Brattle Loop
Senior Member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2020
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The Globe is not a tabloid. When they publish something like that, its because they know exactly what is happening but are not allowed to quote someone. Thats pretty much journalism 101 and Im surprised both you and F are confused by that.
Had the Herald reported it, than yeah, grain of salt.
Except...no, it's not. The story they actually printed said one thing, and used as 'evidence' to support it quotations that did not support the basic thesis. If they were told something off the record, as you suggest, they did a disservice to their readers by allowing publication of an article that poorly written. The article, as written, did not allege that they had been told that the project would be delayed, it essentially pulled that prospect out of thin air, and "supported" it by means of equivocal statements from public officials, none of which confirmed or denied it and some of which implied that delay was not the case. Nowhere in the article is it so much implied let alone suggested that anyone in the know had indicated (even in a non-attributable manner) to the Globe that the project was facing the prospect of a delay. That's why it reads like a tabloid, and I suspect what got F-Line so miffed about it. I'm well-aware of the prospect that they were fed information that they weren't allowed to quote, but it's not journalism 101 to write a story in which the central premise is or appears, in the text itself, made up completely out of thin air, which is the case in this one. They clearly couldn't even be bothered to suggest that someone inside the MBTA or the state or anyone involved (however anonymously) had suggested the possibility of delay. I'd understand if it had been framed as "unnamed source/speculation/rumor says X", MBTA says Y", but it wasn't. The story itself had no evidence or reasoning to suggest to the reader that a delay was anything more than baseless speculation by the reporter, which is either irresponsible journalism or (as I suspect in this case) just bad writing.