Now that “Local News Day” celebrants are over their self-aggrandizing fake-news hangovers, they are taking a victory lap in honor of … themselves.
“As experts in the storytelling business, we often criticize ourselves for doing a poor job telling our story – why the work matters and how people can support us,” the Maine Press Association said in its “Local News Day” recap. “That wasn’t the case on Thursday.”
What wasn’t the case – that they did a poor job or that they criticized themselves for doing a poor job? Or both?
Hard to tell.
Not to be distracted, the association’s members decided they need a special day to point out just how good they, uh, drink coffee.
So they came up with “Local News Day,” which they held April 9 in case you missed it – like they do story after story.
“With a shared goal of reminding Mainers of the vital role local news plays in healthy, connected communities we showed up,” the association said. “From coffee with reporters to lifted paywalls, new donors, and a surge in newsletter signups, the energy was real.”
The energy was real – real pathetic.
They “showed up.” Now there’s journalistic accomplishment worthy of self-flaggelation.
The state’s largest newspaper, for instance, began “Local News Day” with a video message from a so-called managing editor pointing out how Portland Press Herald reporters were “fanning out across the state” to, uh, drink coffee with real Mainers.
Now there’s a recipe for excellence in journalism if ever there were one.
Never to miss a moment of self-promotion, on the same day it was celebrating what a great job it did on “Local News Day,” the Portland Press Herald ran yet another story on great breakfast diners, the second such piece in two weeks.
And yet again the paper offered a link to readers that would bring them to the top picks for breakfast – including a diner owned by the newspaper’s CEO.
But readers would have had to click a second link to Miss Portland Diner to find out that it’s owned by Stefanie Manning, the paper’s top dog.
Facebook scorecard:
√ The Maine Wire 161,000
√ Portland Press Herald 93,000
Maine media is a joke .
Stories about maple syrup and lost puppies .
The woman who knits mittens for the homeless and more drivel about windmills and lobster rolls .
I’ve given up . I don’t even watch or read it for a weather report
Less news than a year old copy of USA Today ….. .