Media Mutt Blog Archive August, 2008

It's Not Dead. Really.


Cancel the funeral: Rumors of the deal’s death have been greatly exaggerated.

Maine Media Investment has ended its exclusive negotiating arrangement to buy the Blethen Maine Newspapers.

Let's Play House


Moving in: The Bangor Daily News has reached an agreement with the Blethen Maine Newspapers to share office space at the State House. According to BDN editor Mark Woodward, the rival companies will split the cost of the Bangor paper’s space in order to save money.

The

Tangled Web



The more things change: The problem with the Bangor Daily News’ old Web site was you had to look in at least three places just to check on the top stories of the day.
Some were at the top of the home page.

Some were near the bottom.

Some were hidden in tiny

Sports vs. Sports


Who’s on first? Starting Sept. 1, Atlantic Coast Radio’s sports station in Portland will have a new rival – owned by Atlantic Coast Radio. ACR’s “Big Jab” programming, including its local morning

Look, Ma, I'm a Journalist


If politics doesn’t work out: As a reporter, Laurie Dobson makes a great candidate. The ex-independent U.S. Senate hopeful has twice in recent weeks made questionable forays into journalism, apparently as unconcerned with the ethical implications of her activities as she was with gathering enough

Copy Editor? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Copy Editor


A case of Original Irregular-itis: The sentence below came not from the oddly written weekly paper in Kingfield, but from the indifferently edited daily paper in Waterville. In an Aug. 11 Morning Sentinel story by Larry Grard, readers were informed that:

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

Welcome to the Web. Now, Pay Up



Free is bad:
“One of the major reasons, I believe, for declining readership of newspapers is simple: they’re giving away their product on the web.”

Who said that? The same guy who said this:

“This has had the effect of devaluing the newspaper’s

Follow That Reporter!



Liberty took liberties: Here’s a disturbing footnote on one of the people involved in Maine Media Investments, the group trying to buy the Blethen Maine Newspapers. Back in the early 1990s, developer Michael Liberty was struggling financially and fighting numerous lawsuits.