'Chin-scratching'
Reader No. 1 is scratching his chin and thinking deep thoughts about yesterday's Boston Globe:

It seems like only yesterday in the mid-80s that Professional Journalistic types were decrying how tabloid newspapers (often those owned by Rupert Murdoch) focused on local inconsequential events like hometown deaths and homicides at the expense of larger global issues. (If the web was around then, I would provide links... can't seem to find any archives going back that far).

So Sunday's Boston Globe arrives, the day after some large global issues played out in the United Kingdom - a terrorist attack on Glasgow's airport and the day before, a couple of car bombs found in London. So what is the Globe's above the headline fold? 'Rage on the Bikeway.'

Glasgow: see page A5. In fairness, the Herald put the terror story on its page 5... although with a lead on the cover. And the New York tabloids covered it pretty good on their covers...

Now granted... if you are a pedestrian struck on the Minuteman Bikeway by a high-speed cyclist or rollerblader, it wouldn't be good at all. BUT... for those chin-scratching, deep thinking journalistic professionals who have a large role in Shaping the Day, a question: have we all Gone Tabloid?

PS: Between the tale (sic) of the apologetic cyclist and the Jack Russell in Globe's aforementioned 'Rage' ... and of course, the story standing between Mitt Romney and the Presidency, have Dogs made a comeback in public consciousness? Another question meriting more chin-scratching (mine and the dog's, of course)....

Far be it for Hub Blog to rise to the defense of the Globe (see my lovely disclosure), but I think, in this global Internet age, they have to go local. It's a wise move that the holdover mid-80s Professional Journalistic types at regional papers resisted for too long. The Globe should have emphasized the terrorist acts a bit more. But there's nothing wrong with going local too. ... Now, if you're going to ask me about the specific wisdom of putting 'Rage on the Bikeway' on page one, well, it's sort of like the Globe's obsession with Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket: They know it matters to both themselves and to their uber-Yuppie market. ... BTW: On any given day, glance at the NYT's Most Emailed List. The top stories are rarely hard news. They're usually about how to get kids into elite colleges, Tuscany recipes, the perfect vacation home, and other upper middle-class concerns and longings. Just pointing it out. ... My favorite today: 'Study Traces Cat’s Ancestry to Middle East.' Hey, it's got a local angle, if you think about it. ...  ¶ 6:05 AM