Connor’s mixed metaphors
Rich’s poor writing: If evidence is required of the need for a constitutional amendment prohibiting MaineToday Media publisher Richard Connor from ever writing another weekly column, consider the first sentence of his July 5 offering in the Maine Sunday Telegram, Kennebec Journal, and Morning Sentinel:
“In Maine, both fall and football combine in perfect pitch for a sports symphony in which everything fits as snug as the sweater you might wear to a game.”
Uh … what?
After some meandering, the piece eventually devolves into a predictable rant about how Congress shouldn’t interfere in the way college football chooses its national champion. Which, some readers may have noticed, has virtually nothing to do with symphonies, sweaters, or football in Maine, since no school in the state is eligible for the Bowl Championship Series.
The reason for this disjointed monologue may be that Connor was attempting – not very successfully – to recycle a column that ran in his Pennsylvania paper, the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the day before.
Slapping a few virtually meaningless paragraphs on the beginning of the piece to make it appear to have some relevance to Maine makes this state seem like an afterthought.
Connor could use his space to write about his plans for the newspapers. He could discuss an issue relating to coverage of important events in Maine or the nation. Or he could exercise some restraint, and free up room for somebody else with something to say.
Wasser’s delayed announcement: MaineToday Media executive editor Scott Wasser has finally made his presence known to readers of the company’s newspapers. In unbylined stories (credited to “staff report”) in the July 3 Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal, and (credited to multiple “staff reports”) in the July 5 Maine Sunday Telegram, the official announcement of Wasser’s appointment to the post was finally made public.
Apparently, this means Wasser has decided to stay in Maine – the article says he’s moving to the Portland area – ending earlier speculation that he might be in the state only temporarily while helping publisher Connor with the transition.
Editing is taxing: The July 5 Maine Sunday Telegram ran a lengthy piece by staff writer Beth Quimby on the state’s controversial tax reform law that could have benefited from more editorial attention. If somebody with a sharp eye and a sharper pencil had gone over the front-page story carefully, this sentence probably wouldn’t have survived:
“The [Tax Foundation] lauded [the reform law’s] revenue neutrality and stabilizing effects on state revenues, but criticized it for expanding the list of services that won’t be taxed across the border in New Hampshire.”
No doubt Granite State officials were shocked to discover Maine lawmakers possessed the ability to do away with taxes on sales in another state.
While much of the material Quimby included was helpful in understanding the tax changes that will take effect in January, some of the charts were confusing, and the tax scenarios didn’t include one for young married couples with no kids, a key demographic for any media outlet looking to grow its audience.
The Lewiston Sun Journal also ran a far less comprehensive tax-reform piece by reporter Rebekah Metzler. It attempted to deal with “the common myths” associated with the legislation.
Trouble is, the myths were listed in bold type without equally bold indications that the sentences weren’t factual. A reader skimming the article could be excused for concluding incorrectly that “Only the wealthy will benefit from the tax changes” or “The elderly and the poor will not benefit because they don’t pay income tax and will end up paying more in sales tax.” A more astute editor would have preceded each of those statements with the word “Myth” to prevent confusion.
That editor would also have blue-penciled this myth: “Candy, car repairs, dog haircuts and ski lift tickets are getting taxed,” since it mixes fact and fiction. The first three items are taxed by the new law. The last one isn’t. Why mix them together, unless you’re trying to confuse people?
Al Diamon can be e-mailed at aldiamon@herniahill.net.
The views expressed on this Web site are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily represent the views of Down East Enterprise or its employees.
Stunning
Connor may be better-intended and less cynical than Guttman, but this column is stunning for its lack of craft. In terms of the basic quality of writing, this is plain terrible. The mixed metaphors are only the beginning. It's flabby, just chock full of unneeded prose. If this is the quality of work from the top editor, how is he to ever know if his writers are churning out good copy? And can't someone there save this guy from himself with some editing, or does his ego not allow that?
Yeah.
What Stunning said.
any way you slice it...it
any way you slice it...it certainly beats Guttman droning on about Cochrane!
Here, here
... I agree heartily, anything is better than Guttman's pontifications.
Connor
Not to defend the column. It was weak and designed to be noncontroversial.
But it was his first shot at a column for his new newspaper, and it could have been a lot worse.
He didn't plow into local issues where he really isn't yet qualified to offer opinions. He didn't make any errors. And he did set the tone for what he intends to write about: issues, not personalities.
A pretty low bar for success, to be sure. But it's a starting point from which to build. If a year from now, the columns are of the same caliber, I'll jump on the bandwagon bashing him. But for now, I say he deserves a pass.
Connor's column
After the first five paragraphs, in which he calls Maine college football "almost quaint," the remainder is a verbatim copy of his Pennsylvania column. (I would posit that football has a much larger following in Pennsylvania, hence the need for some lead-in.)
My favorite line, though, is when he calls Mainers provincial rubes: "our regional isolation may make it difficult to understand U.S. Senate committee hearings...."
It's all so entertaining. And to the previous poster, the column's still on the Insight page.
Connor column still there
It's under the "Insight" section at:
pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=265978&ac=Insight
Al Diamon
Ah... my mistake
That link is smaller and I missed it (plus I tend to think of the "Insight" Sunday section as the "Editorial" section). Your original link (in the story) has an extraneous www. prepended to the hostname, incidentally. Thanks for the followup!
Connor's column is gone from MaineToday
It must have been posted there earlier, since you had a link to it, but I can no longer find Connor's column on the PPH website. I checked under both News and Editorials for Sunday.
In looking over his past columns for the Wilkes-Barre paper, some seem topical, others more personal. I chalked this one up in the "personal" column as it's presumably something he has grown to care about after his years in Texas and Penna.
The real follow-up question should be, how do we get UMO to move its football program to the Big East and be competitive there?