Patricia Smith was fired shortly before Barnicle for making up stories.
The Glob couldn't slap Barnicle on the wrist after firing a female of color for doing similar things.
(Maybe the offenses were plagiarisms, it's been a while. Barnicle fills in for Matthews now and then, btw.)
Oh, and Jayson Blair worked/interned at the Glob...
Barnicle was already on probation for plagiarizing Mike Royko.
Long before that, I thought Mike Barnicle's best stories were fabrications... stuff right out of the Urban Legends homepage ... but he was kinda amusing if you took him with a couple pounds of salt.
Barnicle qua Barnicle is kinda insipid so he fits right in with the Globe playbook. I was one of hundreds of people who canceled his subscription after the fake rape photograph story. I've never looked back.