From the Herald’s Point After blog today, which carries the byline of John Tomase:
Andrews was pulled over in Lowell on Feb. 5, just two days after the Super Bowl, with three pounds of pot and over $6,800 in cash.
On Boston.com’s Reiss’ Pieces, posted by Chris Gasper today:
Andrews was pulled over by police in Lowell on Feb. 5 and found to be in possession of a half pound of marijuana and $6,808, according to a police report.
Tomase is going to be in the spotlight going forward, and can’t afford mistakes of this sort.
Edit: Tomase’s post has been edited to read:
Andrews was pulled over in Lowell on Feb. 5, just two days after the Super Bowl, with three bags of pot totaling a half pound.
No note or explanation was given for the change. Sort of makes the title of his post, “Andrews admits his mistakes” a little ironic.
Popularity: 25% [?]
Tomase also reported that a source has confirmed that Lowell police may have videotaped the arrest. The videotape purportedly contains footage of Belichick and Andrews sharing a joint a la “Up in Smoke”
ITS BEEN CHANGED TO
“THREE BAGS OF POT”
With no mention of the change. Very cheap.
Great catch! They already corrected the error, but really, they should be having everyone in the entire organization fact and spell check Tomase’s stuff before anything goes out anymore. “with three bags of pot totaling a half pound. He also had over $6,800 in cash. “
Not a good end to that vacation. Of course, the possibility exists that Tomase wasn’t on the job or anywhere near a computer when that first post went up under his name. It wouldn’t be the first time…..I suspect.
We need to close this paper down.
Have they ever heard of fact checking?
I second the motion. The Herald needs to go out of business.
Somewhere, Gregg Easterbrook is composing a column blaming this on BB….
So, so true…
OK, yes he messed up here but this is a simple error, a brain fart. He OR his editor deserve to be fired for the video story,but this is VERY different.
As a reporter in another city (paper bigger than the Herald, a tiny bit smaller than The Globe) I have made mistakes in print in which I transpose numbers, in which I give someone the wrong first name just because something else I had heard before popped into my mind as I was writing. It happens. I once gave the victim in a beating case the wrong first name because my mind swapped in the first name of a hockey coach with the same last name. It’s bad. It happens.
The video story was a deliberate misrepresentation of the crux of the story, not a detail.
Newspapers often don’t do the fact-checking Joan is probably looking for. An editor may question something or a copy editor may notice that something sounds off, but there’s no staff re-reporting stories. Not daily ones like this.
Tomase has a round-hole agenda and a bunch of square-peg stories. Time to take the hammer out of his hands and bludgeon him with it.
Obviously he was dipping into his own stash again. Is High Times magazine still around? That might be the Tomase’s next employer. Hallucinogenics just be his sweet spot.
He’s an absolute ignoramus & so forth. It looks like his week long hiatus was a smashing success.
Bruce,
I generally enjoy your site, but this post is more than a litte petty.
The difference between 3 bags and 3 pounds is the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony. So it’s not petty.
Its petty to point out a mistake on a media watch site? Give me an effin’ break. The guy is horrendous at his job, makes mistakes like this as evidence of the same and it shouldn’t be pointed out? A media member no doubt.
And once again, Tomase re-affirms my decision to not buy the Herald, or visits its web site…
I like coming to this site for the links and the Media Approval Ratings. But I think everyone is taking this Tomase stuff a little too seriously. It’s sports, people, just enjoy watching the games. This isn’t really THAT important.
Mike, it’s another brick in the huge wall of incompetence JT has built. It IS important if only because of the person who wrote it. Do you or anyone else think JT can be believed if he breaks another story? He’s forced everyone who wants Patriots information to rely solely on Mike Reiss. Reiss is good but competition is better and JT is out of the running - as he’s proving every time he tries.
Is it possible to have 3 pounds of pot and then not have three pounds of pot?
Pat Purcell better act before people like me realize we don’t miss reading or logging on to bostonherald.com.
Tomase needs to be moved off the Pats beat at a minimum and should leave the paper via a “mutual” decision.
This is just another example of why sportswriters should not touch news items, or their stuff should go through news editors. Even corrected, Tomase’s post includes no qualification. He writes: “Andrews was pulled over in Lowell on Feb. 5, just two days after the Super Bowl, with three pounds of pot and over $6,800 in cash.” This is still an allegation and a charge, but he states it as fact. If you notice the Globe post, it says “according to a police report.” This is Journalism 101 stuff. It’s a minor point but very telling and proves that these guys need better supervision when trying to report on news.
YAWN. Put it to bed guys. You are obsessed with the Boston Herald and Tomase. Let it go. This site is one of my favorite to visit for all of the great media links and I usually enjoy Bruce’s commentary, but this has gotten old really fast. Truth be told, you guys are actually the ones helping to push the Belicheck story. I really hope that you still don’t think Tomase played a role in the Pats losing. Or that Matt Walsh contributed to the loss. The players on the field lost the game!!!
Let it go already, you have become obsessed with this and the Belicheck cheating coverage. And again, the only person all of you can truly blame for this mess is BILL BELICHECK. Not the media! If Belicheck never cheats, none of this happens. Period.
Dan,
It’s like goldy and bronzey, but made of iron.
either way, that’s a lotta grass
The blog says it was updated at 4:20 p.m. yesterday with information “thanks to a trio of eagle-eyed readers.” When did that disclaimer actually get put on the post?
For me, it’s not the mistake, but it’s the going back, changing the post and not acknowledging that there was a correction which is maddening. There’s something very Soviet about changing a story without an acknowledgement that the story has been altered. In fairness to Tomase (to run with the Soviet analogy, one of the Pats-haters useful idiots), he’s not the only one who does it. Pay attention to how many times Peter King gets something wrong or says something in poor taste, goes back and changes it, but never acknowledges the screw-up.
Also, is there a secret society that Belichick-haters belong to that requires them to misspell his last name?