Publisher's Notebook: Globe is no longer Funny.

Publisher's Notebook: May 2003 Print Edition

Atty. J. Edward Pawlick, Publisher

Globe Is No Longer 'Funny'

A 'Bully' Has Come to Our State

It always feels good to fight a bully who is constantly cheating and lying.

"This is the classic case of a 'bully in the schoolyard,'" I said when the suit was filed. "The Times/Globe claims to be against that type of conduct, but they are the biggest bully of all."

The Globe is no longer something we can laugh about. They've been a great source of chuckles over the years with their outrageous stupidity and conceit. But for the last ten years, they have become less humorous and more ominous as their power has melded with that of the out-of-state New York Times. (The Times purchased the Globe ten years ago.

We're now seeing our state newspaper - and our state government - managed from West 43rd Street in Manhattan. (Yes, they do have that much power.) We have even watched the wife of a Times employee (the famous, radically liberal columnist Anthony Lewis) being installed as the Chief Justice of our state Supreme Court. We would have to be very naïve to believe that she, Margaret Marshall, is not receiving orders and encouragement from 43rd Street. Her husband is very influential in that building.

We think of the Times as a great American "institution," but it's not. It's just another family business, now run by the great-grandson of the man who made it famous back in the late 1800s.

Is it still a "great" newspaper? If so, that would mean that we have indeed discovered a remarkable gene pool after five generations of ownership. If it is true, that pool must be preserved by the world at all cost.

The family member now in charge of the Empire is Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., who is 51. He climbed to the top in 1997. (Surprise!) Previous to that, he had been Publisher of the New York Times newspaper since age forty (which title he still holds).

Suit Is About Libel of Sarah McVay Pawlick

The libel lawsuit concerns the Protection of Marriage Amendment and my wife, Sarah McVay Pawlick. She is President of the organization which sponsored the Amendment, Mass. Citizens for Marriage (MCM).

How many people know that MCM won the battle to get the Marriage Amendment on the ballot so the citizens could vote on it? The Times/Globe knows it. That's why they publicly urged Sen. Birmingham to refuse to obey the law last July. And that's why they have falsely reported what was said by the SJC in its decision of Dec. 20, 2002, in which it advised Gov. Swift that what we had been telling her was true. The law had been broken and it was her duty to call the Legislature back and tell them to vote.

Our lawsuit says that the Globe and the Times have the right to oppose the Amendment and to urge the courts to impose homosexual marriage in the state. (They fully understand that gay marriage will not be allowed if the Amendment is approved).

However, the libel suit also says that although they have that right, "Both the Times and the Globe have gone far beyond the ethics of journalistic standards and have used their news columns to promote their beliefs, including false and libelous statements about Pawlick and MCM."

We realize that most of the judges in both state and federal courts in Massachusetts are very liberal. Most lawyers will say that we do not stand a chance in this lawsuit, but they do not understand the egregious facts in the case.

At the very least, many more citizens will come to understand the truth. When these facts are exposed, I believe a lot of people will be surprised. We may start to see much more popular awareness of the power structure and of the many changes that are necessary in our state.