Like father, don’t like son: The Bangor Daily News made a serious error of judgment when it assigned State House reporter Eric Russell to do a story on the controversy at the Maine State Housing Authority. As noted at the end of Russell’s Nov. 30 article, his father works at the agency.

Diminishing opinions: The Nov. 28 Lewiston Sun Journal editorial page contained not one bit of local content.

In the wake of Tony Ronzio’s abrupt departure last week as editor/publisher of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, parent company MaineToday Media has named Bill Thompson, editorial page director for the company’s daily papers, as the new editor of both papers.

The new publisher? That post appears to be vacant.

Conservative approach: The Maine Heritage Policy Center, a controversial right-wing think tank that’s been involved in political campaigns and has been a driving force behind much of the agenda of Republican Gov. Paul LePage, is starting its own news service to cover state government.

Know when to fold ‘em: I heard from a couple of angry people at the Lewiston Sun Journal about my recent postings on that paper’s coverage of Question 3 on the Nov. 8 ballot that would have allowed a casino in downtown Lewiston. Neither person who contacted me by email would allow their names to be used or their comments posted. But their version of events is slightly different from that presented by others, so I think it’s worth relating.

Ink evaporates: The Midcoast Beacon is no more. The free weekly published by the Bangor Daily News called it quits with its Nov. 10 issue. In a front-page announcement, Bangor Daily editor Michael Dowd said the decision to shut down the operation was caused by “rising production and delivery costs.”

On Nov. 10, the Audit Bureau of Circulations released the latest figures for some Maine daily newspapers. While none of the papers being audited by ABC showed an increase in circulation, the Portland Press Herald and Bangor Daily News both had numbers that were significantly better than last year at this time.

Taking the weekend off: On Thursday, Nov. 3, Maine Public Radio’s Susan Sharon scooped the competition by airing a story indicating the backers of a casino in downtown Lewiston had agreed to sell a major interest in the operation to an out-of-state company called M Five Inc. for $5 million. Sharon cited documents signed by the principals in the gambling enterprise as her source.

Got conflict? I’ve mentioned this before. 

Again and again. But the message doesn’t seem to be getting through, even though it’s pretty simple:

The November 3 Portland Press Herald had a front-page story on a Westbrook company that appears to be in big financial trouble. So, there’s no question the editors at the Portland paper recognize that such financial developments are newsworthy.

Unless, of course, the company in question is the one they work for.

When that happens, they leave the reporting to the competition.