Late? Biased? Vague? All of the above? The MaineToday Media newspapers – The Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel – didn’t distinguish themselves last week with their indifferent coverage of the race for Maine’s governor. In spite of sponsoring a televised debate among the Democratic candidates, the papers missed most of the breaking news, continued to appear to be tilting in favor of independent Eliot Cutler, and printed little useful information in a lengthy piece on the candidates’ energy policies.

Once again, the real coverage of the race was online, where the Web site Augusta Insider launched an extensive and thoughtful series on the contenders’ positions on education. Republican Les Otten appeared to plagiarize his answer on federal Race to the Top funding from testimony given several months ago by an official at the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a conservative think tank.

Matthew Gagnon of the Web site Pine Tree Politics broke the story on April 30, and followed up throughout the weekend, even going so far as to alert the mainstream media to what was going on.

The MaineToday papers ran a story on May 2, but buried it deep inside and failed to come up with any new information.

Compare that to the same papers’ coverage of independent Eliot Cutler’s complaint about Republican trackers videoing his public appearances, which got prompt front-page play, even though it wasn’t much of a story.

Since then, Cutler hasn’t had to worry about keeping his name before the public. MaineToday seems to be handling that task for him. The company gave him a full page in its promotional insert for the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial debates – even though Cutler isn’t taking part in either of those events because he doesn’t belong to a party, and he’s not on the June primary ballot.

No other independent got similar consideration, although one, Shawn Moody, had – like Cutler – qualified for the November ballot. The difference may be that Cutler has a lifelong acquaintance with MaineToday CEO Richard Connor, and Cutler’s campaign treasurer is Robert C.S. Monks, an investor and board member at MaineToday. Moody can make neither of those claims.

While Augusta Insider has devoted several long postings to examining the candidates’ views on a single subject, such as education, the MaineToday papers have continued to produce superficial coverage of the issues. The May 2 piece on energy policy is a good example.

As with other MTM issues articles, the candidates were asked for written responses about a variety of energy matters, with their replies limited to 100 words. So readers got such insights as “Rowe supports a balanced approach to land-based wind power development.”

What’s that mean?

Republican Steve Abbott says the state “needs to continue fine-tuning its rules to address concerns of nearby residents” of wind projects.

What’s that mean?

Democrat Rosa Scarcelli wants to “take the pot off the boil” on wind development, although, according to the story, she supports it “in a broad sense.”

What’s that mean?

Independent Cutler got his 100 words worth of free publicity, even though he’s not running in either primary.

What’s that mean?

I think I can answer that last question.

Got any books on ethics? I get a little uneasy whenever I see television news anchors doing public service announcements. While the causes they promote are usually worthy, there’s always the possibility the organization being promoted could find itself involved in some sort of controversy, and the anchor would be left in the uncomfortable position of appearing to be a spokesperson for one side of the debate.

There’s no better example of what can go wrong than the public service announcement currently running on WCSH-TV for the Portland Public Library. The spots feature Channel 6 anchor Cindy Williams urging viewers to visit the recently renovated facility in Portland’s Monument Square. Williams seems to be speaking on behalf of a group called Friends of the Portland Public Library, when she says, “Tour our first-ever teen room” or “Sign out one of our five meeting rooms for your staff meeting.”

That use of the word “our” leaves Williams in an ethically questionable position. The library has recently been engaged in a struggle with the Portland City Council over plans to close some branches to save money.

Some councilors are threatening to punish the PPL by reducing its budget if those closings occur.

Williams’ cheery “We hope to see you soon” spot has blurred the line as to whether she’s speaking on behalf of a group of library supporters – a group that lists “Advocacy” as its first task in supporting the PPL – or as a journalist – she begins the announcement by introducing herself as “News Center’s Cindy Williams.”

Until she gets her roles straightened out, Williams should avoid introducing or covering any stories that deal with the library budget battle. And WCSH should come up with a better policy governing when its anchors can set aside their objectivity.

Suspicious activity – or lack thereof: There was a big rally in downtown Portland on Saturday, May 1, protesting Arizona’s controversial immigration law. It made the TV news.

But it got zilch for coverage in next day’s Maine Sunday Telegram. Or Monday’s Portland Press Herald.

To get a comprehensive story on what went down, those interested in the issue had to visit the Web site of the Bangor Daily News, which featured a story and video from Dan MacLeod, executive editor of the Free Press, the student newspaper at the University of Southern Maine.

Unanswered questions: Why didn’t the Portland paper cover what was obviously a timely and newsworthy event? Why did the Bangor paper decide to put the story online but not in print? Why did the Free Press scoop itself by giving its story to another news outlet, but not posting it on its own Web site?

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.