Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to letters@bangordailynews.com
It’s that time of year again. As sure as death, taxes and black flies, out-of-state journalists are starting to pay a lot of attention to Maine. Funny how that tends to happen as the weather gets nicer.
It’s no surprise that Vacationland has a way of attracting fellow journalists during the peak vacation months. And after last year’s pandemic-diminished summer, we’re ready to roll out the welcome mat to people from all across the United States, fourth estate included.
Having said that, we can’t help but notice the ways that some national coverage of our beloved state seems to combine tourism and journalism. It’s not always explicitly travel journalism, but it often has a distinct drive-by quality. Is there a term for this kind of tourist-journalism? How about tournalism? Did we just invent something? Dirigo!
For any national outlets without former Latin students on staff now wondering what Dirigo means, we’d suggest asking Uncle Henry. Who? Exactly.
Nothing against the New York Times, but we could probably explain that there are many different, beautiful parts of Maine in fewer than 2,000 words. And we could hopefully manage to spell Aroostook County correctly (though we’re certainly not immune from our own spelling mistakes from time to time). We might even be able to muster an off-key rendition of the Sixteen Counties song — though certainly not with as much ability as Ms. Davidson’s 4th grade class in Litchfield.
Listen, we get it. Even the Gray Lady wants to get a tan once in a while. We don’t want to throw too much shade while others rightly come and soak up some summer sun.
It apparently bears repeating, however: Maine exists all 12 months of the year, not just when it’s nice to sit outside and eat a lobster roll or take a coastal drive.
We probably should be flattered by all the recent national stories about Maine. But parachuting in for a story about summer lobster roll prices (full disclosure: The Bangor Daily News story on this meaty topic cited by the Times is actually from our media partner Maine Public) or stopping by a “homey” pot shop to smoke out commercial trends is one thing. Being here in late November to write a story about fishermen lost at sea or covering the many steps in the rulemaking process for those pot shops is another.
Maine has a longstanding, often unproductive way of approaching folks “from away.” We’ve tried to push back against that notion, and hope we’re not engaging in a similar thing here. Maybe we are. It’s hard tellin’ not knowin’, as they say.
We don’t want people from other states, journalists or otherwise, to stop coming here. Come on upta camp. Take that long drive on Route 1. But when it comes to mixing journalism and tourism, maybe pick just one.
Hope to see you in January! The chill keeps the bugs away.