Bono and Bob Geldof bring their bleeding hearts (and headline-writing skills) to the Globe

Bono and Bob Geldof bring their bleeding hearts (and headline-writing skills) to the Globe

Bono hearts the Globe and Mail, according to the Globe and Mail (Image: World Economic Forum)

It’s not just unpaid interns taking over the jobs of journalists. The Globe hopes to boost readership by having Bono and Bob “Live Aid” Geldof guest-edit next week’s special Globe Africa issue. In an internal e-mail sent by Globe editor John Stackhouse yesterday, it was announced that next Monday’s issue will be “overseen” by Bono and Geldof to kick off two months of G8-G20 coverage. Just in case Bono’s “Save Africa” message wasn’t crammed down people’s throats enough in the form of worldwide concerts and (Red) products, all sections of the paper will have “a focus on Africa.” The e-mail continues:

Bono and Sir Bob are thrilled to be part of The Globe, as they consider us to be Canada’s best newspaper and the one Canadian media outlet that takes the world seriously and is taken seriously by the world. They will be in the newsroom this weekend, picking stories, photographs, helping design pages and writing headlines.

Well, with Torstar planning to buy out Canwest, there aren’t that many Canadian papers to choose from.

Anyway, we doubt Bono will literally be working on InDesign files and flipping through pages of the Canadian Press Stylebook (the e-mail says, “Our guests will only be here for a short time”), but judging by his disastrous past role as a guest columnist for the NY Times, the results should be unintentionally hilarious and eye roll inducing. Comments on the Globe‘s post asking readers to send questions in to the stars have already been disabled because “an overwhelming number of readers were making offensive statements about other commenters and/or the individual or individuals mentioned in the story.”

The newspaper’s staffers have been warned to show up only if they absolutely have to work over the weekend and that there will be additional security at the building. But considering how U2 stopped making good music years ago, we doubt Bono will be bombarded with autograph requests.

Africa: as seen through the eyes of two rich white guys.

Bono and Bob Geldof to guest edit a special Globe Africa edition [Globe and Mail]