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Rumors of Our Death are Greatly Exaggerated

Rumors of Our Death are Greatly Exaggerated

  Speaking in Maine continues the MPBN Joshua Chamberlain Lecture Series with a talk delivered by the President of Maine Today Media, Richard Connor. As Publisher of the Portland and Central Maine Newspapers he’s uniquely qualified to speak about the future of media in Maine.

 

[Audio of this program is no longer available]

 

A native of Bangor, Rich Connor’s career in the newspaper business spans over 40 years in a variety of jobs including, editor, publisher and owner.

He has worked for several media companies, including 25 years as an executive with Capital Cities Communcations, later Cap Cities/ABC and then the Walt Disney Company. During that time he served for over 10 years as President and Publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas. While there, he won numerous awards as a columnist and for his editorials. Under his leadership the newspaper was recognized as a leader in producing new products to boost newspaper readership. He is a two-time member of the nominating committee for the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism.

In June of 2006, Mr. Connor formed the Wilkes-Barre Publishing Co. and purchased the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader where he also serves as Editor and Publisher, a post he previously held from 1978 to 1986. After forming his own publishing company in 1997, Mr. Connor went on to create a company that owned 70 newspapers in four states. In 2001, planning to slow down and become what he imagined would be a country weekly newspaper publishger he purchased one of those newspapers from his partners and for six years operated The Fort Worth Business Press, a weekly business journal.

His unique brand of media leadership allows his newspapers to serve the community as a voice of needed change and to build bridges among its leaders and diverse forces.

The lecture was recorded at the Cumberland Club in Portland.