18 Comments

1. 

   Ted on October 30, 2019 at 8:26 am

   It’s disappointing, but not surprising. And it’s only going to get worse.

   https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/10/newsonomics-the-gannett-gatehouse-merger-is-really-happening-but-expect-to-see-more-than-10-of-jobs-cut-off-the-top/

2. 

   Doug L on October 30, 2019 at 8:47 am

   The TAB is at least more useful these days than the Globe Direct thing because it is non-glossy paper and burns more cleanly for starting charcoal or the fireplace. Otherwise I find them to be of about the same value.

3. 

   Peter Karg on October 30, 2019 at 9:32 am

   Best if they don’t make endorsements and let the voters decide.

4. 

   Jim Epstein on October 30, 2019 at 9:55 am

   The TAB seems a victim of economics. And no way can the TAB compete with V14, on all the points listed in the posting. Thankfully there is a V14 as both a source of local information and forum for citizen participation. Many kudos to Greg and the rest who created and run it! You guys provide a vital service.

5. 

   Rhanna Kidwell on October 30, 2019 at 11:16 am

   Shocking that they overlooked the biggest news story of the year, although maybe it’s an outright acknowledgement that they’re not a news outlet but rather a lifestyles magazine.

   However, I would have been alarmed and angry if they had made endorsements since clearly no one at the paper follows Newton issues or politics. They’re no more qualified to make endorsements of Newton candidates than the Washington Post.

   • 

     Greg Reibman on October 30, 2019 at 12:44 pm

     Here’s the letter I sent today to Editor in Chief Anne Brennan on behalf of the chamber…

     Dear Ms. Brennan:

     I’m writing today in my capacity as president of the Newton-Needham Regional Chamber, representing 900 area businesses, undoubtedly including some of your current advertisers and/or future advertisers, to express my profound disappointment in this week’s edition of the Newton Tab.

     Newton is facing a hotly contested municipal election on Tuesday. But today’s paper did not include a single mention of the election. Not only was there no article outlining the important issues before voters; a list of candidates on the ballot; or coverage of a series of local debates that took place in the past two week; there wasn’t even a breakout box reminding residents to vote, not to mention details about polling hours or locations.

     I understand that GateHouse is resource strapped (disclosure: I’m a former GateHouse employee and we once had the same job title. I’m also a paid digital subscriber.) But it is beyond belief that this week’s paper was fully devoid of this vital coverage. The most recent editions of the Tab leading up to the election were also largely absent of any election reporting, with the exception of letters to the editor. Nor can I find any election related articles today on Wicked Local Newton’s homepage.

     This is extremely disheartening and, frankly, puzzling. I am a regular reader of the Needham Times/Wicked Local Needham and have been extremely impressed with Trevor Ballantyne’s reporting in Needham since his arrival, which leads me to wonder why two sister publications have such different editorial approaches.

     I certainly hope the Tab will step up this week by posting election news and information online, and of course election results Tuesday night, and will not repeat this oversight in the future.

     Thanks for listening.

     Greg Reibman
     President, Newton-Needham Regional Chamber

6. 

   Bob Burke on October 30, 2019 at 1:17 pm

   What Greg said.

7. 

   Dan Foley on October 30, 2019 at 1:37 pm

   I was shocked as well. I opened the Tab in order to see if it had a copy of Tuesday’s ballot. We have a new voter in the house and I wanted to (try to) explain the Wards and At-Larges, etc. Not only no ballot, no election articles at all. In fact, it was only two sections — a summer-sized issue.

   • 

     Gail Spector on October 30, 2019 at 2:08 pm

     Good thing we have Boston University journalists on the case!

8. 

   Jim Epstein on October 30, 2019 at 5:36 pm

   Gail,

   And even better yet, that crucially we have Village 14 to transmit those journalists’ pieces.

9. 

   Paul Green on October 30, 2019 at 7:20 pm

   Thanks for writing that Greg.
   I couldn’t agree more.
   There is a lot of very important information for voters missing in this edition.

10. 

    Jan on October 30, 2019 at 9:11 pm

    The Tab, sadly, has become useless, devoid of local content except “human interest” stories. A victim of economics, true, but still sad to see a newspaper slowly die. Village 14 has stepped up!

11. 

    Chris Steele on October 30, 2019 at 9:31 pm

    The election itself is of course of great “human interest”. So a fail even there.

12. 

    Matt Lai on October 31, 2019 at 6:24 am

    Agree with all of the above, but a pause for thought…

    The “victim of economics” is a victim of us. We shop online, leaving local stores unable to advertise (or worse), we have vast dining options that are often outside of Newton, we consume news on Twitter, Facebook and yes…V14. No ad revenue or eye balls leave little resources for in-depth, Pulitzer level reporting.

    I too miss the Tab of yesteryear, but let’s not be too hard on those trying to keep a dying media alive. Today’s Tab could very well be tomorrow’s Globe or Herald. We are all in part to blame.

13. 

    Newton Highlands Mom on October 31, 2019 at 6:53 am

    Did anyone notice a few weeks back when The Tab called Mayor Fuller “Roxanne” twice in captions. Best articles in The Tab are the sports articles submitted by a South student on the football games. The rest of the Sports section is just scores and two line summaries when you really want to see the kids names and read about their accomplishments.

    • 

      Greg Reibman on October 31, 2019 at 9:15 am

      Everything everyone has written about the very challenging economics and resource challenges in the news business are true. And to get a more complete, sobering understanding, Boston Magazine has just published this.

      Here’s two excerpts:

      We’re more than a decade removed from a time when even populated, well-heeled towns such as Newton had regular coverage of their city council, school committee, and zoning board.

      …As if to underscore that point, in August the Globe and Boston University announced they had formed a partnership to bring more hyperlocal headlines to Newton, one of the most expensive suburbs in the commonwealth. But the Globe can’t take on the mantle of covering every town meeting in the state, and no one should be rooting for it to.

      All that said, there’s more than economics at play here.

      I closely follow two GateHouse publications: The Newton Tab and the Needham Times. The Needham Times this week has actual news and important meeting coverage. Newton didn’t.

      That’s why I hope everyone reading this will send an email today to the names listed in this thread and express your disappointment and ask for more focus on municipal coverage and other news.

14. 

    Marti Bowen on October 31, 2019 at 9:32 am

    Greg, thanks for posting this info, writing a letter from the chamber and for pointing out the comparison between Needham and Newton news

    Gail, I appreciate greatly what you are doing with your journalism students and the Globe.

    Jim, it’s nice to hear a something positive about V14 – thank you.

    Unfortunately we volunteers, no matter how hard we try, can never come close to having a true journalist whose beat only covers Newton.

    Matt, that’s why we need to subscribe to the papers (digital or otherwise) we read.

    I realize that subscriptions don’t bring in the revenue advertisements do, but if there are more subscribers, there will be more advertises wanting to be before those eyes.

    I subscribe digitally to all of the papers and magazines I depend on for news – which means I have a lot of subscriptions. The thing is that, at least digitally, the total cost ends up being lower than when I only paid for a few paper newspapers.

    I used to read the paper Tab, but since I moved, it doesn’t just appear in front of my house.

    It was a very short time ago that the Tab covered most of the important issues, and certainly elections, going on in Newton. I definitely miss it. It’s strange not to have a journalist keeping us apprised of what’s happening in Newton.

15. 

    Ann on October 31, 2019 at 12:31 pm

    Watertown has an independent online newspaper [www.watertownmanews.com] with pretty substantial local reporting supported by ample advertising. This could be a good model for Newton