The Globe Guys
The subject of tonight's discussion is: Why are there no women on this panel?
Since Since the Globe’s endorsement over the weekend, I’ve received a lot of e-mailed questions about who exactly makes such decisions. According to the Globe’s website,
The Publisher of the newspaper, P. Steven Ainsley… usually determines political endorsements for high office, working in consultation with Peter Canellos, editor of the editorial page.
That’s Ainsley on the left and Canellos on the right — or vice versa. Who can tell, what with the overwhelming diversity?
Regarding the 57-year-old Ainsley, e-mailers point out that he retires in a month, and aspires to work in the non-profit world. Well, in that case, a friend like Khazei can’t hurt.
Regarding Canellos, e-mailers observe that his presumptive agreement with the endorsement may be part of a trend that the Phoenixobserved earlier this month. Adam Reilly wrote that under Canellos, the Globe editorial page has a more ”snarky tone” and “populist pugnacity,” perhaps designed to boost readership and advertising in the face of dire financial straits.
The real question is, will the endorsement matter? The Globe’s presidential primary endorsements of McCain and Obama proved to matter not one whit when Romney and Clinton won the state. If the senatorial endorsement does make a difference, I hope the difference will be that it motivates Coakley supporters to get out and vote on December 8.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gender Parity, Women for Coakley. Women for Coakley said: Go Martha!: The Globe Guys http://www.womenforcoakley.com/2009/11/29/the-globe-guys/ [...]
And we wonder why only 17% of the US Senate are women?
Shame on the Boston Globe for not backing the best candidate, who happens to be a woman.
I tried to find out who the members of the Globe editorial board are – not easy. The link on the Opinion page for Editorial profiles continues to tout Ms. Lout as the editor of the editorial board- The only woman has been gone for 5 months- why isn’t this updated? Isn’t it a NEWS paper? After going through many different search engines I’ve still come up empty on present members. Have heard from a reliable source that the board is 100% men. Guess they couldn’t find any “qualified” women- no wonder they didn’t think Martha Coakley, the frontrunner, was worthy. As I was doing my investigating I did find several links that brought the men together with Khazei. Cannellos has been writing stories about him for years (1995 was the earliest I came upon) Didn’t want to spend the money on archived material but I’m guessing it’s a glowing piece.
Hard to believe that the major Boston newspaper endorses solely on the basis of the opinion of two men? If this is not the case I hope someone writes back to let us know-it’s kind of scary to think they could have such power-Both big, big money men-Cannellos starting salary was reported to be $500,000 (a failing newspaper?) and one can only imagine what Ainsley, the publisher, has been raking in. Ainsley just last month was presenter at a History and Innovation Awards ceremony where Khazei won for social innovation. Ainsley has also served on several boards with City Year leaders.
Alan Khazei -good man? Sure. Ready for Senate? Not yet.
What’s up with the good old boys of MA not backing the most qualified candidates who happen to be women? In this case, one wonders what the globe has to gain by backing likely losers. Are they trying to establish their endorsement irrelevance?
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