Despite his role as the former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney this week was not able to gain the endorsement of the Boston Globe, the states largest newspaper. Instead the papers endorsement went to Romney rival Jon Huntsman, a candidate who was barely able to make a dent during the Iowa Caucus.

According to the Boston Globe it has been Huntsman’s bold moves that place him higher up its totem poll then Romney. As the paper explains where Romney has been cautious Huntsman has been bold and “rather than merely sketch out policies, he articulates goals and ideals.”

The paper also praised Huntsman’s foreign policy credentials and his ability to lead in the spirit of bipartisanship ”reject evolution and the science behind global warming.”

The Globe did call Mitt Romney the only other “truly presidential” candidate on the ballot and said he showed “glimmers of the same qualities” that Huntsman has but ultimately he allowed those qualities to fade away on the campaign trail.

You may recall that in 2008 the Boston Globe chose to endorse Mitt Romney opponent John McCain and this time around they say Romney was wrong because he has been pushed in “unwanted directions” by the Tea Party and members of the religious right. As the Globe states:

“Jon Huntsman would be a better president … but if he fails, he could still make Romney a better candidate.”

In other words if Jon Huntsman loses he could make a great running partner in the Vice President passenger seat.

Do you agree with the Boston Globe? Why or why not?

Boston Globe Endorses Jon Huntsman, Shuns States Former Governor Mitt Romney is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Boston Globe has launched BostonGlobe.com, a site that provides a wide range of authoritative news, analysis and opinion on issues and topics including politics, sports, arts, education and business.

Before you get confused, this is not the same as Boston.com, the site that attracts about six million unique visitors a month. So what’s the difference? According to Christopher M. Mayer, publisher of The Boston Globe:

“BostonGlobe.com provides a wide array of news and information for digital consumers and a coveted audience for advertisers. Our research showed that we have different segments of news consumers in our market, and we need to reach them in different ways. We are also providing advertisers a new opportunity to connect with a premier reader base in an uncluttered and innovative new format.”

Home-delivery print subscribers will receive unlimited free access to BostonGlobe.com. Sponsoring free trial subscription for all readers until September 30, 2011 is Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage New England.

Here’s the not so juicy part of this story: Starting October 1 though, the site’s paywall kicks in, charging $3.99 per week for a digital-only subscription. Here are other features of the new site. Let’s see if this would entice you to add $3.99 to your weekly budget:

- Breaking news all day
- Documentary-style video
- Exclusive editorial content such as behind-the-scenes video of how a story came to be
- Online chats
- Full screen photo galleries
- Free access to The Boston Globe archives
- Exclusive events with Globe staff, such as talks and panels at the Globe
- Special reader/advertiser offers and events, such as exclusive group travel opportunities

So what happens to Boston.com? Apparently, the site will continue to offer breaking news and sports coverage, local deals, online classifieds, community conversations and a limited number of BostonGlobe.com stories. The site will also offer new blogs on topics such as food, local music, health, nutrition and travel. Now, this is really confusing me.

Readers who come to BostonGlobe.com articles through links from search engines, blogs and social media will be able to access those individual articles. The homepage and all section fronts will also remain free to browse for all users at all times.

Subscribers have unlimited access to the entire site. Again, are you ready to add $3.99 to your weekly budget?

BostonGlobe.com Launches But It’s Not Free Content is a post from: The Inquisitr

A previously unknown letter written by Abigail Adams has been discovered in a desk and donated to a Massachusetts historical society.

Adams, wife of founding father John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams, was the first Second Lady and second First Lady in the United States. She is known to have written more than 2,000 letters during her life, many discussing politics and the American Revolution with her husband. She was known for views that were at the time considered radical, including some on women’s liberation. Nearly a century and a half before the women’s suffrage movement, Adams wrote:

“…remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”

The letter recently discovered was written in 1788 by Adams just before she left London after her husband’s ambassadorship to return home to Massachusetts, and was found among the papers of a recently deceased lawyer. The letter was sent to her uncle, Dr. Cotton Tufts (historical porn star name FTW), with whom she frequently corresponded.

A gender studies professor commented to the Boston Globe about Adams’ letters in relation to women’s history:

“Any Abigail Adams letter is a treasure,’’ said Edith B. Gelles, a senior scholar at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University. She has studied the Adamses for nearly four decades.

Gelles called Abigail Adams’s letters “the best record we have’’ of women’s lives during the Revolutionary War period.

The most recent letter is said to be characteristic of Adams, and include some shrewd political analysis from the former First Lady- as well as a “lament” that European leaders did not take the newly formed America seriously yet.

Boston Globe: New Abigail Adams Letter Found in Desk is a post from: The Inquisitr

Management versus employees – it’s old story but in the case of the Boston Globe it could been the possible death of yet another newspaper. The Globe, which is owned by The New York Times, has said that it needed to come up with $20 million in annual savings in order to keep the paper running. The most recent negotiations with the Boston Newspaper Guild, the union representing the Globe workers, sought wage concessions and benefit cuts. the threat being that if they didn’t get the concessions from the Guild that the paper would resort to implementing a 23 percent wage reduction for all Guild members.

In a vote last night the Guild members voted 277 to 265 against a new contract that included the concessions. This morning the Boston Globe published this following statement:

We are disappointed that in a very close vote of 277 to 265 the Boston Newspaper Guild did not ratify the Globe’s final proposal. As we have stated, the $10 million in cost savings from this multifaceted proposal is essential to The Boston Globe’s financial future.

This evening we have sent a letter to the Guild stating that as a result of the rejection of this proposal, we have reverted to our alternative Final Record Proposal which provides for a 23% wage reduction for all Guild members. This will secure the $10 million in costs savings needed from the Guild, and will allow the Globe to reach the targeted $20 million in savings needed from all our major unions.

Since the parties are at an impasse, the Globe will implement the wage reduction effective next week. We have told the Guild that we are available to meet any day this week to review implementation of the pay cut.

We regret having to take this action, but have no financially viable alternative.

The comments on the posted announcement are probably not exactly the encouragement that the paper or its staff would like to see as most of what I read could be summed up by this comment:

Good Bye Globe, don’t let the door hit you on the way out – Frank

The Boston Globe sets the battle lines is a post from: The Inquisitr

The New York Times Company will notify federal authorities Monday that its plans to shut down the Boston Globe after negotiations with Unions failed to deliver desired cuts.

According to reports, The Boston Globe will cease publication within weeks, if not sooner.

The New York Times Company (the owner of the Boston Globe) had previously said that The Globe c=would bleed $85 million this year unless a deal was reached with the union to cut costs. The NY Times Company acquired the Boston Globe for $1.1 billion in 1993.

The shutdown has restrictions under law, and the NY Times Company said that they would file at the opening of business Monday, the required 60-day notice of the planned shutdown under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law.

Reports suggest though that the move could be a negotiation tactic, but either way, it’s a serious escalation in negotiations. If the Globe closes, it will be the largest failure of a US newspaper to date.

NY Times Company will file to close the Boston Globe is a post from: The Inquisitr

The New York Times Company has threatened to shut the Boston Globe if employee unions don’t agree to broadscale cuts of pay and conditions.

The cuts, that will save the struggling paper $20 million a year, includes pay cuts, the end of pension contributions by the company and the elimination of lifetime job guarantees now enjoyed by some veteran employees.

To complicate matters, the Globe’s 700 employees are represented by 13 individual unions, and the Times Company will need to negotiate with each one individually. It’s not clear on whether the threats to close the paper would be followed through if some unions refused to accept cuts, but others did.

E&P has more.

Boston Globe may close without Union support on pay cuts is a post from: The Inquisitr

The New York Times owned Boston Globe has cut 42 jobs, mostly managers in advertising, circulation and marketing reports AP.

The layoffs announced Thursday do not include any newsroom positions. The new cuts follow on from 48 jobs cut earlier this year.

The Chicago based Sun-Times Media Group reported a lost $168.8 million in its third quarter as revenue sank due to the economic crisis, reports Chicago Business.

Ad sales dropped 19% in the quarter. The company plans to cut $45 million to $55 million in expenses over the next nine months to survive in the meantime.

The New York Times must deliver $400 million to lenders in May of 2009 but only has $46 million cash on hand, according to Silicon Alley Insider.

The Times does have access to a $366 million short-term credit line but has not yet drawn this cash down, and may not be able to do so. The company has been shut out of the commercial borrowing market after its credit rating recently dropped to junk status.

Media Briefs: Sun-Times, Boston Globe Cuts, NY Times Cash Crisis is a post from: The Inquisitr