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FFJ Editor Criticized for Coverage of Perham News
By: David Deschesne Fort Fairfield Journal, March 12, 2012, p. 1 In a post on Presque Isle Police Department’s Facebook page, Molly M., a critic of the Fort Fairfield Journal’s editor, stated; “I often wonder where he gets his information. I hear he causes quite a stir at the Perham town meetings, writes about it in the FF paper, and he's doesn't [sic] even live in Perham.” It is true that this editor does write news about Perham and does not live in Perham. But it is also true that I have been writing news for Fort Fairfield for nearly eight years and don’t live in Fort Fairfield. While I grew up in Fort Fairfield and graduated from High School there, I have been living in Presque Isle for the past 23 years. Most of the writers of other local newspapers, such as the Star Herald (Presque Isle) and Aroostook Republican (Caribou) do not live in the towns they report news on, either. Nationally, television news journalists and radio news broadcasters do not live in the towns they are reporting on. Whether a reporter lives in the town they are reporting on, or not, has nothing to do with the veracity of the story as it’s presented. Molly’s assertion that this editor “causes quite a stir at the Perham town meetings” is also incorrect. This writer attends—as time permits—Perham selectman meetings and quietly sits in the audience, recording the event with a digital recording device. I do not speak unless spoken to and quietly leave after the meeting is over. I then transcribe from the recording those statements the selectmen said on particular topics and then form those into stories for publication.People who live in Perham are usually unable to attend their selectmen meetings because they start at 4:00 in the afternoon, while most people are still at work. Since none of the other local newspapers provide any appreciable coverage of the events in Perham, the Fort Fairfield Journal stepped in to fill that void as time and manpower permits. All stories are factual and backed up either by audio recordings or first-hand interviews of those who are quoted. As for Molly’s query about where this editor “gets his information,” I attend public meetings and hearings, interview people who either were witnesses to an event or have more information on it than I do, and also draw from an immense personal library of law, medical, history and economics textbooks acquired over the past ten years; these are the same techniques used by all other research teams at other news organizations. The only difference is, the Fort Fairfield Journal does not “filter” or skew the news to placate a board of directors, stockholders, or advertising base; thus maintaining a truly independent stature unique in today’s news gathering and reporting field.
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