Reporters used to be blue-collar; at the Globe now, it's practically required that you have a trust fund.

For years Carr has had a feud with former Boston Globe and Herald guest columnist Mike Barnicle calling him a "hack" and saying he (Carr) wanted to be the Herald's "nonfiction columnist" (Barnicle resigned from the Boston Globe over allegations of plagiarism and fabrication of stories. The newspaper reported that Murphy had said of a fourteen-year-old rape victim: "She can't go through life as a victim. In early 2006 Carr also became a book author with the publication of his New York Times-rated best-selling book The Brothers Bulger about Billy Bulger and James "Whitey" Bulger.

Howard Louis "Howie" Carr Jr. (born January 17 1952) is an American journalist author and conservative radio talk-show host based in Boston with a listening audience rooted in New England.