New England Legacy Press Members Hold Convention To Bemoan The Death Of Their Lazy Journalism

Funny how the very newspapers that are failing are the same ones that don’t cover news.

The annual convention of the New England Newspaper & Press Association featured a speaker who said that “for the first time in American history, trust in journalism is now lower than Congress, which until recently held the lowest level of trust among the people.”

That gem of recycled wisdom came from Rufus Friday, executive director of the Center For Integrity In News Reporting.

For using that tired old boring line comparing failed institutions to Congress ought to be grounds for arrest.

“Integrity In News Reporting”

Apparently if you’re going to hold a “newspaper” convention you invite a keynote speaker whose audience represents the worst in journalism.

The best evidence of the embarrassing product that Friday and his ilk are putting out is the raw numbers.

Exhibit No. 1: The Maine Wire is now showing 150,000 followers on Facebook, compared to 93,000 for Maine’s largest daily paper.

It’s actually even worse than meets the eye, if that’s even possible.

Over just the past few weeks alone, The Maine Wire’s numbers have skyrocketed by thousands while the Portland Press Herald has stayed stuck in the mud at 93,000.

And Joe Friday is getting paid to tell legacy editors what they know but won’t admit, behaving just like drug addicts and alcoholics.

Yup, Joe, you’re spot on – your clients are dead in the water.

For one reason.

They absolutely suck at what they do.

News consumers aren’t stupid – they want real news, such as stuff about government corruption and not thumb-sucking features about the Freeport Chocolate Festival. (Sorry Press Herald.)

Convention organizers in announcing their Portsmouth circle jerk said it would feature “two days of collaboration, learning, and conversation about the future of local journalism.”

After a few vodka giblets with Joe Friday attendees left with a Sunday hangover so bad they decided the best antidote would be to get back to the newsroom Monday to do the same thing they were doing when Joe interrupted their press run to remind them how pathetic they are.

That’s the time-honored definition of insanity.

Scorecard:

✓ The Maine Wire: 150,000 followers

✓ Portland Press Herald: 93,000 followers