Thursday, January 17, 2008
Al Diamon
MaineToday.com Loses its Leader
Joe Michaud, the president of MaineToday.com, the Blethen Maine Newspapers’ Web site, announced his resignation on Jan. 16. Michaud will be leaving in April to become a consultant.
In a memo to staff, Chuck Cochrane, Blethen Maine’s publisher, praised Michaud as “the key architect in formulating our online strategy and guiding MaineToday's development from infancy to the successful online company it is today.”
Michaud came to the Portland Press Herald in 1980 as an editor. He shifted to the Web side of the business in 1995, and was named MaineToday’s president in 1999. According to Cochrane, he has a “well-deserved national reputation.” But in recent months, much of MaineToday’s content has been shifted to separate Web sites run by each of the company’s newspapers. Moving most of the news and features elsewhere has left MaineToday’s role in question.
Cochrane said the company’s “Executive Council team is just beginning discussions about filling the big void that Joe's departure will create.”
Al Diamon can be e-mailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.
— Filed January 17, 2007
Posted on Thursday, January 17, 2008 in Permalink
Views expressed in this blog belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect either Down East's editorial stance or the views of Down East Enterprise. We ask that comments be civil; anyone who refuses to self edit runs the risk of being banned from commenting on Down East.com content. Further, please limit material cited from other publications to fewer than 75 words and a link; anything more riles copyright attorneys.
Reader Comments:
Michaud was a steward of the online newspaper that Lou Ureneck created, but clearly not the visionary the web site needed.
His "leadership" was subject to the vagaries of internal politics and whims of an owner frustrated by declining print ad revenues and lower profit margins online.