Timing of Boston Globe story-Boston Phoenix

Boston Phoenix, 8/6/09: "Impressive as the (Boston) Globe article was, it also raised some questions. Why did it take the Globe the better part of a year to report on a bona fide steroid scandal that was brewing in its back yard? And whether that delay was caused by chumminess or cluelessness, did it cost the Globe a rare chance to rewrite Red Sox history?...

• Now note that, in Sunday's Globe story, Jared Remy recalled swapping steroid techniques with Ortiz's former personal assistant. That's a bombshell of a claim. And if it had been unearthed after Remy's firing last fall, it could have been the catalyst for a broader, groundbreaking look at PED suspicions involving Ortiz and others....

Whenever the Globe covers the Red Sox, readers should remember that the two entities share an owner, and that

• the team's success is good for the paper.

• (The Globe's online store, for example, features 60 pages of Sox merchandise.)

As Sunday's Globe exposé and a tough Tuesday editorial show, that doesn't mean the Globe is in the tank for the team. Still, the awkward fact remains: the security-staff firings, and MLB's subsequent investigation, only became news several months after the fact — and

• only after journalists from outside the Globe's sports department got involved.

Maybe the Globe's sportswriters simply didn't know this stuff was going on. Maybe they did, but wanted to protect Jerry Remy, who's currently fighting lung cancer and is on indefinite leave. Or maybe they didn't think that digging into possible PED use by Sox stars was part of their job. Whatever caused this story to slip through, it was a costly whiff by the hometown squad."...

• from Boston Phoenix, by Adam Reilly, "Did the Globe Drop the Steroid Ball?", via Poynter.org/Romenesko

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