No one, it appears, is policing public officials to make sure they comply with the state’s Open Meeting Law. Attorney General Martha Coakley, in a presentation to Beacon Hill budget officials earlier this week, said the Legislature transferred enforcement of the state’s Open Meeting Law from the 11 district attorneys to her office. But lawmakers
Full disclosure, at a cost
The highly respected Center for Public Integrity discovered what local reporters have learned about the high cost of public records in Massachusetts. The Center this week released the results of its nearly two-year investigation in conjunction with the Center for Investigative Reporting into state and local spending of Homeland Security funds. This is what they found
Pricey public records
The Public Records Law could become its own stimulus package, saving public jobs and generating a healthy revenue stream for cash-strapped government agencies by charging thousands of dollars to fulfill information requests. Case in point: A joint investigation by CommonWealth magazine and the Fox Undercover team at WFXT-TV (Channel 25) into the dealings of the
Greg Torres to receive “Good Guy Award”
The Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus will honor Greg Torres, MassINC President and Publisher of CommonWealth magazine, at the 9th Annual Good Guys Awards. Torres joins Senator John Kerry (Lifetime Achievement Award winner); Speaker Robert DeLeo; Sheriff Frank Cousins Jr., Sheriff of Essex County; and Rick Rendon, Founder & President, Empower Peace in this year’s program
Journalism: The poetry of the new decade
1 Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Jared Sugerman is tired of hearing about the Death of Newspapers. A Northeastern University senior and journalism major, Sugerman says he can’t count how many times a week someone asks why he planned his studies around a field with so few jobs. Even worse, some well-meaning types imagine he hasn’t
The day the Globe jumped the shark
Despite the endless buyouts, the foreign bureaus’ closure, the consolidation of the regional sections, the threat of liquidation, and manifold other insults and injuries, the Globe is still a must-read for anyone who wants to know what’s going on in Boston. But—let’s be honest—the pressure of morphing from a venerable broadsheet (for whom I once
News cuts tilt coverage toward upscale
It is now widely recognized that daily newspapers, amid the upheaval that is occurring in the journalism business, have been cutting back on the origination of serious news coverage. What is less widely appreciated, however, is that the axe has been falling more heavily on coverage of matters affecting roughly the lower two-thirds of the
Purcell spends $1m on computer system
A new computer system at The Boston Herald is being sold internally as a concrete symbol of publisher Patrick Purcell’s long-term commitment to the newspaper. Kevin Convey, the Herald’s editor, says Purcell has never considered walking away from the newspaper. Yet he said Purcell’s purchase of a nearly $1 million computer system for the Herald
Ad revenue slides at Globe, Telegram
Advertising revenue slid a combined 27.6 percent last year at The Boston Globe and Worcester Telegram, while price increases boosted circulation revenue by nearly 9 percent. Those were the big Massachusetts takeaways in the fourth-quarter report of The New York Times Co., which owns the Globe and the Telegram. The Times itself reported a profit
New MassINC research report: Amid rising tuition costs and heavy debt burdens, college marketplace lacks consumer focus
For Immediate ReleaseFebruary 8, 2010Contact: Marjorie Malpiede, 617-548-6808 Amid rising tuition costs and heavy debt burdens,college marketplace lacks consumer focus Facing complex choices with inadequate information, families make costly mistakes BOSTON-Rising college costs have Americans making greater sacrifices to get their degrees. In 2008, families took on more than $86 billion in college loans