wbjournal.com | February 4, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
published bi-weekly, 24x per year, including 4 special
issues in May, September, October, and December by New
England Business Media. 172 Shrewsbury St., Worcester,
MA 01604. Periodicals postage paid at Worcester, MA.
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A division of:
Worcester Business Journal
WBJ
O
n Jan. 21, the Worcester Tele-
gram & Gazette chose to lead
off a story about rising home
rental prices like this, "e
renaissance that's happening
in the city, including newly constructed and
renovated apartments, is helping to drive up
the cost of rental housing."
e Telegram now joins MassLive as the
two main local mass media organizations
who now regularly say Worcester is in a
renaissance as a statement of fact, without
any real evidence supporting the claim.
MassLive even said its desire to be part of
the "ongoing Worcester renaissance" was a
reason for it opening a downtown office.
ere are very real consequences to
journalists repeating hype like this. You
expect organizations like the Worcester
Regional Chamber of Commerce, the City
of Worcester and the Worcester Business
Development Corp. to sell the city using
terms like renaissance in their efforts to
attract new developments and investments.
Marketing the city is their job. But market-
ing is not the role of a media organization.
If a news story wants to claim Worces-
ter is in a renaissance, that's perfectly
fine, as long as it backs up in some way.
Are more people moving into the city? Is
more wealth coming in? More housing?
Jobs? How do those increases compare
to local and national trends? Are new
developments simply replacing old ones?
Is the property tax rate dropping? Don't
just repeat what city officials say, but offer
compelling evidence from independent,
verified third parties.
e problem with trusted media sources
like the Telegram and MassLive just repeat-
ing hype without evidence is then it be-
comes generally accepted as fact. If it turns
out not to be true, there are consequences.
You can end up in a housing bubble where
people make ill-advised investments
and lose their homes. e electorate can
wrongly believe a political candidate's claim
about crime being on the rise, even though
the opposite is true. Worcester's decision to
invest $101 million in a ballpark to drive
economic development for the next 30
years can be hailed (as the Telegram put
it) as a "Grand Slam" even though such
ventures have mixed results.
In this issue, WBJ News Editor Grant
Welker examines the results of similar
I N T H I S I S S U E
municipal baseball developments through-
out the country, in the last part of his Tax
Breaks: Paying for Growth series. His
reporting shows Worcester will have to
beat the odds to make the project a success.
at is certainly doable, but the fact is far
from certain.
- Brad Kane, editor
W
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NEWS & ANALYSIS
DEPARTMENTS
4 Central Mass. In Brief
5 Flash Poll
10 Focus on Banking & Finance
15 The List: Top banks
16 The Struggle is Real
17 Know How
18 Movers & Shakers
20 Photo Finish
21 Opinion
22 Shop Talk: Kelsa Zereski,
Reliant Foundation
8 Biotech players
LakePharma eschewed Worcester for
Hopkinton, allowing its Chinese
competitor to take its place.
21 Stadium deal about more
than numbers
Viewpoint opinion columnist Bruce
Mendelsohn says even if Polar Park loses
money, it can still be a win for Worcester.
Are we all just on the Worcester hype train now?
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Real estate,
higher education, health care)
Staff Writer
Zachary Comeau,
zcomeau@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing)
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon,
Sarah Connell
Research Director,
Stephanie Meagher,
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Art Director, Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas,
mmajikas@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
Distribution and Database Coordinator
A Guide to STUFF, a publication
of New England Business Media
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel,
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
