As a lifelong Bath resident with three family members earning a living at Bath Iron Works, I was keenly interested in the news that all four unions at BIW endorsed Susan Collins for re-election to the U.S. Senate.

While that story made the front page of our local newspaper, it was not deemed worthy of publishing in the Portland Press Herald, though it appeared online (“Collins wins BIW union endorsements,” April 24). I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but if I were, I’d suspect there’s an unstated bias at the Portland Press Herald.

A Democratic activist group all but endorses the Democrat running for Senate against Susan Collins, and your newspaper devotes an entire article on Page B2 of the paper to this unsurprising development (“Bellows gets boost from EMILY’s List chief,” April 16).

Four labor unions at Bath Iron Works endorse a Republican, Collins, for the first time in their history, and not a mention in the paper – like it didn’t happen. But it did, and it’s a sure sign that the workers at Bath Iron Works appreciate all the work Susan Collins has done and will do to help keep these vital jobs in Maine.

I know that a major Democratic donor owns the Portland Press Herald, as well as papers in Augusta and Waterville. These papers always stipulate that this has no influence on their reporting. This is pretty hard to believe when the Portland paper attempts to censor the news from its readership – many of whom probably work at the shipyard.

The decision to ignore this major endorsement of Sen. Collins’ re-election campaign in the print newspaper doesn’t seem like just an oversight. It seems intentional, and that shows that the ownership does play a role in determining what news is acceptable. And I find that unacceptable.

Mary Small

former legislator and Maine Republican legislative staff member

Bath

 

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