Socolow Quoted in MPBN Report About MaineToday Media Sale

The Maine Public Broadcasting Network spoke with Michael Socolow, an associate professor of communication and journalism at the University of Maine, for a report about the recent announcement that MaineToday Media’s current owner S. Donald Sussman plans to sell the company to Camden media executive Reade Brower. The union representing more than half of MaineToday Media’s nearly 400 employees said its members are anxious about the company’s latest ownership change, according to the report. Socolow spoke about former publisher Richard Connor who ran the Press Herald and associated newspapers for 27 months. “I think what’s being forgotten with the new purchase is that the Connor years were very, very difficult for the Portland Press Herald,” Socolow said citing the selling of the paper’s headquarters in downtown Portland, letting go of several reporters and fights with the union. “He sucked a lot of money out of that company,” Socolow added.