In yet more New Times satire, (most) readers give Phoenix New Times big ups for its parody of the Arizona Republic's recent redesign. Even a Republic staffer who asked not to be named applauded the spoof. "As one of the worker bees who's had to live through it, it was nice to see what most of us in the newsroom have been waiting for you to do."
Dan Kennedy, the Boston Phoenix's media critic, originally opposed publication of the video and photo of Daniel Pearl's grisly slaughter. Now that his paper has carried through with its vow to publish the images, Kennedy has changed his mind. "It's important to see the Daniel Pearl video because it's important to look into the face of the pure evil we're up against," Kennedy writes. "It's important to see it because merely reading a description of it cannot do justice to its full horror."
Knapp was hired as a lifestyle writer for the Boston Phoenix in 1988, and invented an alter ego, Alice K., who attracted a cult following in Boston. "As a writer Caroline had a signature style," the Phoenix writes in an article for Wednesday's paper. "Her grace sometimes masked the broad stretch of her range. As a reporter, she was dogged and inventive." Knapp was the author of two New York Times best-selling memoirs: "Drinking: A Love Story" and ''Pack of Two: The Intricate Bond Between People and Dogs.'' She died Monday of lung cancer. (Photo by Mark Morelli)
The paper is already drawing heat for its Web site link to videos of reporter Daniel Pearl's gruesome murder in Pakistan. Now Publisher Stephen Mindich has told reporters he intends to publish photos of the slaying this week, if the grainy photos will reproduce, the Hartford Courant reports. "It has to be seen," Mindich told the Courant. "This is not a movie. It's not Hollywood. This is a human being [that] went through this thing. While I understand the pain felt by the Pearl family, the pain is as great for all of us in a different way. I think this brings the pain to everybody."
"This is the the single most gruesome, horrible, despicable, and horrifying thing I've ever seen,'' Boston Phoenix Publisher Stephen Mindich says in an editorial accompanying his paper's link to the unedited video showing Pearl's decapitation. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Mindich decried the fact that the tape had not been more widely viewed and discussed.
Two New Times investigative series were selected as winners in the 2002 John Bartlow Martin Awards, sponsored by Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. First place went to "Fallout," a look at the U.S. Navy's radioactive legacy in the Bay Area by SF Weekly's Lisa Davis. Phoenix New Times staff writer Amy Silverman captured third place for her special series "Slammed," which exposed abuses in Arizona's juvenile justice system. Sandwiched between them was Katherine Boo, former managing editor of Washington City Paper, for her story in The New Yorker on welfare mothers.
Kristen Lombardi of the Boston Phoenix is singled out by CJR for her coverage of the story of pedophile priests being shielded by the Catholic hierarchy. "Her prodigiously reported pieces documented the sorry history of Geoghan's career, as well as the still sorrier protection of that career, and too many others like it, by the church and by Cardinal Law," CJR writes.
Another front has opened in the Boston news box war. Still embroiled in a lawsuit over whether free-circulation newspaper boxes can be banned in Boston's Back Bay, plaintiffs say the city took their boxes away from sites near Red Sox stadium on opening day, while the paid daily boxes weren't touched, Seth Gitell of the Boston Phoenix reports.
A ruling on whether Boston can ban news-boxes in the Back Bay may be handed down as early as Monday, the Boston Phoenix, a plaintiff in the case, reports. "As far as the Back Bay is concerned, aesthetics are far more important than the exchange of ideas," Seth Gitell writes in the Phoenix.
