The Boston Herald's big, fat, front-page mistake
This Christmas will be remembered not only for the Blizzard of '10, but also as the weekend when the Herald columnist who's made fun of basically anyone with a weight problem admitted he himself was so overweight as to require surgical intervention. And when the guy who's made a career out of bashing grafters copped to taking the cosmetic surgery as a freebie.
Bloggers and lefties had some predictable fun with Howie Carr's Dec. 26 front-page photo and column.
Adam Gaffin, Universal Hub:
At least their resident fatboy had the decency to admit he got his surgery for free. The sad thing for the Herald is Chubby got the freebie because of his radio gig (you know, the one he hates), not because of his crusading journalism in print.
The Outraged Liberal:
Are we really supposed to take this newspaper as a source of serious journalism when it devotes a cover story to its star columnist and what sounds like a gimmicky weight loss "solution? Hey Howie, was it covered by your health insurance? No, actually it was a freebie, a front page unpaid advertisement for a local cosmetic surgeon. Carr may have disdained journalistic ethics a while ago, but I thought the Gang at Herald Square still had a fig leaf. Buh-bye to that notion.
What did you think about Howie's front-page liposuction column? And this accompanying article by Jessica Fargen? (Hint: Notice who gets the second quote.)
UPDATE: Just got an e-mail from Herald Editor Joe Sciacca, who's wondering what the fuss is about.
"I found it to be a very entertaining and interesting column," Sciacca writes. "When Howie and Scott Brown get together these days, they don't talk politics. They talk modeling."
Comments
Where's Joe Sciacca? Doesn't he return your calls any more?
Hundreds of thousands die every year because of botched surgical procedures or nasty bugs they've picked up in hospitals. Anyone who "elects" to have surgery that is unnecessary puts themselves at risk.
Wanna live a long life? Stay the hell away from doctors and hospitals.
Instead of having some shady surgeon mutilate him, why doesn't Howie Carr try getting some exercise?
There are at least two ESPN on-air talent who have been extolling an exercise system which they say they've been using. It has all the earmarks of a compensated endorsement, and makes no pretense about it being ordinary conversation. It is a commercial.
ESPN is overtly commercial--their segments where correspondents phone in for on-air interviews has a sponsor, all bowl-game sponsors are pronounced every single time, and naming rights to sports arenas are not forgotten. (I'm not saying that's bad, just how they do thinkgs.) So to have them show up the Herald on the idea of disclosure must be a little cup of embarrassing.