SLOW NEWS DAY? Why did Boston Globe editors treat vampire rumors seriously? Did a local Boston high school really need to be told that vampires are not real?
Either Boston has run out of news or the media has given up fighting the death of print.
The Boston Globe insulted the intelligence of readers with an article refuting the existence of vampires at a local high school. The article, which seemed a better fit to grace the pages of The Onion, boasted not one but three reporters to cover every aspect of this blatant nonstory.
According to the story, a few students at Boston Latin School began passing around rumors about vampires on the heels of the popular Twilight movie and book series and the school’s headmistress spoke out to quell the chatter for fear it would cause sleepless nights for students.
Some readers at Boston.com expressed their outrage over the trivial story in the comments section: “This is about the most pointless, uninformative story I’ve read in a long time…”
“This is beyond ridiculous. Children (yes they are children) periodically spin nonsense tales in order to satisfy their need for drama. I can understand a headmaster sending out a “knock it off” message to the school population……… but this was printed in “The Globe”? Oh my goodness! What childish rumor shall we see in print next?” One commenter even stated that the Globe completely missed the point of the actual story at play:
“This story is very misleading and inaccurate. From first hand reports there has been a little clique of girls who fashion themselves as vampires and request that shades be drawn for them during homeroom etc. The clique is led by one girl who really does have mental health issues, and things have gotten out of hand recently because they had started cutting themselves and exchanging blood, which led to a large Hep. B scare etc. Another rumor is that one of the girls had actually bitten another on the neck and drawn blood. Police presence was needed. The story implies that BLS students believe in vamps and are scared. This is asinine. They are scared because there have been rumors of gun threats and violence. This is a bizarre issue but that is no reason to imply that BLS is full of idiots.”
The Boston Globe disrespected its readers as well as the students at Boston Latin School. Thye completely dropped the ball on what may have been the real problem at the school. If anything surrounding this story bites, it’s the reporting.
