‘No bowtie needed’

Ex-Herald ed page editor joins Globe ed board

POLITICS, as they say, makes strange bedfellows. Apparently, so does editorializing.

Rachelle Cohen, the longtime editorial page editor at the Boston Herald, whose right-of-center voice stood in stark contrast to the progressive leanings of the Boston Globe, is now a “contributing member” of her old rival’s editorial board.

Cohen, who left the tabloid in March after it was bought out of bankruptcy by Digital First, almost immediatetly began writing a column for the oped pages of the Globe on a semi-regular basis. Her somewhat cumbersome tagline initially identified her as a consultant among many other things.

Meet the Author

Jack Sullivan

Senior Investigative Reporter, CommonWealth

About Jack Sullivan

Jack Sullivan is now retired. A veteran of the Boston newspaper scene for nearly three decades. Prior to joining CommonWealth, he was editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, a part of the GateHouse Media chain. Prior to that he was news editor at another GateHouse paper, The Enterprise of Brockton, and also was city edition editor at the Ledger. Jack was an investigative and enterprise reporter and executive city editor at the Boston Herald and a reporter at The Boston Globe.

He has reported stories such as the federal investigation into the Teamsters, the workings of the Yawkey Trust and sale of the Red Sox, organized crime, the church sex abuse scandal and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the State House, state and local politics, K-16 education, courts, crime, and general assignment.

Jack received the New England Press Association award for investigative reporting for a series on unused properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and shared the association's award for business for his reporting on the sale of the Boston Red Sox. As the Ledger editorial page editor, he won second place in 2007 for editorial writing from the Inland Press Association, the nation's oldest national journalism association of nearly 900 newspapers as members.

At CommonWealth, Jack and editor Bruce Mohl won first place for In-Depth Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for a look at special education funding in Massachusetts. The same organization also awarded first place to a unique collaboration between WFXT-TV (FOX25) and CommonWealth for a series of stories on the Boston Redevelopment Authority and city employees getting affordable housing units, written by Jack and Bruce.

About Jack Sullivan

Jack Sullivan is now retired. A veteran of the Boston newspaper scene for nearly three decades. Prior to joining CommonWealth, he was editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, a part of the GateHouse Media chain. Prior to that he was news editor at another GateHouse paper, The Enterprise of Brockton, and also was city edition editor at the Ledger. Jack was an investigative and enterprise reporter and executive city editor at the Boston Herald and a reporter at The Boston Globe.

He has reported stories such as the federal investigation into the Teamsters, the workings of the Yawkey Trust and sale of the Red Sox, organized crime, the church sex abuse scandal and the September 11 terrorist attacks. He has covered the State House, state and local politics, K-16 education, courts, crime, and general assignment.

Jack received the New England Press Association award for investigative reporting for a series on unused properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, and shared the association's award for business for his reporting on the sale of the Boston Red Sox. As the Ledger editorial page editor, he won second place in 2007 for editorial writing from the Inland Press Association, the nation's oldest national journalism association of nearly 900 newspapers as members.

At CommonWealth, Jack and editor Bruce Mohl won first place for In-Depth Reporting from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for a look at special education funding in Massachusetts. The same organization also awarded first place to a unique collaboration between WFXT-TV (FOX25) and CommonWealth for a series of stories on the Boston Redevelopment Authority and city employees getting affordable housing units, written by Jack and Bruce.

But Boston University professor John Carroll, who writes the It’s Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town blog, reported on Friday that Cohen’s tagline now reads that she is “a contributing member of the Globe’s editorial board.”

In an email to CommonWealth, Globe editorial page editor Ellen Clegg confirmed Cohen, along with former Startup Institute CEO Diane Hessan, is a vocal presence in editorial board meetings. Clegg said Cohen doesn’t have an office at the paper but comes in for meetings and participates remotely in many discussions.

“I’ve always admired Shelly professionally, for her knowledge of Boston, for her reporting chops, and for her sharp, fact-based arguments,” Clegg wrote. “She deepens our discussions, and that’s what we want in the room: diverse points of view and passionate debate. No bowtie needed.”