The biggest Boston story in 20 years*

Amy Bishop

The strange case of Amy Bishop is rapidly morphing into the biggest Boston news story in many years — the biggest, perhaps, since 20 years ago, when Charles Stuart murdered his pregnant wife, Carol, and jumped to his death as authorities were closing in.

At first, the story appeared neither to be local nor all that atypical as such things go. Bishop reportedly shot three colleagues to death at a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama, supposedly in response to not having received tenure.

But soon the Boston Globe broke two mind-boggling stories — that she had killed her brother with a shotgun when she was just 18 21 years old, and that she had come under suspicion in the attempted mail-bombing of one of her professors at Harvard University.

(Today we even learn there’s a Northeastern University angle. Bishop and her husband, James Anderson, are said to have met when they were undergraduates at Northeastern. From what we know so far, she apparently was not weaponized during her time as an undergrad.)

I’ve been thinking hard about whether there has been a bigger local story in the post-Stuart years. Yes, the 9/11 attacks began at Logan Airport, but that angle was quickly subsumed into the larger national story. Louise Woodward? A big one, yes, but not nearly as big as this may become.

At moments like this, it always makes sense to think about what we’ve learned from the past and how that might apply in the present situation. The Stuart case, you may recall, was a media fiasco. Nearly everyone went along for the ride when Stuart blamed the shooting on a black man who set up on him and his wife as they were driving home from a childbirth class at Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

In fact, Stuart had shot his wife for insurance money so he could open a restaurant, then shot himself. That neither law-enforcement officials nor the media questioned his initial story set back race relations in a significant way, and stained the legacy of then-mayor Ray Flynn, who’d made racial harmony his top priority.

In the Bishop case, no one is questioning that she shot fellow faculty members on Friday. Still, the fact that she was never charged — never mind convicted — in the earlier incidents ought to give us pause. (The killing of her brother was ruled an accident, though the reasons are unclear. A Boston Herald story about a man who says Bishop threatened him with a gun right after the shooting certainly raises questions.)

The Globe showed a lot of enterprise in digging out those stories about Bishop’s background. But it may be a while before we know how they fit into the larger picture.

*Update: Andy Smith asks, “wasn’t that priest thing kind of a big deal?” Indeed it was, and I’m glad I threw this out there before writing a more-considered version for the Guardian tonight.

Haitian earthquake relief

At the suggestion of frequent commenter Mike from Norwell, I’m adding a box for those who wish to donate to relief efforts for victims of the Haitian earthquake.

Rather than link to a long list of charities, which you can find pretty much anywhere (I recommend the Boston Globe’s list), I’m designating a fund set up by my religious denomination. It’s a joint effort of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

To donate, please click here.

Limbaugh reported to be in “serious” condition

Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is reportedly in “serious” condition in a Hawaii hospital after suffering from chest pains.

Panic: Buy all milk, bread and eggs right now

Adam Gaffin of Universal Hub has sounded the first major French Toast Alert of 2009-’10.

Media Nation heads for the Merrimack Valley

I’ll be speaking later today at a conference of the Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System, which Mrs. Media Nation reliably informs me is pronounced NIM-rils. The event is being held at Nevins Memorial Library in Methuen.

My topic will be a familiar one — reinventing journalism in the post-newspaper age — but I hope to add a few wrinkles to it based on some recent developments at the Boston Globe, and on the time I’ve been spending with the folks from the New Haven Independent.

I’ve posted the slideshow I’ll be using. For some reason, a few odd breaks crept in when it was converted from PowerPoint to SlideShare. But you’ll get the idea.

Tomorrow I head back to the Merrimack Valley for a panel discussion on how blogging on newspaper Web sites has affected the news cycle — and how that can create challenges in breaking-news situations.

The panel, part of a conference being held by the New England Society of Newspaper Editors (NEZ-nee? I’ll have to get back to you on that), will be held at the Eagle-Tribune in North Andover.

In memoriam

Talking about paid content

I’ll be moderating a panel on Friday evening for the Boston chapter of the National Writers Union on how writers can make a living in an era of free online content. The panelists — truly an all-star group — are:

• Lisa Williams of Placeblogger.com
• Zach Seward of the Nieman Journalism Lab
• Topper Carew, a television producer and Writers Guild member
• Felicia Sullivan of the Organizers’ Collaborative
• Jason Pramas of the National Writers Union and Open Media Boston

With a crew like that, I shouldn’t have to do much more than introduce them and get out of the way.

The program will be held from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Northeastern’s John D. O’Bryant African-American Institute*, one of the co-sponsors. Other co-sponsors are PEN New England, Grub Street, Open Media Boston, the Women’s National Book Association and the Organizers’ Collaborative.

The Friday panel kicks off the two-day event, titled “Shall We Write for Free or Shall We Write for Pay? Writers Face the Digital Age.” For more information and to register, click here. Please join us.

*Note: Venue now corrected.

On the road today

I’ll be traveling today and most likely won’t be posting. I’ll try to catch up with comments once or twice. Play nice.

Boston Phoenix sues Facebook

Now this is interesting. My old friends at the Boston Phoenix are suing Facebook on a claim of patent infringement. Adam Gaffin has the details at Universal Hub.

Blogging takes a back seat

Please pardon the lack of blogging. I’m overcommitted this week, and, other than my students (of course!), my main priority is getting ready for tomorrow evening’s event with Princeton University professor Paul Starr and Boston Globe editor Marty Baron.

Hope to see you there.