Welcome to Contrarian Boston

News, commentary and reporting with an edge

I became a reporter because I had a passion for getting to the heart of what matters, and, failing that, raising some good questions.

Three decades later, I’m still at it.

Contrarian Boston will offer a different take on the news, one that does its best to cut through the mind-numbingly predictable partisanship that pervades life today, and has fun while at it.

You’ll find a fair amount of fact-based analysis and commentary here on the events of the day, as well as some original reporting, from quick takes to occasionally longer, more traditional pieces.

Sometimes our take on a particular issue may be as simple as a line or two highlighting a questionable focus or a missed angle in a story.

We’ll also cast a wide net, delving into a varied mix of local, regional and national stories and issues, with a perspective grounded in Greater Boston.

We are fortunate here in the Hub to still have two daily newspapers, a pair of public radio stations, and several weeklies and small dailies in the suburbs.

Yet even in the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s, the old MSM outfits had their blind spots - angles, stories, and even entire issues they either ignored or neglected because they just didn’t fit into their intellectual template or worldview.

It’s a problem that has only gotten worse as newspapers and other MSM outlets have imploded, slashing reporting and editing staffs.

At Contrarian Boston, we’ll do our level best to fill in the growing gaps in the news landscape, by connecting you with the research and reporting of others and with our own reporting as well.

We won’t hesitate to call out good reporting, either.

But above all, we will call things as we see them.