Al Diamon
Disappearing Reporters
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Missing names: It all depends on how you go about it. When the Portland Press Herald gave buyouts to seven reporters in late June, it got plenty of attention. Understandably so. By the time the early departures, layoffs and resignations were completed, the paper had reduced its reporting staff by nearly one quarter.
At the Bangor Daily News, the erosion in the newsroom is less noticeable, but it could soon be nearly as extensive. The latest reporter to leave is Toni-Lynn Robbins. If the paper follows recent trends, she won’t be replaced. When Anne Ravana jumped to Maine Public Radio a couple of months ago, no new reporter was hired to take her place.
One reason the loss of experienced journalists hasn’t been as apparent at the BDN as at the Press Herald may be because many familiar names still turn up in the Bangor paper – as columnists or freelancers. Former staffers Kristen Andresen, Renee Ordway, Beumond Banville and Emmet Meara all continue to contribute to the paper, but the BDN doesn’t have to contribute to their health care, retirement fund or workers’ comp.
Sweet deal, financially. And it doesn’t hurt in the public-relations department, either.
Remembered name: They hauled the furniture out of the Press Herald’s State House office this past week. The bureau was one of four closed as part of the same round of cutbacks mentioned above. But the paper’s glory days of covering state government were vividly recalled on July 17 in an op-ed column by Kay Rand in the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Rand, once the chief of staff for former Gov. Angus King, lamented the decimation of the Augusta press corps (now down to four or five people, from a high in the early 1990s of more than a dozen). But Rand is less concerned about numbers and more worried about quality.
“If we rely on the media to provide the information that we need to make our democracy work,” she writes, “what would it portend if all our daily newspapers could no longer employ skeptical reporters to probe for honest information because of declining advertising revenues?”
Her example of quality coverage: Nancy Perry, former Press Herald State House ace, who’s been gone from those hallowed halls for more than a decade. Rand quotes one of her colleagues in the King administration as saying being interviewed by Perry was like “chewing on tinfoil.” Rand’s own take: “Perry was one of those reporters who dug deep for information and she wasn’t carrying anyone’s water other than her desire to know as much as anyone else about the state budget. She wasn’t partisan, she wasn’t pursuing a pre-conceived story and she didn’t sensationalize a story in search of a Pulitzer Prize.”
As a rookie State House reporter, I got to watch Perry work for several years. Rand’s right. We haven’t been safe from the politicians and bureaucrats since she left.
Returning name: Back in 2005, a college kid named Mike Tipping ran a blog called “Maine Politics,” which contained a lot of information that didn’t turn up anyplace else. Tipping’s work was distinctly left-leaning, but unlike the current crop of knee-jerk Democratic blogs and campaign attack sites, he never hesitated to take errant liberals to task. If he thought the Republicans had it right, Tipping said so. After several months of scoops and hate mail (mostly from Dems), Tipping gave up the blog, citing the pressures of school work and his pending ejection into the real world.
Now, “Maine Politics” is back, and it’s as good as ever. Tipping’s take on how GOP U.S. Sen. Susan Collins stole the news-coverage thunder from Democratic challenger Tom Allen on recent endorsements by education groups is not only astute about politics, but sharp on the media angle, as well.
Posted on Friday, July 18, 2008 in Permalink
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Reader Comments:
You've said the layoffs have resulted in a loss of institutional knowledge and you're right. Check out the stories regarding Southern Maine Community College's plans for a campus at Brunswick Naval Air Station when it closes in 2011. While the Press Herald, Times Record, Channel 6 and Channel 8 were all there, only one paper, The Forecaster, picked up SMCC president's inadvertent tip during the news conference: That Volvo may be a future tenant at BNAS.
Here's the link: http://www.theforecaster.net/story.php?storyid=15604
It's worth noting that the PPH reporter typically covers Portland, while the Times Record reporter wasn't the normal beat person (an intern?). Channel 6 and Channel 8 have no excuse, except, well, they're TV journalists.
Also, the Sun Journal picked up The Forecaster piece and ran it in their Wednesday business section (good luck finding it on the web - the site is awful), a full two days before The Forecaster - a weekly - ran it in their Midcoast edition.
So, not only are the new guys and TV guys lacking curiosity, they apparently don't read the competition or don't care.
Speaking of disappearing reporters, check out the PPH Web site. Posted at 6 p.m. today is the announcement of another round of cuts at Maine's venerable daily. Does anyone know who's affected in this round?
Al,
Anyone who might think Maine's banks are safe from the current economic woes should spend some time in the "Safe and Sound" database at bankrate.com. This site's research shows that some of Maine's banks are credit unions are basket cases financially.
On an unrelated note: Where is Nancy Perry these days? She was a tenacious pro ... exactly the kind of reporter the PPH's editor back in those days couldn't stomach. Statehouse coverage hasn't been the same since she left.
As a reporter for a free weekly paper similar to the Forecaster, this article hit home. I've been in the news business for only seven months and have seen more than half our newsroom shuffled around - and who can blame them for leaving? My hourly wage is less than what I made at a sumer job in high school, I get 30 cents for every 80 miles I put on my car each day, my mistakes are criticized publicly, I am covering three different communities at once and when I asked for a raise they said 'No!'
I love my job; I am able to communicate directly with local politicians, meet interesting people every day and have a flexible work schedule, but when snow begins to fly and I have to heat my home, fuel my car and raise my family in this economy, it may be time for somebody else to get the news while I make three times as much plowing neighbors driveways.
My grandfather always said "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys." These days we're all trying to do less with more, but newpaper GMs need to realize paying ads reps more than reporters is putting the cart before the horse. Without skilled reporters attracting readers, newpaper companies might as well get into the junkmail business.
Who'se the victim? Not me - I've got a degree - and not the paper - they can always sell out - but the readers who will have to settle for inexperienced, unprovoking and ineffective writing done by reporters who have to spend more time looking for a better paying job than getting good at the one they already have.
The Forecaster is owned by the Sun Journal Costello family in a smart move to buy up and produce weekly papers, whose circulation is not dropping or at least is stable.
Local news is the key to selling papers, which explains why the dailies are faltering so badly in Maine. Case in point: read above again.
State coverage? What is that?