The Boston Globe -- powering the axis of evil

By R.T. Neary


Boston had a vibrant culture in the early 1960s. Camelot was the ruling order from the city through Hyannisport to Washington, D. C. – and worldwide.

Harvard had captured the Kennedy White House with a brain trust, and gained enormous power. Catholics and the Church felt they had reached milestones: a Roman Catholic President – and acceptance by the Establishment. Their glow would not last, as the seeds were germinating for undermining the entire Christian foundation of this society.

There were a handful of dailies on Boston's newsstands. They ranged from the Christian Science Monitor's high journalistic standards to the Daily Record, which featured ball scores and race results in the evening.

The Boston Globe had a history going back to 1872, and from Charles H. Taylor's descendents demonstrated the Yankee work ethic and vision. The Boston Herald/Traveler's conservative bent and quality editorial page writers gave the Globe the most competition.

The Taylor family's formula for success would eventually prevail. Its broad coverage of events, outstanding sports pages, and new ideas would win out. After consolidation, the Herald was degraded to a tabloid, with diminished impact on the area's thinking.

The Globe surged to influence all aspects of Boston-area life. It became the bible for print news dissemination. More importantly, however, it was the first read of TV and radio producers for their daily leads. Globe editors shaped people's opinions.

The Globe editorial management not only determined what was important, but also prioritized and spun the content. Journalism was skewed on what was reported as news, and their anti-Christian mission was evident. Earth Day stories became more prominent than any coverage of Easter, let alone Resurrection Sunday.

While the Globe could point to Catholics in management positions, writers who wrote from a Catholic or conservative Christian perspective were retired or purged. The folksy writings of Jeremiah Murphy and Pro-Life positions of David Farrell ended as any fare, in a clear display of Catholic bias.

While there were many ethnic Catholic's by-lines, readers could expect vitriol spewed out unapologetically. The acerbic personality of ex-priest James Carroll and mean-spirited Eileen McNamara typified outright disdain for the Roman Catholic Church. Occasionally, editors would accept a guest editorial to give some semblance of balance.

As the population of the City of Boston was declining and the suburbs expanded, secularism, materialism and moral relativism accompanied the change. The pervasive influence of the Globe saw the paper being used extensively in schools, especially in the newly-created Social Studies curricula..

Despite proclamations to the contrary, schools were indoctrinating and reflecting the media. Rather than becoming the new bible, the Boston Globe was seriously overlooked as the perfect text for developing critical thinking skills. The reporting spin would then become obvious when dissected and examined by students.

Church attendance had declined in the financially well-endowed Protestant congregations, and they became more permissive. Vatican II initiated a similar trend within Catholicism. Left-wing writers, educators and publications focused on the "spirit' of the gathering, rather than its actual output.

Instructive sermons became rare. Entertainment in the new homilies often seemed to be their purpose. The Globe saw Cardinal Humberto Medeiros as weak rather than spiritual, and they obviously decided to cut him no slack. An immigrant from the Portuguese Azores as a boy, his family's adaptation to this country and their humility were admirable American qualities. Political in-fighting, though, was not his forte, and the Globe extended no mercy. His successor would be quite different in personality.

The Boston Globe's post-Watergate editorial decision to become an all-out advocacy publication required word discipline. This was accomplished by a "style- book," which governs the way issues are presented and labeled. No greater example of the overt bias in their tack exists than in studying the coverage of all the facets of the societal change created by the Roe v Wade decision of Jan 22, 1973.

It was not uncommon to read in the Globe references to "Gays," Zionists, Afro- Americans or whatever labels these groups chose. After Roe, on what the Managing Editor called a "long vetting process" on "abortion-issue nomenclature," those who favored a return to outlawing abortion, "may be referred to (by writers) as anti- abortion." Thus Right To Lifers were given the "anti" label, notwithstanding the Preamble to our Declaration of Independence which explicitly identified the source and priority of our rights: Our Creator – and the Right to Life."

Edward Moore Kennedy was the perfect example of a politician bought by the Boston Globe. It was a sad story in so many ways. Observing "Ted," or "Teddy," in his last few years and viewing that wobbly body with a forced smile and jumbled syntax, could only evoke sympathy. Wife Vicky was his designated political crutch.

It was no secret EMK was a heavy-drinking playboy, and that over time a tacit agreement developed with virtual Globe silence being exchanged for giving them a powerful lever in Congress. What can never go without notice was the way they handled the aftermath of the tragedy and death of Mary Jo Kopechne at Chappaquiddick Bridge on July 9, 1969 – and its almost total suppression in the Globe.

The Globe itself admitted that EMK had in the early 60s negotiated with Editor Tom Winship for a less prominent display of an expose about his cheating on an exam while a student at Harvard. For two decades up until 1984 Tom Winship had accelerated Globe anti-Catholic bias, and not coincidentally EMK's position on abortion changed from his pre-Roe words of Aug. 7, 1971.

Then he had written, "Wanted or unwanted I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized – the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old." He concluded with the belief that this generation cared enough about "human beings" to fulfill its obligation to children "from the very first moment of conception." Post-Roe v Wade, EMK fell into the Party line

After an easy victory in '76, hubris led Senator Ted Kennedy to challenge President Jimmy Carter for the party's nomination. He failed, and Ronald Reagan went on to win the Presidency and twice won the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' vote.

In subsequent years on the Senate floor EMK voted each and every time against The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act, which would outlaw a procedure even his fellow "pro-choice" Senator from New York Daniel Patrick Moynihan would call infanticide. On April 3, 2000 Senator Kennedy received Mass NARAL's Champions For Choice award as "one of the Senate's most passionate voices as "a stalwart against the unrelenting legislative attempts of anti-choice forces.." EMK had come full circle.

Barney Frank made his way from New Jersey through Harvard into an influential position in Mayor Kevin White's City Hall. Despite a speech impediment, as a fast talker he developed a press following and support from Boston's powerful Jewish Real Estate establishment.

When he eventually ran for the U.S. House to replace Rep. Robert Drinan, the Globe used him to silence the moral leadership of Cardinal Humberto Medeiros. Concerned with the support for abortion in Congress, the Cardinal, before the primaries in 1980, issued a pastoral letter to all Catholics in the Archdiocese. In it the Cardinal stated that "those who make abortion possible by law cannot separate themselves from the guilt which accompanies this horrendous crime and deadly sin."

Barney and his political handlers spun the pastoral to imply it was a personal attack on him and anti-Semitic. It was also stretched to be a violation of "the Separation of Church and State" for the Cardinal to make these statements. Sen. Kennedy, by this time a fervent "abortion rights" advocate, endorsed and actively campaigned for him.

Barney Frank won the seat and retained representation of the district containing Brookline and Newton until he stepped down in 2012, supporting his successor, Joseph P. Kennedy III.

The Globe had painted a picture of a "witty," "brilliant," Harvard-trained demi- god, but in reality he was an overweight, clumsily-dressed constant talker – and a know- it-all. His homosexual inclination was quite evident, but this disposition was not publicized in any way. The fact of the matter was that in person he was simply not impressive, or likeable in any way.

But the Globe, with the strong homosexual influence from within its own ranks, was forced to trim their reporting sails somewhat. This resulted from the Washington disclosure of the brothel his sex partner and hired Aide was running out of Barney's Capitol Hill apartment. Stephen Gobie's "hot bottom" ads and revelations of his activities as a "prostitute and pimp" led to a House reprimand of Barney, who claimed he was completely unaware of these happenings..

Rep.Barney Frank's positions and votes assured him that in the Globe he would be referred to as "openly gay," with the brothel story buried in their storage closets with Chappaquiddick and other sordid tales of favorite politicians. Gerry Studds was another Massachusetts congressman who was listed as "openly gay" after he was reprimanded for taking a 14-year old page boy on a trip to Europe. Studds was re- elected, and often cited for being an effective supporter of the state's fisheries.

Puff pieces have always been a standby of the Boston Globe. Celebrities relished them, of course, with PR types dangling bait which was really a reflection of some Globe editorial position. Whether it was Ted Kennedy, post-Chappaquiddick, or Martha Coakley, post-Scott Brown, they were very much of political value – especially when in recovery mode. A Globe Magazine feature on Ralph de la Torre, who walked away with the assets of the Archdiocese of Boston's 6-hospital Caritas Christi Health Care System, was typical of their bias in a scandalous situation.

Censorship is a concept anathema to all who would profess to objectivity in the coverage of issues. Yet, the Globe's selectivity was blatant, and no other media had the courage to call them on it. Their 40-year post-Roe v Wade coverage should be a study in Journalism courses throughout the Hub. It is not.

A perfect example: Despite glowing articles on abortion protagonists from Sarah Weddington to abortionist Dr. Kenneth Edelin to Planned Parenthood's Nicki Nichols Gamble, the actual plaintiff in the Roe decision, Norma McCorvey was not worth coverage by the Globe.at an overflow dinner at the Hotel Tara in nearby Framingham.

Avoiding the event was clearly understandable, in retrospect, given her testimony of a subsequent conversion to the "Pro-Life cause without reservation" and her lamenting the millions who have been denied the light of day by that landmark decision.

"Miss Norma," an unsophisticated woman, had used the pseudonym Jane Roe, and she delivered a story which would have been extremely difficult to spin. She related a tale of later realizing how she was exploited by Sarah Weddington, the Texas lawyer, who was trying to justify her own abortion in Mexico. Post-Roe v Wade, Norma went to work for Planned Parenthood, but eventually left the "clinic" and joined with Right To Life protesters.

The breaking point as an abortion "clinic" worker, Norma stated, was when she could no longer face up to "piecing together tiny baby parts to assure an abortion was complete." How could the Boston Globe have spun those words?

As we moved into the new millennium, the Globe would find a scandal, one which was the perfect opportunity for investigative journalism. It involved the increasing number of revelations of sexual activity by members of the Roman Catholic clergy.

The revelations which ensued would provide the Boston Globe with both a crowning moment, and a further revelation of their unwillingness to face the truth of what was at the core of the scandal.

There was that age-old concept again: Veritas. The Boston Globe would prove it could not leave it untarnished.

NEXT; The Catholic Church In The Globe's Crosshairs

© R.T. Neary