Published August 20, 2010

NPR’s Sonari Glinton learned a lot about our city while on loan to WBUR for the summer — including the fact that Boston is No. 1 for Complainers. He gathered statistical evidence that Massachusetts is truly great. Update: Hey, turns out this list is 20! –AP

____

I grew up in Chicago, which suffers from a legendary inferiority complex as the “second city” to New York. Boston, of course, has a similar complex. No matter how many times you tell people not to compare the cities, Bostonians inevitably do.

So if you’re going to insist on comparing Boston or Massachusetts to the rest of the country, it fares incredibly well. With the aid of our newsroom super intern, Chase Gregory, I have compiled the following list of awesome facts:

• No 1: College graduation rate statewide
• No 1: State funding of public transportation
• No. 5: Best cities for young professionals (Yuppie Central)
• No. 104: Highest crime rate (rougher than New York, nicer than Detroit)
• No. 4: Best state for women’s earnings
• No. 5: Children who are read to every day, percentage
• No. 12: Most restaurants
• No. 41: Cost of living
• No. 7: Large companies
• No. 3: Elite graduates
• No. 8: Average income
• No. 10: Classic movie theaters and drive-ins
• No. 9: Miss USA wins
• No. 47 (of 51): Percentage of homes that are mobile homes (This is the best stat.)
• No. 44 (of 51): U.S. presidents by primary association
• No. 9 (of 51): patents issued
• No. 4: Number of large-truck facilities
• 2nd to last: Teen birth rate
• 8th to last: Obesity
• Of the 20 safest cities in the United States, six are in Massachusetts.

So stop complaining.

Published August 20, 2010

WBUR’s managing editor, Dave Shaw, goes on the radio from time to time to talk about what stories are getting people jazzed on wbur.org. Here is his latest roundup of the week’s big stories.

____

The hubbub this week was over our coverage of the weekend prison suicide of Philip Markoff, the former Boston University medical student accused of murdering a woman who’d advertised massage services on Craigslist.

A commenter using the handle Giri said media are “sensationalizing (Markoff’s) death,” adding, “There are many more criminals in the same jail for homicide. Why is this station not talking about any of those?”

[pullquote author=”Jim Breslauer”]”Compared to everything else that’s going on in the world … this suicide got top billing. It just made no sense to me.”[/pullquote]

Another commenter, Jim Breslauer, wondered rhetorically, “Is there nothing more important to report?” I spoke with him on the phone, and he elaborated: “Compared to everything else that’s going on in the world, whether it’s the 10th congressional district, whether it’s the gubernatorial debate that was going on. And this suicide got top billing. It just made no sense to me.”

The criticism was most pointed on Deborah Becker’s Tuesday interview with Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral, who runs the Nashua Street Jail where Markoff killed himself.

Becker pressed Cabral about jail policies, mental health services and why Markoff was no longer on suicide watch when he killed himself.

The interview was described in comments as “over the top,” “abrasive” and “out of line.”

A commenter named Lindsey Brown put it this way, “I found myself wondering if I had somehow mistakenly tuned into a Fox News report.”

He described his trouble with our story in greater detail in a phone interview.

“I got the impression that a conclusion was being foisted upon the listeners in an almost witch hunt-like fashion against Sheriff Cabral,” he said.

Our coverage of the Markoff suicide wasn’t the only story on people’s minds. Our profile of independent gubernatorial candidate Timothy Cahill also got plenty of attention.

There was the usual partisan sniping but also this assessment from Matt F.: “I’m surprised that WBUR left out the line ‘This ad paid for by Tim for Governor.’ ”

The same commenter left that same sentiment on our profile earlier this month of Republican Charles Baker. Who knows, maybe he’ll say the same thing about the profile we’re doing later this month on Gov. Deval Patrick.

I suppose you could call that balance.