Copyright © 1999 by the Boston Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.

This Just In: As the Globe turns

A Golden handshake that no one wants

By Dan Kennedy

The Globe is bidding farewell to an experienced investigative reporter, and knowledgeable sources say it didn't have to happen. Dan Golden, who's wrapping up nine months as a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University, is jumping to the Wall Street Journal, for whom he will be the paper's Boston-based national education reporter.

Newsroom sources say Golden -- an 18-year veteran who had worked for deputy managing editor Ben Bradlee Jr.'s special-projects team before going to Stanford -- learned through the grapevine that his new assignment would be to replace Peter Howe, who recently transferred from health-and-science to business. Sources say Golden was steamed that he hadn't been told directly, and that he saw the move as something of a demotion, given that he'd already done a stint as a health-and-science reporter.

Golden declined to comment, but several sources say he didn't really want to leave; they characterize his departure as damaging both to the paper and to morale. "People are really down about this, really pissed off," says one.

Says editor Matt Storin: "He was not pleased with the assignment that we saw him taking upon his return, and he kind of got his feet in cement over it and was upset about it and started looking around. He got himself a good offer from the Wall Street Journal. It's unfortunate. I think there were some miscommunications. I hate to use a cliché, but it's just one of those things that happens sometimes."

Getting clear. The ink was barely dry on religion reporter Diego Ribadeneira's "Spiritual Life" column on Saturday when Boston-based anti-cult activist Steven Hassan sent out a blistering e-mail to his associates and supporters. Ribadeneira's column included a photo of the late L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, with a caption reporting that the organization has published an updated edition of its book What Is Scientology? Hassan called it "outrageous" that Ribadeneira failed to mention Scientology's past criminal activities, and that he accepted without question the church's claim that it has eight million members (Hassan says it's more like 100,000).

"The book is a mere self-published propaganda piece used to recruit new followers -- not a real book," wrote Hassan, who, like many critics of Scientology, has charged that the organization practices dangerous mind-control techniques to keep its members in line. "This piece is the best PR the Globe could give -- not responsible to the Globe readership and the harm it might cause to them."

Ribadeneira defends the item and denies any implication that he was boosting a cult. "In some people's minds it's useful," he says of Scientology, "and in other people's minds it's not. I don't think it's 100 percent proven that this is a cult. Obviously there are enough people in Scientology who've remained members who are satisfied with it. People can go look at the book and make any judgment they want to make after that."

Although I think Hassan's assessment of Scientology is on target, Ribadeneira correctly judged that the new What Is Scientology? is legitimately newsworthy. He was right to report its release -- but he should have done so with a more skeptical tone. At the very least, he should have reminded his readers that the church is controversial, and why.

¿No habla español? For a little more than a year, the Globe has been condescending to its Spanish-speaking readers by running a Spanish-language report on the Red Sox the day after Pedro Martinez's home-game starts. As if folks who can't read an English paper are going to plunk down 50 cents for one story. As if baseball is the only thing they care about.

This idiocy should be put to the test later this season. Pedro's brother Ramon, who arguably has had an even more distinguished major-league career, should be ready to join the Sox' rotation after coming back from a shoulder injury. And so should rookie phenom Juan Peña, rehabbing from his own arms woes. Will the Globe run Spanish reports after each of their home starts? If not, why not?

If Matt Storin and publisher Ben Taylor want to start, say, a weekly Spanish-language supplement covering the full range of news, including sports, that's great. But what they're doing now is pandering. They should stop.