If you thought it couldn’t get any more insane at the Portland Press Herald, consider this: the publisher canceled the e-editions due to an impending snowstorm.
Quick question – since when did snowy roads prevent the internet from being in business?
Quick answer – they didn’t.
But that didn’t stop the publisher from putting out this message over the weekend to however few subscribers are still left:
“Hello reader,
Due to the expected winter storm this weekend, the Saturday edition and Maine Sunday Telegram will be combined and delivered on Saturday.
“There will be no print or ePaper editions on Sunday, as we will publish weekend editions on Saturday only.”
It’s like every week they offer another reason to cancel your paper.
Cutting sections, firing freelance columnists, and now storms scare them so much they can’t publish e-editions.
Or maybe it’s not really about snowstorms – maybe just another reason to cut costs?
How long can they survive with this strategy?
“The paper has become a shell of its former self,” one reader posted in the comment section of the storm story. “I see the end of my subscription in sight.”
“I can remember when I used to buy the paper and there were new and interesting stories every day, but not anymore,” another subscriber said.
Meanwhile, notice how the publisher made sure readers know that a storm in the middle of February comes in winter aka “winter storm.”
When it rains in the middle of July will the publisher tell you that she is expecting a “summer storm?”
Asking for a friend.
The only question remaining – if there is only one – is will subscribers revolt? Are they demanding refunds?
Editor’s note: Ted Cohen is a former long-time staffer for the Portland Press Herald.
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