Media Watch
Globe Picks a Fight with Mayor Giuliani
Tries to Help Its Owner, The New York Times

February 2002

The lead story on page one of the Boston Globe on Dec. 28 tried to incite Boston into fighting with the very popular Mayor Giuliani and draw attention away from the New York Times.

The headline claimed that the Mayor was sharply critical of Boston’s police. It said, “Giuliani raps Hub’s policing efforts.”

But it was clear to anyone who read the Globe story that the Mayor was upset with the NY Times and not with Boston.

When making his statement, Giuliani read from a NY Times editorial last year that praised the efforts of police and clergy in San Diego and Boston and criticized Mayor Giuliani. He said, “It kind of annoyed me when it was written, but I waited. ... Well, let’s do a little check on how San Diego and Boston have done since then.”

It’s obvious that the very liberal New York Times, which is used to getting its way, does not like Giuliani, a moderate Republican. And it’s also obvious that the Mayor doesn’t appreciate their acerbic comments about him. When he found a chance to tweak them, he did so.

But the Globe portrayed the incident as a big attack on Boston – the most important story anywhere in the entire world that day.

The Globe wrote, “But in his farewell address as mayor of New York City yesterday, Rudolph Giuliani offered a speech that took a curious, and decidedly local, turn, stoking the New York-Boston rivalry with a biting attack on Boston and its widely hailed policing model.

“In statements that baffled criminologists and outraged city and religious leaders in Boston, Time magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ abandoned his mantra of patriotism and unity for some parting shots at his neighbors to the north."

Just Having Fun

But those who have been involved in the Boston policing model since its inception tell MassNews they know that Giuliani was just having fun with the Times and has no animosity toward Boston.

They also point out that police in Boston have the help of Christian pastors in their efforts and they could not have accomplished it without that help, whereas New York does not have that partnership.

They also say that the recent rise in murders in Boston is because the police and the pastors have gotten careless lately and have not put the effort in their programs as they used to. But with the increase in murders, they now understand that they must get back to basics.

Globe Looks for Trouble

But the Globe reported that “criminologists and ministers” expressed “outrage” at the Mayor. Although the paper prodded them to make statements of “outrage,” it quoted only one minister, Rev. Ray Hammond, whose statement did not express outrage, and Jack Levin, a criminologist at Northeastern University.

The next day the Globe had another story, this time on page 1 of the “City and Region” section with the headline, “Despite Giuliani’s gibes, locals laud police work.” And its lead editorial on that day was, “Behind Giuliani’s Jab.” This work by the Globe was “much-to-do about nothing,” according to our sources.

But it was “much-to-do about a lot” for the owner of the Boston Globe.