Foster’s Daily Democrat in Dover, New Hampshire, announced on July 9 that it had hired former MaineToday Media chief executive officer Richard Connor as its new CEO. The announcement was made by Patricia D. Foster, the newspaper company’s president and publisher. In a story posted online, Foster is quoted as saying, “We feel he is uniquely qualified to lead this company during turbulent times.”

Connor certainly knows about turbulence. Although it isn’t mentioned in the Daily Democrat’s article, Connor was ousted by the board of directors from his position at MaineToday last October, after the discovery of certain financial irregularities. Connor left the company teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, a legal disaster that was only avoided by the last-minute purchase of most of MTM by hedge-fund manager Donald Sussman. Connor is also facing lawsuits unrelated to his Maine activities. 

Foster’s has a daily circulation of about 18,000, according to its rate card. (The paper doesn’t subscribe to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, so no independent verification of those figures is available.) On Sunday, its sister publication, the Sunday Citizen, claims an average of 24,000 copies. It also publishes weekly papers in Rochester, New Hampshire and Sanford, Maine.

Al Diamon can be emailed 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.