Where’s the story? That’s what you have to ask yourself, as a reporter.

I’ll admit I’m a little disappointed in Mac Daniels’ decision to highlight the “cancellation” of the T-boycott, an idea that never really got off the ground in the first place, instead of highlighting the rally itself which has definitely not been cancelled.

I think what I said to Mac about the boycott was, if people wanted to boycott, they certainly could. He told me he, himself, was definitely interested in the idea of boycotts–not because he wanted to participate in this one, or thought it would be effective–but because boycotts are so hard to organize.

Exactly. And who’s got time for the tears? Life should be a banquet, not a beggar’s ball.

But I don’t think that’s the story, here. And I tried to stress that moving beyond the boycott (I don’t think I ever used the word “cancelled,” myself) wasn’t some big bureaucratic decision in the Star Chamber—it was really just about the best way to get people mobilized to do something productive with this thing, hook people up, show the world we’re mad as hell and we’re not gonna take it anymore, and blah blah blah, yeah, whatever. That kind of thing.

At least the headline in the Glob was somewhat informative: “T farehike protesters hold rally.” And just one little sentence in that first paragraph, detailing exactly when and where the rally would be held, and maybe even why, would have been helpful. But we’d all rather kick each other in the balls whenever the opportunity arises, so, yeah, whatever.

The Metro also ran the story, with a headline screaming “Boycott against proposed T fare hike cancelled.” Yes, the first paragraph mentions “a short rally before the first in a series of public hearings” (it’s the same exact story the Glob’s running, but with a more sensationalistically distorted headline, of course), but then the rest of the story is, again, about how it won’t be a boycott. Presumably, if you are reading the Metro in the first place, you are on a train or a bus and aren’t boycotting the T anyway.

Still there’s no doubt that a headline like that will confuse some poor Metro readers into thinking that the rally itself has been cancelled. They don’t provide any details about the rally, either: exactly where or when it’s happening, just that it’s not going to be a boycott. Which is very informative.

Of course, I woke up this morning with a dread thought: what if it’s just me and three of my friends and Dani B. who show up? It could be uncomfortable. We obviously should have stuck with the boycott idea.