Al Diamon
A Long Way from Layoffs
Inscrutable: It’s almost as if the several rounds of layoffs this year at the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel didn’t happen. It’s sort of like the Press Herald wasn’t forced by its poor financial condition to close its State House bureau and three other regional offices. It’s not at all similar to the latest news that the Portland paper will cut more pages from its Sunday and Friday editions to save money.
Because while there isn’t enough in the budget to adequately cover state government (the Press Herald is lagging six weeks behind the Bangor Daily News in reporting on a possible special legislative session to increase heating aid for low-income people) – or even local government (it took a month for the Press Herald to notice the story about another attempt to put slot machines at Scarborough Downs, even though the Forecaster published the information in mid-July) there’s apparently more than enough in the budget to send sports reporter Mike Lowe to Beijing to cover Maine athletes competing in the Olympics. Good thing, because otherwise poor Ian Crocker wouldn’t get any coverage at all. I mean, other than the three-quarters of a million hits you get if you Google his name.
Lowe, however, will bring something special to his coverage. In his initial blog filing on August 6, he tells us that his new granddaughter was born on Sunday, that he spent the previous night at his brother-in-law’s house in Massachusetts, that there were a lot of people at Logan Airport (but not in the line for his flight to Newark), that he put too much stuff in his luggage and had to transfer some items to his carry-on (including his beloved Planter’s Cocktail Peanuts), and that he hoped to get lots of sleep on the long flight to China.
That posting alone is worth laying off a couple of experienced political reporters.
Intrusive: Chris Busby, editor and publisher of the Bollard, the Portland-based online news site and monthly print publication, is a friend and former editor of mine. So, I’ve got a bias here. You’ve been warned.
Busby seems to be waging a one-reporter campaign to break down the Maine media’s longstanding tradition of politely pretending the people they cover don’t have sex.
In the July print issue of the Bollard, Busby stalked congressional candidate Chellie Pingree and her alleged paramour (and largest campaign donor) S. Donald Sussman, providing strong evidence they share more than a commitment to certain issues.
On August 6, in the online Bollard’s gossip section, he provided detailed coverage of the relationship between Karen Rajotte, publisher of the Forecaster weeklies (where he once worked), and Godfrey Wood, head of the Portland Regional Chamber business group. Busby offers next to no evidence that affair has had any impact on the Forecaster’s coverage. He quotes an ethics expert who doesn’t think a publisher’s personal life is all that big a deal. And his claim that the paper’s weekly listings of local arrests (without later reporting whether the person was convicted) shows the publication has “questionable ethics” seems to be beside the point.
But I’ll give Busby this much. He’s no wimp. And that distinguishes him from the vast majority of his colleagues, dating back to the era of Margaret Chase Smith (who lived with her top aide, although that fact never made it into print during her long tenure in Congress). Later, John McKernan and Olympia Snowe (whose affair while both served in the U.S. House was well-known in Washington, but considered taboo by Maine editors) got a free pass, at least until Steve Campbell, the Press Herald’s much-missed D.C. correspondent, badgered his bosses into letting him tell the truth. In more recent times, then-U.S. Rep. John Baldacci got no negative press as a result of his attendance at a questionable party for congressional interns – at least until the national media mentioned it – and his affiliation with a politically connected religious cult that gave him cheap room and board – again, until the story broke in a national magazine (although, even then, it got little attention in Maine).
There’s been considerable negative reaction to Busby’s Pingree piece in both political circles and among the more moralistic media types, and I expect this current item, even though it’s clearly labeled as gossip, will produce more of the same. But in both cases, there’s at least some legitimate public interest in knowing about behind-the scenes (or behind-the-bedroom-curtains) connections.
If news organizations are going to err on one side or the other in reporting these types of stories, they could do worse than making Busby’s mistakes. Better to be smeared as sensationalistic tabloid journalism than found guilty of protecting the local power structure through the selective use of censorship.
Instructive: There wasn’t a whole lot of fresh information in the Press Herald’s coverage today of visits to its facilities by members of Maine Media Investments, the group that’s seeking to buy the Blethen holdings in Maine.
We found out that the time frame during which MMI, headed by former U.S. Sen. William Cohen, holds the exclusive right to negotiate to buy the company is 60 to 90 days. And we learned that the Newspaper Guild, the largest union at Blethen, has agreed to re-open its contract to allow the potential owners to work out some kind of new arrangement, likely involving cuts in wages and benefits in return for an employee stock ownership plan.
Other than that, Richard Connor, the journalistic member of MMI, said he didn’t know what would become of Blethen property on Congress Street in Portland or other prime real estate. His separate closed-door discussions with Press Herald editor Jeannine Guttman and union members were both described as “candid,” a word that, if not very informative, is at least unusual in a story associated with the Blethens.
Al Diamon can be e-mailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.
Posted on Thursday, August 7, 2008 in Permalink
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Reader Comments:
Please note in the following paragraph from the Star Telegram that Connor says:
"I put this group together, and all we’ve done is negotiate a letter of intent."
There seems to me to essential things to know about this purchase - whose idea was it and who is putting up the money. Neither is clear from any posting on or off line. Did Connor actualy "put this group together"?
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http://www.star-telegram.com/business/columnists/shlachter_perotin_fuquay/
Former S-T publisher courting Maine papers
Connor said an ESOP was contemplated as a way of signaling to employees the group’s long-term commitment to the newspaper business. If culminated, a deal would also include the smaller Kennebec Journal in Augusta and the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, the Web site MaineToday.com, one weekly newspaper and several other small publications.
Connor said smaller papers are faring much better in the current economic climate than larger ones.
"We think we can make it work....."
The GOP this week said it wanted a session - how did the bangor paper have it six weeks ago, same story? Have you got a link?
So Busby's some kind of revolutionary because he's discovered politicians and publishers have sex? Wow. Groundbreaking.
Let's call his drivel exactly what it is: Voyeurism cloaked in sanctimony.
He deploys 'gossip' labels to circumvent the journalism ethics he proclaims to defend. And I challenge you to read his 'news' items and see if you can tell the difference.
I know you'd like to think your pal is uncovering 'the local power structure', but he's just carrying out petty grudges. If Busby was truly interested in revealing the secret lives of public officials, then perhaps he should devote some space to the off-duty activities of certain Portland city councilors (Don't think he knows a few dirty secrets? Think again.).
I often enjoy your work, Al. But making excuses for this peddler of the lowest common denominator is clouding your judgement and eroding your own credibility.
The Bangor Daily News first reported on the possibility of a special session on July 3 in a piece by Mal Leary headlined "Support builds for energy session." I don't have a free link, but you can access the article through the MARVEL system at libraries.maine.edu/mainedatabases/
Al Diamon
Here's what irritates me about the Press Herald sending Mike Lowe to Beijing. I can buy the argument that the tickets were purchased in advance, before the current fiscal panic. But if you're going to go ahead and do it, why not promote the blog?
I went looking for today's entry and it took me a few minutes to find the link buried on the front page of pressherald.com. It's underneath the giant photo of the badminton player and directly underneath the link for: "New this week: our Outdoors section moves to Thursdays. Find online-only features on fishing and canoeing."
There's no head shot, no photo. Just a link that says: "From Maine to Beijing:
Sportswriter Mike Lowe has arrived in China. See pictures and hear about his journey on his blog."
No, no, no. Even if the tickets were purchased a year ago, the financial woes besetting the paper as a whole and the newsroom could be considered chronic, if not acute. This is just another example of poor fiscal and journalistic judgment. Olympic coverage saturates every form of media.
If local news is indeed the mantra and franchise, tell me what's going on behind the scenes at City Hall and the State House. Tell me why Anthem BCBS raises its rates by ridiculous amounts every year. Tell me how much the people of Maine are still indebted from every bond issues that's been passed in the last 10 years. Tell me how many of those bonds have fulfilled what they promised. This is info most people can't get everywhere else. Those are the reporting and editing skills an informed citizenry depends on.
Warning to the Maine newspaper employees: watch out, this group headed by Connor has no money, and plans on using your pension funds as an ESOP. An ESOP is what Sam Zell used to takeover the Tribune properties, and you can read for yourself what's happened at the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and Orlando Sentinel since then.
Connor also is facing financial issues in Wilkes Barre, Pa., where he bought a marginally profitable newspaper from McClatchy in 2006 for $65 million. The money was borrowed from a private hedge company. But the fortunes of the Wilkes Barre paper has dimmed considerably with the announcement of the Boscov's bankruptcy. There are three Boscov's in the Wilkes Barre newspaper's circulation district, and the ads keep the paper alive. Boscov's also operates the only department store left in downtown Wilkes Barre
I also thought of the Zell-Tribune deal and all that debt when I heard about the ESOP component of MMI-Blethen. The union would be advised to consult with a professional well-versed in these kinds of arrangements before blessing this deal.
Regarding Tribune, I have no doubt that even if Tribune hadn't sold out they would be faced with the same issues as Zell, and making many of the same hard choices. Maybe not as drastically, though; inevitably, as with department stores, the chains carrying the least amount of debt and with the best access to capital are the best-prepared to ride out this recession.
Regarding Boscov's Chapter 11 and its impact on newspaper ad revenues in Wilkes-Barre, none of the store closures are in the Wilkes-Barre market area. Furthermore, I suspect the judge overseeing the case would see newspaper advertising as an essential business expense.
The retirement checks of thousands of present and former employees of these newspapers are in jeopardy if this ESOP idea goes through. If you don't know how an ESOP works, check it out, and make sure everyone understands how their future security is jeopardized if it is used, and this decline in ads continues to drain revenues from newspapers.
Don't believe rosy forecasts of recovery, or even maintaining the lower levels of ads the newspapers now have. This downturn is not over, and many newspapers may not survive it. Don't gamble with your future and the future of your families.
Under an ESOP, the company stops making contributions to pension funds and 401k plans. But because the ESOP has to be accepted by employees, it requires union approval. If the union says no, no ESOP. I think this is the real reason why Cochrane is trying to get the courts to scrap the Guild contract, so he can push this through and pocket millions.