Things are really going downhill when the state’s largest paper uses the whole front page to write about one of its own employees.
The Maine Sunday Smellogram dedicated the entire cover of its Maine/New England section Sunday to a man who claims he’s visited every town in Maine – yet another thumbsucker feature.
Since there were no other stories on the cover of the Maine/New England section, the Maine Trust For Local News is telling its dwindling readers this is the most important event or issue in Maine and New England.
But wait, it gets better.
The news staff didn’t independently verify how many towns and cities there are in Maine.
They had to attribute that stat to the subject of the feature story.
‘Jeff Hewett of Cape Elizabeth said there are 454 incorporated towns and cities in Maine.’ – Maine Sunday Telegram
(Wiki actually says Maine has 482 municipalities, consisting of cities, towns, and plantations. The paper of detail (LOL) should have differentiated between incorporated and non-incorporated.)
Any editors on duty? If one had been, maybe he or she would have actually asked Hewett, “are we including non-incorporated entities in our count?”
But stay with us. The best is yet to come.
Guess who this fellow Jeff Hewett is. He is a Maine Trust printing manager.
The snoozepaper of record is now dedicating entire news pages to feature stories on its staff – in the biggest edition of the week no less, on Sunday.
And here’s the kicker – the idea for this self-flaggelation came from a woman named Stefanie Manning, who happens to be the company’s president and publisher (along with running a diner in Maine’s largest city).
And they’re wondering why the number of paying subscribers isn’t growing fast enough to pay their bills.
Here’s an idea: Make better news judgments.
Maybe Manning, who recently was promoted to the trust’s top job, should give up flipping eggs at Miss Portland Diner and focus on running the paper.
The order to her from the bosses at the National Trust For Local News should be “Hey Stef, forget the eggs over easy. Just plate me some real news. Just once is all we ask.”
Scorecard:
✓ The Maine Wire: 150,000 followers
✓ Portland Press Herald: 93,000 followers
