Hello all! I won’t really be posting about healthy foods/living on this blog much anymore. It will be more of a regular blog outlet for me. Yep, that’s right, my junior year at UMass is over. Therefore, my multimedia journalism class is over. My group and I are very proud of our final project, which focused on the Boston Globe crisis (& possible shut down).
I started off my summer in Boston getting my wisdom teeth out. Still recovering, but happy to have free time to relax and (almost) no worries. I start my summer internship this Wednesday at the Community Newspaper Company, just outside of Boston, which houses the Roslindale and West Roxbury Transcripts, along with other local weeklies. I’m really excited about it, and am planning on getting a lot of writing experience. Now if my jaw would heal so I could talk again…
Industry & Academic Insiders On Boston Globe Crisis
Many newspapers are dealing with reader gravitation away from print news and toward news online.
The Republican, a newspaper based in Springfield, Massachusetts, has a separate Web site component called “MassLive.” It’s headed by a five-person team, which include TV and local sports bloggers. The Web site posts headline news in addition to message boards. They thrive off reader comments and try to connect with their audience. The MassLive team has become community oriented.
The Christian Science Monitor recently went online-only last year. They now publish an issue weekly.
When news hit the stands about the potential closing of the Boston Globe, industry insiders and academics expressed mixed feelings of what it would be like without this significant news entity that has existed since 1872. Many wondered how the citizens of Boston and surrounding regions would react without a print version of one of the most popular area papers and whether or not the Globe’s Web site, Boston.com, would remain online.
Industry insiders were generally surprised at the thought of the Globe shutting down. Ed Kubosiak, online editor at MassLive, feels a deep connection with the Globe, even though he lives in western Massachusetts. He admits to “being upset at the thought of the organization going away, it’s jarring.”
Wayne Braverman, senior editor at Gatehouse Media at the Community Newspaper Company in Needham, expected the Boston Herald, another Boston newspaper, to close first.
“I was really surprised that the Globe was on the block to be eliminated. Just a year ago, people were wondering about the Herald. No one thought the Globe would be facing elimination from the publishing world,” said Braverman.
Insiders remain optimistic regarding the Globe’s future, even before the Union agreements. Erik Gallant, a sports blogger and producer at MassLive, believes that the Globe (along with all newspapers) will eventually move online only.
“Even if they if they stop printing the physical paper, I think they will be pretty well set up and continue on and the reason for that is because I think they have a lot of great writers. I think those writers are the people who draw people to the paper and the website,” said Gallant.
MassLive senior producer, Jeff Hobbs, has faith in the Globe’s innovativeness.
“If the print went away, it would still be a highly successful website,” said Hobbs.
Senior lecturer B.J. Roche, who teaches in the journalism program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is also looking at the future of the Boston Globe as an online-only entity with a smaller newsroom, and believes the troubles faced by the Globe are “a problem of advertising.”
“People will see a lot less real reporting because they won’t have the bodies to do it,” said Roche.
Roche had a weekly column about New England titled “Peaks and Valleys,” in the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe three years ago.
“To get something published in the Globe was a huge accomplishment,” said Roche, “where are you going to get an audience of half a million viewers?”
Roche’s column was cut, because “it wasn’t necessary.”
Some question whether an online-only model would work.
The Globe is not charging for content on Boston.com now, but that may change in the future.
Braverman, whose paper has a weekly paid model, wonders, “Why would I want to pay for the Globe? I can read the whole thing online…the newspaper industry has given you a free plate online.” Gallant believes that the appetite for news remains, even in the younger generation.
Over the past few years, the Globe has changed its focus of coverage. It covers big world and national news and happenings inside of Boston. The Globe only covers western Massachusetts (and other regions of New England) when a big story breaks there, therefore leaving some readers to gravitate towards local papers, such as The Daily Hampshire Gazette or The Republican, the print version of MassLive.
The closing of the Globe would affect the Boston area the greatest, but would affect the rest of Massachusetts differently.
Roche does not think the closing of the print edition of the Globe would “affect anywhere outside of that tight suburb of Boston…I don’t think it would affect the Amherst area at all.”
Kubosiak is based in Springfield and deals with mostly western Massachusetts news. He said, “There’s been a pattern of thinking that eastern Massachusetts doesn’t care about western Massachusetts, whether on the political news front [or elsewhere]. I haven’t felt that all that much. The Globe would usually cover UMass basketball. I think they need to do a great job with Boston, there’s a lot going on there.”
Assistant Editor for the Gardner News, Andres Caamano, would be affected by a shutdown of the Globe. He values the content that the Globe sells to the Associated Press.
“The stories that the Associated Press has sent out about the Craigslist killing have been mostly from the Globe. The impact would be felt in small newspapers in Massachusetts and throughout the country.”
The Globe has been a watchdog organization for the City of Boston for many years. Citizens rely on its strong reporting to keep politicians in check and inform them of the happenings at City Hall. Braverman believes it would be a problem if the Globe shut down.
“If the Globe or the Herald went away, they wouldn’t be watching them (politicians). They would go scot-free. The good things that the politicians do wouldn’t be known either,” said Braverman.
Kubosiak also elaborated on the situation.
“I think of the globe as an important entity, both for the community and as an institution. They’ve proven over the years to be a watch dog,” said Kubosiak.
Roche is worried about the impact on politics and that there will be lighter coverage of City Hall. “No citizen blogger is going to know how to go in and research public documents,” said Roche. “They don’t have the skills like someone who has worked 20 years on a political beat.”
“Quite honestly I don’t know how they’ll prevent something like this again,” said Marshall Ingwerson, managing editor of the Christian Science Monitor. “They are in the same situation as most metro newspapers making financial cuts.”
While the Globe may be fine for now, it is likely that in the near future they will be faced with making more financial cuts as readers continue to rely on the Internet as their main source of news. As a result of the warning from the New York Times Company, on May 6, 2009 the Boston Globe proposed pay cuts, unpaid furloughs, and the elimination of lifetime contracts to ensure that the Globe would not shut down. The Boston Newspaper Guild still needs to vote on the wage cuts.
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Our audio slideshow on reader reactions on the Globe’s situation
Residents of Massachusetts express strong connection to The Boston Globe
When walking through The Boston Commons, many Boston Globe readers of diverse ages and backgrounds can be found. Readers prove to have different preferences when it comes to the way they receive their news.
One interviewee that seemed to capture the general response of the online generation was twenty-two year old Allison Cummings of Malden. When asked if she read the Boston Globe, her initial response was a quick no. After she thought about her answer though, she admitted to reading it online only. Her reason was that the online version was free and easily accessible, which seems to suit the college student lifestyle. She also said was trying to be “green” and save paper by reading it online.
On the contrary, seventy-three year old Samuel DeMerit of Cambridge, felt a deep attachment to the print version of the Globe. In a soft-spoken voice, DeMerit said that he would read the Globe online if he had to, but he prefers having the print version to look over. He also said that the Globe was a leader in investigative journalism, giving the example of the priest sexual abuse scandals. “It would be a calamity if the Globe went away,” he said.
Kate Duval, 24 of Needham, was another online reader of Boston.com. Although she acknowledged that the closure of the Globe would be a “sad end to an era,” she does not feel her personal life would be affected without the print version.
Peter Daniels, 37 of Boston, said that he gets his news from his closest resource whether it’s the television, Internet, or newspapers, “but there are things in the Globe you can’t get anywhere else.”
Twenty year old Emerson College journalism student, Stefanie Le, said for one of her classes they read the Globe every day, and not having it would be a loss of an educational resource.
Although the threat of the Globe closing down was palpable a month ago, and agreements were reached to keep it open, greater Boston residents still had strong opinions on the subject. After realizing how quickly such a large entity could disappear, readers also realized how important the Globe was to them. One of the most prevalent concerns was not having a counterpart to The Boston Herald.
“Without the Globe we’d have a more slanted look at politics, the Herald being more conservative,” said Michael Hickey of Medford.
“How would people find jobs, or housing?” said Marty Baird, of Brockton, “It’s the number one resource and turning to a competitor would not be the same.”
“Readers deserve a quality newspaper, and it should be a two newspaper town,” said Mark Bell, Boston resident and Globe employee.
As the industry changes more papers are going through financial crises causing job losses, and in some cases closures. The million-dollar question seems to be, what next and how? Now that the Globe has reached the demands of The New York Times Company it will continue to reach its devoted readers while struggling to find the answer. Some residents offer their suggestions on what they think the Globe should do.
“The slow down in the economy will let us breathe and rethink the next step,” said Ian MacKinnon of Boston. He proposed that despite the multifunction of the Globe and Boston.com, they diversify further into other markets such as a convenience store or in song form.
“The New York Times Company is only concerned with The New York Times,” said Bell. Bell said he thought the Globe needed new owners that cared about the quality of the newspaper and that in recent times the only prominence left was in the sports section.
When The New York Times Company asked for $20 million in concessions on April 9, The Boston Guild acted quickly to start a petition and organized a rally in order to gain reader and worker support. In an attempt to fight off the looming deadline of May 1, workers spoke their opinions on the issue at a rally outside Faneuil Hall on April 24. Over 300 readers gathered to show their loyalty.
Hickey, who came to the rally with his wife and kids to show his support, said “We all read the Globe, it is an important part of our lives.”
According to the advertising section of BostonGlobe.com, the daily circulation is 323,983 and a Sunday circulation of 503,659, while Boston.com reaches 6.1 million users. Now that readers have seen how quickly their trusted resource could disappear, it seems their will to help in its survival has increased.
As reader Katie Ward described its importance “The Globe is a reputable newspaper that knows the city,” and said losing it would be a huge loss not only for Boston, but New England as well.
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Feel free to leave comments of your opinion on the Boston Globe situation. Would you miss the Globe if it stopped printing copies and went online-only? Do you have any ideas as to how the Globe could thrive as it used to? Should the Globe start charging for the use of online content? Would you pay for it?
Steve Fox’s Multimedia Journalism class took a field trip to the Springfield office of MassLive, the online component of the Republican newspaper. There, we were greeted by the staff, which surprised me. There are only 5 people on their staff!
Ed Kubosiak led us into the conference room and sat us down to tell us about MassLive. Kubosiak has been with MassLive since 1998. Before that, he was with the Daily Hampshire Gazette for 5 years. He lives in Northampton.
He started out by saying that they try to reach out to UMass and the rest of the community. There is a UMass 101 blog, a sports blog connected with our newspaper, The Daily Collegian, and Eric Gallant (who we spoke with) writes a UMass Basketball blog. He mentioned that they are very involved with writing about high school sports.
Kubosiak made it quite clear that they thrive on what the community has to say. The forums are very popular, and the writerss really love getting feedback on their blogs and stories from commenters. Even so, he wants even more community involvement, and welcomes students and parents to contribute to the high school sports sections of MassLive.
“Folks are texting in scores and even blog about the games. It’s citizen journalism”, says Kubosiak.
He also spoke of the popular TV blogs, which supplement the Entertainment pages. Laura Merwin heads that department and tries to solicit bloggers to write about their favorite TV show from the comfort of their own home. There is an American Idol blog, and Merwin herself writes a Ghost Hunters blog. They encourage bloggers to write search-engine-friendly headlines and to link the blog post to their Twitter, Digg, or Reddit. There’s also been a huge push lately for comments from online readers.
Kubosiak said that the Republican drives the top news on the website. In other words, what ever is on the front page of the Republican is probably found on the homepage of MassLive.
The most success they’ve had recently was with the story about the boy who committed suicide after experiencing bullying in Springfield. The story went national, probably because of the young age of the boy. They had made the headline of the story Google news-friendly, by putting “Springfield” and the boy’s name in it.
One interesting fact that struck me was that the top 10 web stories of the year are usually completely different from the top 10 paper stories. Jeff Hobbs, the senior producer and the go-to guy for the team’s tech issues, said that the top web stories were always the quirky ones.
As mentioned earlier, the staff are really reaching out to the community and especially their most frequent commenters. They were even scheduled to have lunch with their most controversial commenter that day, and were very excited.
Frito-Lay, the company that produces Doritos, Tostitos, and Cheetos (sense a pattern?), has recently announced that they will be filling bags of their products with more food.
I have distinct childhood memories of my recess playmates complaining of the proportion of bag to chip amount. You would pay a vending machine $1 for a bag of Lay’s potato chips that you would expect to be full, only to find that the bag was half empty.
The Dallas Morning News published a short article explaining the decision. Apparently, the snack amount per bag will be increased by 20%. The price will not increase.
The increase reverses “any weight outs from the last few years,” a Frito-Lay spokeswoman said.
The warm weather seems to be here to stay…finally. Tis the season to wear less bulky clothing…skirts, dresses, and shorts. It’s also about the time when people, mostly women, start freaking out because it is almost bathing suit season. In order to keep yourself from gaining any more weight, you have to be extra careful about what you are consuming.
WebMD, one of the most popular go-to websites for health topics, recently listed the top 10 most fattening food of the spring and summertime. Outdoor lounging and barbeques inevitably have food at them, and you must acquire self control for these situations.
Here is the list of the top 10 most fattening foods of the spring.
Ice cream- Try a healthier alternative, like frozen yogurt.
Hot dogs- Try to stick with the all beef hot dogs, if you need to have one.
Chocolates- Hey, I think this is a year round fave-especially at holidays.
Brunch- It is better to eat three small/medium sized meals than eat one massive mid-day brunch and dinner.
Topping, dressings and sauces
Seasonal beverages- Outdoor BBQs may up the ante for sugary drinks and beers.
Passover desserts
Salads- I know what you’re thinking…”Hey, those are supposed to be healthy!” Yes, but only if you use low fat, non-creamy dresssing. My personal favorite is low-fat Italian. And cut back on the cheese.
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that turning the thermostat down on a cold day might help people loose weight.
An editorial on the study caught my eye while on the New York Times website. The article explains that brown fat, which is considered good fat, helps burn calories in cold environments. Brown fat is also known as Brown adipose tissue.
Brown fat also helps small mammals and infant humans stay warm in cold temperatures, because they are unable to shiver. For some time, people thought that brown fat disappeared once humans became able to shiver as they got older. But this is wrong.
The study showed that adults still contain brown fat. That fat is still metabolically active (and therefore burning calories) when the person is cold. People suffering from obesity or who are overweight showed less metabolic activity in their brown fat.
From what I understand from the study, you have to be exposed to cold temperatures for at least two hours for the brown fat to start burning calories. But please do not expose yourself to cold temperatures—just to end up with pneumonia. Instead, you could add a sweater or two at home instead of turning up the thermostat–which is also good for the environment!
Sheila Bair, the second most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes Magazine, visited UMass Amherst on March 27, 2009 to speak about various aspects of the economic crisis in America. She spoke at 3:30pm at the Flavin Auditorium in the School of Management. Bair is currently on leave from UMass, having taught in the School of Management from 2003- 2006. She then accepted a position as chairman of the the FDIC. Her most recent accomplishment is being a winner of the JFK Profiles in Courage Award, for warning of the problems with the sub-prime lending crisis in America. When she warned of this now present and problematic issue, it was not given the attention it deserved.
Bair was greeted by a warm applause and introduced by a fellow SOM faculty member. The Flavin Auditorium was packed, and many people lined the wall. Bair brought her own introduction for herself- a 5 minute DVD special about her recent TV appearences, including a commericial with Suze Orman.
Bair addressed many issues that are prominent in the worried minds of Americans today. She realizes that people are “scared…and [they] need something to believe in.” She menioned that Obama has really reached out to the FDIC, and even stating that she flew in Air Force 1 that week. She addressed that it has been “a hard time for everyone”, and that this is like “nothing we’ve seen.” She remains “cautiously optimistic” for the future.
Bair made a point that it is very important to have a functioning banking system, and that the FDIC has made a lot of progress with the Obama administration. She addressed the problem with IndyMac failing, and spoke about the new programs that were made recently, inclding the Equity Guarantee Program and the Legacy Loan program, which was announced by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner earlier in the week.
Students and former & present faculty were in attendance at Friday’s speech. Erica Miller, an accounting major at UMass, was happy to hear Bair address issues that will pertain to her in the near future–when she buys a house. Both Miller and Matt Orlando, a operations managment major, were pleased with her speech.
Kelly Lepane, a junior Finance major, was interviewed prior to Bair’s talk. She was looking forward to hearing Bair speak about the new TARP program and what the FDIC is doing to create change in the banking problems.
Dror Shmerling, who is a professor at UMass Amherst’s School of Management in Information Systems, believes Bair “is one of the key people for moving the economy to [have] better trust in banking systems. ” Shmerling also mentioned of the economic crisis that “Obama did not create the situation…I give him credit for trying.”
Just last Wednesday, UMass Amherst was graced by a minor celebrity. You may not have heard of her, but she makes monthly visits to the Today Show and has been on The View. Her name is Dede Wilson and she is a talented chef, author, and self professed choco-holic (only the dark stuff!).
Wilson has made numerous visits to UMass and greatly enjoys them. She usually is a guest chef once or twice a year at Berkshire Dining Commons, UMass’s newest -and nicest- DC addition. Last week, the focus was springtime, and Wilson decorated cupcakes for students to watch.
I was asked to write a short piece on her visit for the UMass Dining Commons newsletter. Here is the first draft:
TV personality and dessert chef extraordinaire Dede Wilson made her second visit this year to the Berkshire Dining Commons on March 25. The theme was “It’s Spring- Sweet!” This is the third year in a row that she has visited UMass as a guest chef.
Wilson donned a festive pink apron and decorated cupcakes in the private dining room. She mixed food coloring into white frosting and worked her magic as students filed in and excitedly decorated their own cupcakes.
There were plenty of toppings to choose from in order to create the perfect spring themed cupcake. Students could put gummy worms into a chocolate cupcake to make it look as if a worm was coming out of dirt. Among the many types of candies, there were pieces of licorice and small chocolate eggs to create mini Easter baskets.
Wilson believes her chef skills and great sense of taste come from her parents.
“They were both very good cooks, and we always sat down for meals together.”
Although Wilson loves to cook and bake dinners, her heart clearly lies with desserts.
“They really get my creative juices flowing…I love developing recipes. It feeds my soul.”
Wilson has appeared on “The Today Show” numerous times and was even a guest on “The View” a few years ago. She has been a contributing editor to Bon-Appétit Magazine for 5 years. Wilson has written many cookbooks, which specialize in wedding cakes and other desserts.
“My greatest accomplishment food-wise has been publishing my first book [on wedding cakes] —and having an ISBN number in the Library of Congress!”
Wilson attended Hampshire College as an undergraduate after moving from New York City. Years ago, her first culinary job was in Northampton as a pastry chef. She has been living in Amherst since!
“I am very impressed [by the Dining Services at UMass]! I didn’t have this when I went to school.”
Side note: Dede Wilson also enjoys showing her bull terriors at dog shows. She recently participated in a competition at Edison, New Jersey. She has three of her own dogs at home and co-owns other dogs.
[This post is written for Steve Fox's multimedia journalism class.]
A mother and daughter enjoy the spring weather in early March at the UMass Amherst campus pond.
Click here to watch video: Spring Weather at UMass A video by Christina Fong & Carol Lawless
These days, instead of waking up to the sound of plows outside my window, I am greeted by the lovely chirping of birds. It must be spring! Recently, theUMass Amherstcampus has seen a transformation of its own: from a winter wonderland (read: treacherous sheets of ice) to a place where a mound of snow cannot be seen for miles. Finally. Geese have overtaken the field next to the campus pond. And nothing says spring like baby duckings in the campus pond! Students are seen standing outside chatting with friends more often now. In the winter, mostly due to the various wind tunnels on campus, students rush to an indoor safe haven between classes. One group of people always seem to brave the weather though: bikers.
Biking is an extremely popular activity on the UMass Campus. There is aUMass Bike Racing Club and a Bike Co-op in the Student Union, where the employed students fix bikes. Some pedestrians may complain that the bikers are reckless and will not announce themselves as they speed past those on foot, with only inches between them. But I see the bikers as smart…they are probably going to get out of the cold sooner than us and are getting their daily workout in while getting to class. Some drivers also feel animosity towards the bikers and believe that they should follow traffic rules and not just design their own, separate laws to follow.
Now that spring is here, bike racks are getting crowded. The tendancy to see a biker is becoming more and more common as the temperature rises. One Bike Co-op employee refuses to ride in the winter, stating because it’s too dangerous, while his co-worker relies on his bike as his means of getting from his off-campus apartment to class, braving all seasons. (Another worker has gotten clipped by cars on two separate occasions, and suffered broken bones–proving that perhaps bikers should follow traffic rules.)
A nearly-full bike rack at the UMass Student Union
