Are newspapers becoming spineless?

Skulking around in parking garages to question the likes of Deep Throat, as Bob Woodward did in All the President’s Men, has its place in journalism, but one of the cornerstones of investigative reporting is the far more mundane practice of examining public records to glean useful information from them. 

I mention this because of a remarkable and, journalistically speaking, very sad turn of events here in Maine involving the Bangor Daily News, one of the state’s largest, most prominent newspapers. (Personal disclosure: I worked as a newspaper reporter for three decades, 22 of them in Maine, but I was never employed by the Bangor Daily News.) 

Here's what happened. On Tuesday, a bill that would make concealed weapon permit records private was referred to a committee of the Maine Legislature for review. On Wednesday, the BDN, as the Bangor newspaper is known in Maine, requested those records from police departments across the state. The newspaper indicated in writing that it had no intention of publicly identifying permit holders. 

“We believe the wholesale publication of permit holder information, as was done recently by a newspaper in New York, is irresponsible,” the newspaper said. “We intend to use this information about permits, along with other information sets we are gathering, to analyze possible correlations relevant to our reporting projects” on domestic violence, sexual assault and drug abuse. 

The request quickly came under attack from gun owners and their advocates, including Republican Gov. Paul LePage. Critics even used social media to urge readers to boycott BDN advertisers and cancel their newspaper subscriptions. 

On Friday, the BDN rescinded its push for the records, saying it was “disappointed with the reaction to our request, which we felt was with the best intentions to help study issues affecting Maine through an analysis of publicly available data . . . . The BDN regrets that its request for information may have been taken as a personal attack on concealed carry permit holders, some of whom work at the BDN.” 

So, instead of sticking to its guns by continuing to demand information that is public under state law, the newspaper caved to its opponents. And it did so with amazing haste, backing down within approximately 48 hours of having made its initial request. 

I don’t claim to know what motivated the withdrawal, beyond what the BDN has said publicly, but the decision raises disconcerting questions. As the newspaper industry struggles to remain sufficiently profitable in an era of dramatic circulation and advertising losses, is a preoccupation with the bottom line leading newspapers to placate critics, by trying to please all of the people all of the time? And will that rob newspapers of their backbone?

When I suggested on a Facebook thread yesterday that we have to wonder about the health of our democracy when news organizations are intimidated for requesting public records, someone posted this response: "I think we also need to worry when powerful media organizations bow to economic blackmail."