Barnicle signs on as Herald columnist
By Mark Jurkowitz and
Donovan Slack, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent, 3/8/2004
The Boston Herald, under new editorial leadership, will announce today that it has hired former Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle to write a twice-weekly column, with the first one set to appear tomorrow.
After a 25-year career as a Globe columnist, Barnicle was asked to resign in 1998 amid questions about sourcing issues related to his columns. He went on to write columns for the New York Daily News and has hosted a talk-radio show in Boston for the past few years. As part of the Herald agreement, Barnicle, 60, is expected to continue his work as a talk host on WTKK-FM (96.9) and as a contributor to both MSNBC and "Chronicle" on WCVB-TV (Channel 5). At least for now, he will also continue to write his Daily News column once a week.
Contacted last evening, newly named Herald editorial director Kenneth Chandler said, "I think he's a fabulous addition to the Herald and I think he'll make a strong team even stronger. I just think he's such a big name in town."
"Pat Purcell [publisher of the Herald] has been a friend of mine for more than 20 years," Barnicle said last night. "He's made offers to me occasionally. I just felt this was the time to take him up on it."
Barnicle says he will write the same style of column for the Herald that he did for the Globe, focusing largely on the urban scene.
Barnicle departed the Globe in August 1998 after engaging in a tumultuous battle to save his job. The effort began when the Herald revealed that some jokes in a Barnicle column resembled those in a 1997 George Carlin book, "BrainDroppings." He resigned two weeks later after he was unable to verify the facts contained in an Oct. 8, 1995, column about two children being treated for cancer at Children's Hospital.
At the time, Barnicle said he agreed to resign from the Globe because "of the weight of this thing. . . . it was too much, it was absurd." In the interview last night, Barnicle said only that "I have nothing but fond feelings for 25 years at the Globe."
In 1998, the Herald aggressively covered the events leading to Barnicle's resignation, writing of the "Globe's decision to cleanse its pages of Mike Barnicle," and running headlines like "Mike Takes Hike." In an interview with The Washington Post at the time, Herald editor Andrew Costello rejected the notion that his paper would be willing to hire Barnicle and said, "I don't think he'd meet our standards here."
On Feb. 25, Chandler was named editorial director. Costello, who had been at the Herald helm for a decade, was suddenly gone. Chandler had edited the Herald from 1986 to 1992, and after he arrived as a consultant last year, the paper embarked on a change of editorial direction that included zippier headlines, more exposed skin, and shorter stories. Now, as editorial overseer of the paper, he is expected to push for even flashier tabloid fare.
Asked if he was concerned about the journalistic questions that led to Barnicle's exit from the Globe, Chandler said, "I look at it this way. He's been writing a column at the Daily News for five years. The column has been terrific. That's enough for me." Chandler also downplayed the idea that there might be lingering resentment toward the new columnist from Herald staffers who have been his rivals and detractors. "I think Barnicle will win over any doubters," he said.
Barnicle, too, said he is not worried about the reception he'll receive in the Herald newsroom. "It's my relationship with Purcell [and] Ken Chandler that resulted in my going there," he said.
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