Sen. Roger Katz may know a lot about the law and politics, but he clearly knows very little about journalism and how it works. (“Can a major Democratic contributor be an unbiased newspaper investor?” Feb. 23). He’s worried about Donald Sussman investing in your newspaper because Sussman has political opinions. Everyone has political opinions, regardless of their occupation.

Did Sen. Katz worry about the coverage by the Press Herald when Richard Connor was running things? Connor was a conservative Republican and didn’t hide that. I remember his ridiculous column wanting to know why the national “media” weren’t blaming President Obama for the BP Gulf oil spill like the “media” blamed President Bush for the needless war in Iraq.

But despite Mr. Connor’s political leanings, he did great things for The Portland Press Herald, and I thanked him for saving your excellent paper.

I worked for 34 years as a television news reporter at the No. 1-rated station in the country, WSB-TV in Atlanta, before my husband and I retired to Maine. Not once in all those years did managers, let alone owners, tell me what stories to cover or, more importantly, how to cover them.

Potential stories were discussed every morning in the newsroom and stories were selected based on how much the show producers liked them and thought our viewers would want to see them. That’s as high up as it went.

Reporters were told to cover a story, and we started contacting people on both sides of the issue and put those stories on the air. Upper management was never involved.

When Sussman tells you he won’t be involved, believe him. He’s got too much else to worry about. Instead, be grateful that he is stepping forward to help such a great newspaper from going under. We will all suffer if that happens.

Lynn Harasin Johnson is a resident of Biddeford.

 

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