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Filed December 12, 2007

I may never feel compelled to criticize the Portland Press Herald again. That’s because “T. Cushing Munjoy” is doing it for me. And doing a first-rate job.

The pseudonymous Munjoy (The T. stands for Thomas, he says, and the rest of his name honors Portland’s Cushing Island and Munjoy Hill, two places he frequents) is the author of a new blog called Pressing The Herald (www.pressingtheherald.blogspot.com), the purpose of which is to point out flaws in the way the Portland daily covers important stories. And since beginning his blog in late November, Munjoy is finding a lot of flaws.

“Portland deserves a daily paper that reflects its vibrancy and that delivers accurate, thoroughly reported, must-read local news – every day,” he writes. “The absentee landlords who run the Press Herald serve up thin gruel. Perhaps a bit of prodding will help.”

Munjoy’s prod is sharp, but his criticism is almost always to the point.

In critiquing a Dec. 12 story on the theft of 10 tons of copper wire from the electrical system along Portland’s East End trail, Munjoy accuses the paper of suffering from a “spectacular lack of curiosity.” He cites the vague time frame in which the crime took place and offers up a laundry list of questions the story doesn’t answer (“How long would it take an experienced crew of three people to pull that much wire?” “Is the area patrolled during the day or night?” “Are the cops interviewing regular strollers, power walkers, joggers and runners as to what they may have seen and when?”). For anyone capable of reading between the lines, he practically solves the crime.

Munjoy is skeptical of official numbers. On Dec. 3, after the Press Herald reported that the University of Southern Maine had pledged to cut 30 jobs this year to help cover a budget shortfall, he wondered how that figure was arrived at, and why USM officials didn’t set a dollar amount to be saved, instead. He wanted to know why the paper didn’t question the criteria the university used to decide which jobs were exempt from a hiring freeze. “The criteria lack specificity and also the rigor that the budget situation warrants,” Munjoy writes. “Here is where the PPH could have – should have – tested USM’s seriousness and thought processes.”

Pressing The Herald keeps track of things. The blog laments the lack of follow up on stories Munjoy calls “drive-bys.” For instance, he cites a September report of a student at the University of New England who was arrested for terrorism and sketchy coverage of the aftermath of the animal-abuse case at a Buxton kennel last summer (he calls such omissions “reader abuse”). He writes, “Aside to the copy editor: get a day book; if you have a day book, use it.”

Munjoy often makes good points and suggests fruitful lines of inquiry. If the Press Herald listened to him, it’s likely many stories would be improved. But listening doesn’t appear to be on the newspaper’s agenda.

In a telephone interview, Munjoy said that shortly after he returned to his native Maine last year, having spent decades working in other states, he e-mailed Press Herald editor Jeannine Guttman concerning what he saw as persistent problems of indifferent reporting and weak copy editing. He received no reply. More e-mails. More silence. “I never got a single response,” he said. “Not even ‘Go to hell.’” To vent his frustration, he decided to put his complaints on line. Pressing The Herald was born.

Munjoy brings a professional perspective to his blog. He says he worked for 20 years as a reporter and editor in another state, before leaving journalism for a different profession. Now, 55 years old and semi-retired, he has the time to pursue his new role as a gadfly.

“They ought to put some premium on having people [on staff] who know what makes this city tick,” he said. “They don’t understand context.”

Munjoy insists he has no personal or professional axes to grind. Asked why he remains anonymous, he said in an e-mail that it was because the Blethens (the newspaper’s owners) are “ a treacherous bunch … I am known to them and known to be well acquainted with some of the few professionals left on the staff. I’m not in this to cost any good folks their jobs.”

To date, reaction to Pressing The Herald has been limited. None of Munjoy’s blog entries has provoked even a single response from a reader. Munjoy said he did get an e-mail from Chuck Cochrane, the newspaper’s publisher, dismissing his initial efforts: “He said it was easy to criticize when you haven’t done any original reporting.”

Oddly enough, that’s one of Munjoy’s main gripes about the Press Herald.

Al Diamon can be e-mailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.

Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 in Permalink