By: Natalie Norman-Kehe
On Sunday, April 10, 2016, The Boston Globe printed a parodistic glimpse into the future in the event of a Donald Trump presidency.
The paper’s fake front page of the “Ideas” section had headlines such as “Deportations to Begin” which illustrated a world one year from now in complete turmoil.
On the next page, an editorial titled, “The GOP must stop Trump,” criticized Trump and his presidential campaign. The editorial conveys the future that Trump envisions, which is also portrayed on the front page of the section, a future that is “deeply disturbing” and “un-American.”
While speaking at a rally in Rochester, New York, Trump called the publication “stupid” and “worthless.”
“How about that stupid Boston Globe, it’s worthless, sold for a dollar,” Trump said, “Did you see that story? The whole front page — they made up a story, they pretended Trump is the president, and they made up the whole front page, it’s a make-believe story, which is really no different from the whole paper — I mean, the whole thing is made up. And I think they’re having a big backlash on that one.”
The opinion staff of The Globe defended their editorial. “We delivered copies of the editorial to his campaign because we wanted to make sure he saw what we wrote. He [Trump] responded with more empty rhetoric and few details,” deputy managing editor of the editorial page, Kathleen Kingsbury said in an interview with The Globe.
The decision to run the front page, was one which caused a storm of controversy. Many people agreed with Trump and thought that the decision pushed the lines of media ethics. On the other hand, many people applauded the paper for their unique approach toward political commentary.
Chris Christie, former Republican candidate and current Trump supporter, gave a literal thumbs down to the Globe. “…I believe it went too far,” he told reporters during a press conference.
Others aren’t too fond of it either. Richard Grenell, a Fox News contributor, tweeted his distaste. “Not a good day for The Boston Globe- they are being mocked and ridiculed universally. The editor should resign,” Grenell said.
On the other hand, Tom Fiedler, Dean of Communications at Boston University, said he was surprised and delighted by The Globe’s approach at satirical political commentary. “I think one of the challenges that editorial page editors always face is ‘how do you get attention?’” he told Boston’s NPR station,“and I would have to say, I think the Boston Globe’s editorial page editors found a interesting way to do that. It’s certainly opinion, but well within the bounds of proper editorial comment…I don’t think that satire is inappropriate for political commentary.”
Like Fiedler, Joe Nocera, a columnist for the New York Times defended the publication. He also tweeted his contentment saying, “[The] Boston Globe edit page did nothing wrong. Found entertaining way to show Trump agenda. Uproar is silly.”
Even though much controversy has erupted since it was published, only time will tell if the story will have a significant influence on Trump’s campaign.
