing compared to the 23% pay and benefit cuts they are asking of rank-and-file employees. And don't get him started on pensions and contributions to employee retirement plans. Top Times execs "will get millions and we'll get Social Security. That's not fair. ... They lose the corporate jet and they want us to lose all our sick days. That's not fair."

"Shame on the New York Times," Mass. AFL-CIO President Robert Haynes said:

And the Globe doesn't belong to Sulzberger, it belongs to the people of Boston:

David Jackson, a Nieman Fellow and Pulitzer-winning reporter from the Chicago Tribune, said he could not imagine Boston without the Globe - and its breaking the news on everything from clergy sex abuse to Partners Health Care's monopolistic practices to the detailed story of the death of two young girls in a fire started by a jealous girlfriend of their mother's. "The work must continue. It's the city's very life, it's America's future."

City Councilor Charles Yancey said he was reminded of the Globe's importance this past weekend, when he visited his family home after a bad fire and, up on the second floor, found a copy of a Globe photo showing him and the late Councilor Jimmy Kelly holding hands after Yancey's election.

Reporter Bella English sneeringly asked what bloggers would do without the Globe. There's no way "Joe from Belmont blogging from his living room, maybe in his underwear" could provide the same level of quality journalism as Globe reporters and editors. As Jackson did, she recited stories in the Globe that affected change, such as its series of stories that led to Sal DiMasi's resignation. "Without the Globe, who would dig up such news?" she asked. "The Herald!" one apparent Herald reader yelled from the back. She said people who wish for the Globe's demise are really part of "the sleezy, the corrupt and the incompetent." But she also pointed to slice-of-life stories that showcase all the good, interesting people living in Boston as an example of the way the Globe helps define the city. Oh, and she said the decision to post news online without charging for it is little better than a teenage slut - as one of her Southern relatives would tell young girls, "Honey, never give it away for free."