Media objectivity long gone
Before living in eastern Maine for the past 30 years, we lived in Chicago. Compliments to Jay Ambrose for the Dec. 31 BDN column “What the shutdown tells us about America” — a thoughtful commentary.
I found a portion of his essay to be ironic. Ambrose asked “What has happened to the objectivity standard in the reporting of certain news outlets?”
Ambrose writes for the Tribune News Service. This entity, I understand, arose from the Chicago Tribune. In the age of past Tribune publisher Robert McCormick the Tribune “invented” and brandished with willful enthusiasm deliberately skewed and distorted news reporting — preceding todays publications led by Fox News.
Write on, Ambrose!
Charles T. McHugh
Baileyville
Collins silent on Trump
Susan Collins’ Dec. 30 column in the Portland Press Herald, “Focus on division distracts from progress made by Congress,” is striking for what it doesn’t say. She briefly mentions the “turbulent surface of political turmoil.” That is an understatement that she should lay at the feet of the president.
And yet, she doesn’t. While this redemptive piece is impressive with its list of broad-based initiatives, the question remains with many independent Maine voters. Why does she not speak out against this president who is destroying our democracy?
Her OpEd is a clear sign that she will run again in 2020. These are talking points that are well served to donors and PACs. In the months and years ahead, many voters will ask this question of Collins. This is the OpEd she should be writing.
It can’t be that she is held captive to a contaminated party, or that she wants to keep her job and is fearful of presidential retaliation, or that it is a simple lack of moral courage, Until we can understand her silence, she does not deserve the trust and confidence of the citizens of Maine.
Terry Dubois
Milford
LePage truce needed
Would it be impertinent of me to call for a truce on the eight-year attack on Gov. Paul LePage?
It is unseemly for the editors and the writers of letters to the BDN to continue to pile on this man — even after he has left office.
Admittedly, I supported the man and believe, after inheriting a fiscal mess, he turned the state around and left the treasury with a surplus. However, I suggest that now we bury the hatchet on the former governor and turn our attention to the present.
I know the BDN will treat Gov. Janet Mills with kid gloves. However, I wonder what the BDN’s cartoonist will do now with poor LePage out of sight. I do, however, have a cartoon suggestion, if vitriol must be the muse. How about a giant fundraising thermometer filled with a surplus overflow of state cash with an attendant descending timeline showing how quickly Mills brings it down? On second thought, no — it wouldn’t get past the editorial board.
I wish the BDN a happy (and balanced) new year.
Ralph “Doc” Wallace
Rockport