Media Mutt Blog Archive 2009
Getting It Wrong
Submitted by Al Diamon on Mon, 05/18/2009 - 12:09pm.What amazes me about the Maine media isn’t how many mistakes they make (the number doesn’t seem excessive), but how few they correct.
Or correct without noting that they’ve done so.
Or correct in ways that are almost certain not to attract the notice of most people who saw the incorrect version.
Evaluating the Story-Swapping Deal
Submitted by Al Diamon on Thu, 05/14/2009 - 12:40pm.Trade grade: About eight months ago, the state’s largest newspapers reached an agreement to exchange some of their enterprise stories with each other on a daily basis. The Portland Press Herald, Bangor Daily News, Lewiston Sun Journal, Morning Sentinel in Waterville and Kennebec Journal in Augusta all agreed to share articles, in an effort that was supposed to save money, free staff to do more investigative work and make the papers more competitive with TV and Internet news sources.
Credit Crunch Hits Radio
Submitted by Al Diamon on Mon, 05/11/2009 - 12:18pm.A change in the air: One Maine radio station may soon have new owners, and several others may have new, tighter-fisted management as a result of financing problems at Princeton, N.J.-based Nassau Broadcasting.
Circulation Declines
Submitted by Al Diamon on Wed, 05/06/2009 - 3:03pm.Downward bound: The Audit Bureau of Circulation has released preliminary figures for newspaper circulation for the six months ending March 31, 2009.
Of those Maine dailies contributing their numbers, all showed significant losses of purchasers of their print editions.
Special Coverage
Submitted by Al Diamon on Tue, 05/05/2009 - 5:09am.A friend of mine asked me recently if there was much difference between covering the two subjects I write about regularly, Maine politics and the state’s media.
“Yeah,” I replied, “the politicians are much nicer people.”
I was kidding.
Sorta.
No Deal — Yet!
Submitted by Al Diamon on Thu, 04/30/2009 - 12:26pm.Contrary to what I reported yesterday, Pennsylvania newspaper publisher Richard Connor will not be completing his purchase of the Blethen Maine Newspapers today. The problem – as it has been for the last nine months – appears to involve money.
The Blethen Deal is Done
Submitted by Al Diamon on Wed, 04/29/2009 - 12:05pm.Pennsylvania newspaper publisher Richard Connor is set to make an announcement on April 30 that he has secured the necessary financing and is closing on his purchase of the Blethen Maine Newspapers. Two sources familiar with the negotiations agree that the sale will go through, although they could not reveal the exact terms, including the price Connor and his partners will pay.
Wrong Word, Wrong Number
Submitted by Al Diamon on Mon, 04/27/2009 - 12:40pm.Definition attrition: Apparently, all the dictionaries have been removed from the newsroom at the Lewiston Sun Journal. On April 22, staff writer Rebekah Metzler (and several readers of this blog) demonstrated they had no clue what “specifically” means.
Two days later, sports reporter Kevin Mills came up with this gem:
Separation of Fact and Fiction
Submitted by Al Diamon on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 10:32am.
Unconstitutional: If a front-page story on April 22 is any indication, Lewiston Sun Journal staff writer Rebekah Metzler and her editors need remedial help in math and history.
Not to mention journalism.
Correction Misdirection
Submitted by Al Diamon on Tue, 04/21/2009 - 1:46pm.Error message: On April 15, the Kennebec Journal ran a story with the headline “Senator seeks a road to nowhere.”
The story was a straightforward piece of reporting that didn’t justify such a provocative bit of editorializing. It said state Sen. Troy Jackson of Allagash wanted to use federal stimulus money to fund an extension of Interstate 95 north of Houlton into the rest of Aroostook County.
