Concerned? Yeah, right.

The Boston Globe, which never misses a chance to boast that it won a Pulitzer in 2003 for “meritorious public service,” for articles that were the basis for the movie “Spotlight,” sure needs some meritorious copy editors. Or an editor who is “concerned” about straight reporting. The Globe demonstrated this deficiency on Jan. 16, 2017, in a story about a meeting by Writers Resist, described as “a network of activist writers founded in response to the election of Donald Trump….” The headline: “Concerned writers attend ‘counter-inauguration’.” “Concerned” — usually attached to “progressive” or “liberal” organizations — gives a clue to a story jam-packed with code-words, superlatives, adjectives, adverbs and reporters’ views. Here are some examples, which in the old days, never would have gotten past a copy editor’s desk:

“The writers united in concern about the preservation of democracy….” A student “deftly switched between lines that were humorous and painful, slow and quick, light and deep all at once…” “To thunderous applause, poet….read aloud a poem she wrote about the helplessness she felt….Urgency built in her voice…” “Many other readers spoke with angst and defiance about the same theme of hopelessness…”

Meanwhile, a page one story of the same Globe issue, has an excellent story about a libel and slander suit filed by a dietary supplement company to attempt to muzzle a Harvard Medical School professor whose research, published in peer-review journals, revealed some of the supplements are potentially dangerous and illegal. A Federal Court jury ruled in the professor’s favor. The long and detailed Globe story was by STAT, a national online health and life sciences publication started by Globe owner John W. Henry, and based at the Globe. This was the Globe’s first mention of this court case, which STAT said, “had momentous implications for the future of research into the safety of weight-loss and muscle-building pills” and for “freedom of academics to speak out about matters of public health.” But the court ruling was last November. It took two months before the Globe reported it. Shows how well the Globe is covering the news, right in its own back yard. Yes, indeed, readers, too, should be “concerned.” Here’s a link to the story: https://www.statnews.com/2017/01/10/supplement-harvard-pieter-cohen/