Although I am no longer working as a political/PR consultant (Thank Christ), I still find the subject matter intriguing, especially when it’s literally taking place in my own back yard.
Today, I am pretty much consumed with running the Biddeford Gazette, a non-profit media outlet hyper-focused on covering the city of Biddeford.
As part of our ongoing news coverage, the Gazette is beginning its coverage of this year’s various legislative and county races in the Biddeford area.
I am currently working on a preview piece about the race in State Senate District 32, which includes Biddeford and its surrounding communities of Arundel, Dayton, Hollis and Lyman.
The seat is currently held by Henry Ingwersen, a nice enough guy and a retired beekeeper from Arundel.
Ingwersen is today facing challenges from at least two lesser-known candidates, Jason Litalien, an unenrolled Biddeford attorney and political newcomer John Salamone, a Republican who recently moved to Hollis from Portland.
I personally know both Ingwersen and Litalien, and I will be writing much more as we continue the march toward the Nov. 2026 election, but today I’m focusing on the reportedly brash GOP candidate trying to make a splash in the sleepy hamlet of Hollis,
IngwersenLitalienSalamone
According to his social media accounts, Salamone is a “digital creator,” just like thousands of 16-year-olds on Tik-Tok.
His campaign website is fairly standard: it’s clean, easy to navigate and provides detailed information about the candidate’s policy concerns. But there is one rather glaring, missing piece of information: There is no contact information. Zip. Zero. Nada. Zilch.
Do digital creators just communicate via telepathy?
If you’re a candidate for public office, don’t you want the media — and voters — to be able to contact you?
Look, let’s get real. I’m an old-school hack born on the cusp between Boomer and Gen. X.
My own websites — this blog and the Biddeford Gazette’s landing page — are both rather perfunctory and pedestrian– not a lot of pizazz. Web site design is not my forte, but I do know enough to have a visible “Contact” link.
Call me old school, but most people still enjoy using email, telephones and text messaging.
Finally, on a somewhat unrelated note, who is advising this guy? His campaign photo shows him scowling and not looking at the camera (translated: not looking at potential supporters) He comes across as an angry millennial about to kill the neighbor’s dog.
Like I said at the top, my days as a campaign consultant (an 82.3% win ratio) are behind me. So, what do I know?
Good luck to Mr. Salamone, but maybe you should try cracking a smile and don’t make it so difficult for us pesky journalists to contact you.
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Randy Seaver is a nearly insufferable malcontent living in Biddeford, Maine. He is a veteran journalist who has been annoying politicians, pundits and his peers since 1981, when he served as an unpaid student intern at the former Journal Tribune. He is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette, a non-profit digital media outlet that focuses on the city of Biddeford. Send your praise or angry comments to randy@randyseaver.com
So, it should come as no surprise that I woke up at 3:30 a.m. yesterday with the idea that I should make a Top 12 list of my favorite journalists – people who have inspired me, people I have worked with and even people I have worked for.
It was originally going to be a Top 10 list, but I could think of no-one on this list who should be eliminated as a finalist.
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12.) Marian McCue, The Forecaster
(Portland Press Herald photo)
Marian McCue was inducted into the Maine Press Association (MPA) Hall of Fame in 2019
According to a story published in the Portland Press Herald, McCue purchased the former Falmouth Forecaster in 1990 at a time when it was published every two weeks and mailed to residents.
The MPA reportedly described McCue’s tenacious commitment to journalism as “great foresight and a singular journalistic duty, into what would become arguably ‘the’ community newspaper of record for the greater Portland area.”
I have long admired Marian’s work ethic and her commitment to the very best principles of true community journalism.
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11.) Liz Gotthelf, Saco Bay News
(Saco Bay News photo)
When it comes to community journalism, few do it better than my friend Liz Gotthelf, who launched Saco Bay News – a digital media outlet – in 2020, shortly after the daily Journal Tribune forever closed its doors.
A former Tribune reporter, Liz is dedicated to the community where she lives and works. She built Saco Bay News on nothing more than an idea and a desire to keep covering the communities of Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard Beach.
Liz is a scrappy journalist with a HUGE heart. Her care and commitment to journalism shines through in everything she writes. Liz was knocked to the ground in August 2024 when her husband died suddenly and unexpectedly. She took just a few days off, and then – despite near overwhelming grief – jumped back in the saddle, covering community news and events. How do you spell integrity?
I am lucky to call Liz a friend, and I was proud to work with her for a little more than two years as one of her contributing writers.
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10.) Chris Busby, The Bollard
(Bangor Daily News photo)
The Portland-based weekly The Bollard is one of my favorite newspapers. Busby is one of those people who has likely forgotten more about journalism than I will ever learn.
More than 20 years ago, Busby began building the Bollard with his own blood, sweat and tears. The paper reeks with journalistic integrity and offers a no-holds-barred approach to covering local and state government. The Bollard is also where I get my regular fix of Al Diamon’s Politics and Other Mistakes column and Liz Peavey’s weekly column.
The really good news? The Bollard is available online and its print version is available for free throughout southern Maine. I pickup the Bollard at the Hannaford grocery store in Biddeford.
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9.) Barbara Walters, ABC News
ABC News Photo
Barbara was a true journalism pioneer. She broke the proverbial glass ceiling that held back so many women in the news business, especially in the realm of televised newscasts.
Her legendary career, which started in 1951 at an NBC affiliate station in New York, earned her numerous accolades and awards, often described as one of the most trusted, and dogged reporters of the 20th Century.
Of course, Walters is best known today for her time as a producer and reporter of NBC’s Today Show and then later becoming the first female co-anchor of a network evening news show with Harry Reasoner on the ABC Evening News.
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8.) David Flood, Mainely Newspapers
BCHC Photo
David and Carolyn Flood launched the weekly Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier in 1989. They immersed themselves in the community and quickly became a fierce and reputable source of competition to their much larger, daily counterparts, the Journal Tribune and the Portland Press Herald.
Their hard work and commitment to community news paid off. The company expanded into a group of weekly newspapers that included the Scarborough Leader, South Portland Sentry and the Kennebunk Post among others.
David’s business model of not charging for subscriptions proved effective. But David cared more about Biddeford than just becoming the paper of record. He was the principal founder of the Heart of Biddeford.
He was always bullish about the city, especially its downtown area. After selling his publications, he was elected to the Biddeford City Council. Two years ago, he was inducted in the Biddeford Cultural and Heritage Center’s Hall of Fame. He also served briefly as president of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce.
David hired me as a reporter in 1998. He then later promoted me to become the Courier’s editor and then later I became managing editor of all his publications.
I drove David nuts. I gave him plenty of reasons to fire me, but he didn’t. In fact, he gave me a rather long leash, and I think he valued my intense work ethic and my fierce sense of newspaper competition.
I often joke that the Biddeford Gazette is my baby. If that’s true then David and Carolyn Flood are the Gazette’s grandparents.
It is well-written, often long-winded (a man after my own heart) but always informative, balanced and not afraid of controversy. As an opinion columnist, Jacoby admittedly leans a bit to the political right, which must make him wildly popular with the men and women who work in the Globe’s newsroom.
Don’t get me wrong. Jacoby may lean just a bit to the right, but his analysis is often scorching and always thought-provoking, but always fair and balanced.
I love Jacoby’s column, and that’s reason enough for him to be on this list.
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6.) Jack Beaudoin, Journal Tribune
JackBeaudoi.com photo
If you ask people who have lived in Biddeford a long time about who they think was the city’s best reporter, Beaudoin’s name invariably rises to the top.
Jack, a Biddeford native, earned his reputation as an outstanding reporter. He was usually the smartest guy in the room but never acted like it. In fact, he is one of the most self-effacing people I have ever met.
Jack is also the former publisher of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. Today, he lives in Stonington and describes himself as an “ink-stained wretch.”
I think it was 2001 when Kelley and I first met. She had been assigned to cover Biddeford back when the Press Herald had a bureau office on Main Street in Biddeford.
I am lucky to know Kelley as a friend, despite the fact that we were fierce competitors back in the day, when MERC was still burning garbage downtown and dinosaurs could be seen stumbling down Lincoln Street.
Kelley was tough as nails. She never accepted the proverbial talking point memos. She asked hard questions, but she was fair and thorough. Today, she still holds my feet to the fire, often questioning the motives of some of my political posts on social media. I really miss working alongside Kelley. Those days are some of my favorite memories.
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4.) Harry Foote, American Journal
Press Herald photo
If you’re a journalist over the age of 40 in Maine, it is more than likely that you once worked for Harry Foote, the late founder and publisher of the weekly American Journal, then based in Westbrook.
Harry — always grinning but unrelenting in his push for perfection and “real news,” — probably taught more journalists than the Columbia School of Journalism.
I learned so much from Harry. He was a legend and a force to be reckoned with, just ask former mayors and city councilors from Westbrook.
Harry died in 2012 at the age of 96. In 1990, he received the Maine Press Association’s Journalist of the Year award. In 1999, he was inducted into the Maine Press Association’s Hall of Fame.
I really miss Harry, the chaos of his newsroom, his collection of pencils and the apron he would wear around his waist. I’m one of the lucky ones. I got to work for Harry Foote.
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3.) Mike Wallace, CBS News/ 60 Minutes
Wikipedia photo
It is a well-known fact that journalists in the United States are required by law to pay silent homage and tribute to Mike Wallace before writing or producing every news story.
Wallace is considered a deity by so many of his peers in the world of journalism. He was one of the original four members of the magazine-style television news program, 60 Minutes. He was the definition of investigative journalism. He was loathed by President Richard Nixon.
Why is he on this list? Because he is Mike Wallace, and I am legally required to describe him as one of the greatest journalists of all time.
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2.) Carl Bernstein, Washington Post
Wikipedia photo
Although never as well-known or revered as his Watergate counterpart — Bob Woodward – Carl is a man after my own heart.
He never graduated from college, but he was a brilliant and remarkable reporter. It is rumored that he lied in order to get hired by the Washington Post when he was still in high school. His peers often described him as a manic and tenacious workaholic.
Many people believe that without Bernstein’s rabid and aggressive style of reporting, the Watergate scandal may have never been brought to light. I was 10 years old when Nixon became the first president to resign from office in August 1974. I was glued to the television coverage. It was then that I knew I wanted to be the next Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein.
Quite simply, the late Hunter S. Thompson is my hero, my idol and all sorts of other things. He is the founder and creator of Gonzo-style journalism.
He broke all the rules of traditional journalism. A heavy drinker and smoker, he also experimented with drugs, including hallucinogens. He was a prominent leader of the counter-cultural movement that swept across America during the late 1960s and the early 1970s.
His landmark book — Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas — was well received and required reading for rebellious teenagers who wanted nothing more than to piss off their parents.
Hunter’s career started back in the days when people like Jack Kerouac and Alan Ginsberg were gaining traction in literary circles, creating what became the Beat Generation and a legion of self-described “beatniks” who desperately wanted to follow in their footsteps.
Thompson was simultaneously brilliant and self-destructive. He didn’t take criticism well, unless it was from someone he respected and also loathed like Truman Capote.
I really believe that I was born 30 years too late, I like to think that maybe Hunter and I would be friends. We both served in the U.S. Air Force.
Perhaps no writer influenced me more than Thompson. I tried to use a Gonzo-style approach when writing my weekly All Along the Watchtower column for the Courier.
My sincere apologies to everyone on this list. I really do respect your work, and I do – unlike Chris Busby – care about how other journalists perceive my work.
I had a lot of fun writing this. I hope you enjoyed reading it.
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Randy Seaver is a hack journalist living in Biddeford. He is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette, a non-profit digital news publication that focuses on the city of Biddeford.
Randy has been annoying other journalists and editors since 1981 when he did a brief stint as an unpaid student intern at the former Journal Tribune, a daily newspaper based in Biddeford.
There’s no denying it. This is not your father’s news industry anymore. That’s good news, but it’s also very bad news.
I’m writing this because there were three significant local changes in the news industry that happened in just the last two weeks.
More about that in just a moment.
Traditional, legacy media outlets are no longer the sole guardians of truth and justice, and that fact — like it or not – will impact you — and it might even hurt you.
For centuries, newspapers, (and then later) radio and television news operations kept an immeasurable amount of gravitas in their pants’ pocket, like so many nickels and dimes. The publishers, editors (and oftentimes the reporters) took your trust in them for granted.
Nearly 300 years ago, Edmund Burke, a member of British Parliament, reportedly coined the term “Fourth Estate” to describe the press, pointing out its obligations as a check in government oversight and its responsibility to frame political issues as well as to be an advocate for the general public.
Pretty big responsibility, eh?
The industry that was once the trusted and almost sole gatekeeper of vital public news and information is now scrambling, desperately trying to find a way to remain relevant or at least financially solvent.
So, what are the threats and challenges facing both you as a news consumer and traditional media outlets?
First and foremost, social media platforms are taking over the distribution of news and information. There are no more paperboys and even newsrooms are shifting away from brick-and-mortar structures.
In survey after survey; in poll after poll, one fact becomes abundantly clear. Consumers want their news on their schedule (on demand). Readers also try to skirt paywalls, no longer seeing the value of paid news subscriptions.
Readers today gravitate toward click-bait headlines and “news” websites that match their own political ideology.
Photo: The Death of the Newspaper Industry | John W. Hayes)
Never-ending competition, a 24-7 news cycle and the disturbing rise of AI (artificial intelligence) all remain as threats to established and not-so-established news outlets.
And to top it off, reader trust in traditional news outlets is plummeting faster than shares of K-Mart stock.
In his Nov. 29, 2022 opinion column, Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby pointed to a recent Gallup report, which revealed that just one out of three Americans claimed to have a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of confidence in the media.
We could talk all day about the national news scene and the spiraling demise of legacy media, but let’s take a deeper look at the news on a local level, right here where it hurts the most.
Today, almost everyone is a journalist – or so they believe. All you need is a keyboard and an internet connection and it’s off to the races.
While I love certain aspects of “citizen journalism” it does sort of invite a Wild, Wild West approach in reporting news.
While I love certain aspects of “citizen journalism” it does sort of invite a Wild, Wild West approach in reporting news.
These citizens journalists typically do not have editors or the resources of an editorial board. They have no professional training. Ethics and objectivity are now electives, no longer requirements.
In other ways, however, these pesky citizen journalists and their social media followers do keep some much needed pressure on those Fourth Estate guys, the traditional legacy media outlets.
We’re not in Kansas anymore
Speaking of legacy, traditional media, the Bangor Daily News (BDN) – Maine’s preeminent source of political news – decided last week to shut down its editorial board. The paper will no longer have an Op-Ed (Opinion-Editorial) section.
I found that news strange. It struck me as counter-intuitive, especially since so many people are saying that readers are flocking toward opinion and away from objective news reporting.
In a Jan. 24 column, the BDN described the move as “the end of an era.”
Susan Young, the paper’s opinion editor, said the news was “bittersweet.”
“Far too few people read opinion content, so we have to try different things,” Young told me during an online conversation, saying the decision was influenced by the paper’s digital analytics.
The BDN’s decision will also mean the end of rigorous and highly regarded opinion columns from people like Amy Fried on the political left to Matt Gagnon on the political right.
Still closer to home, the publishers of the Biddeford-Saco Courier announced on Wednesday that they will now offer their subscribers a digital weekly update via email.
That “announcement” dropped exactly two weeks after I formally launched the Biddeford Gazette, a free digital newspaper dedicated to covering Biddeford news, opinion and events.
For more than 30 years, the Courier has relied upon free delivery of its print publication at newsstands or tossed into the driveways of private homes.
The Courier was founded and locally owned by David and Carolyn Flood. A few years ago, the paper was then sold to the owners of the Portland Press Herald who also own a number of weekly and daily publications.
Courier reporter Sydney Richelieu announced the “inaugural edition” of “Biddeford-Saco | Now” in an email sent to subscribers. The move, she said, is designed to offer readers another option in finding out what is happening in their community.
I have some unsolicited advice for Sydney and the Courier’s editors, please stop printing press releases and then labeling them with a byline of “Staff Reports.”
Otherwise, I am quite pleased that you guys finally want to step up your game in covering local news.
To be honest, I have a bit of an advantage over the other guys. I’m a Biddeford native and resident, and I have been covering Biddeford for nearly three decades. I have a stockpile of sources and lots of time on my hands.
Just a few days ago, a close friend of mine remarked that other local publications are now starting to pay more attention (deservedly so) to the city of Biddeford, since I launched the Gazette.
That’s actually really good news, especially for the people of Biddeford.
The other guys may not like the fact that I am now in the mix, but they should remember the folks at the Journal Tribune were none too happy when the Courier was launched in 1989; and the folks at the Courier were none too happy that Saco Bay News came along in 2019 and showed off the nimble advantages of being a digital publication.
Increased competition does not help the Courier, Saco Bay News or the Biddeford Gazette, but it does keep a fire lit under our asses; and that is good news for readers.
The people of Biddeford should not have to rely upon just one reporter for the news that matters to them.
Competition keeps reporters motivated, but more importantly – it keeps them in check.
The Biddeford Gazette is not trying to put anyone else out of business. In fact, the opposite is true.
The Biddeford Gazette uses its own social media pages on Facebook, BlueSky and X to round up and share local news stories from other media companies. No one else does that.
You read that right. We take the time to share news from the other guys on our social media pages. And when you click to read those stories, you are not directed to our website, instead all the postings will link automatically to whatever source produced the news, whether it’s Saco Bay News, the Courier or WGME-TV.
Please visit our new Facebook page and follow us to experience a new level of local news coverage.
Whenever or wherever news about Biddeford is published, we will be there to make sure you know about it.
That’s my mission. That’s my passion.
I value your trust.
I will not stop.
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Today – almost 44 years later – I still enjoy telling the story about the first time something that I wrote was published.
It was 1981. I was 16 and a high school junior. We were required to do a one-week work-study project, exploring a career field that seemed of interest.
I thought I wanted to be a newspaper reporter. So, I called the Journal Tribune —then this region’s daily newspaper – to make an inquiry. The editor (Eric Reiss) agreed to let me shadow a couple of reporters and work in the newsroom.
Back then smoking was allowed in newsrooms. So was coffee, profanity, screaming matches and the constant hum from a chorus of IBM Selectric II typewriters.
A typical newsroom in the 1970s (Chicago Tribune)
It was a marvelous time, especially for an enthusiastic high school kid with dreams of grandeur about becoming the next Bob Woodward.
Near the end of the week, I was allowed to occupy an empty desk that was closest to the cranky city editor, Bob Melville – a man who wore his glasses perched low on his nose.
Mr. Melville would later become a well-known real estate agent and was repeatedly elected to serve on the Biddeford School Board after his retirement. In real-life, Bob had a great sense of humor and was well-regarded as a hard-working, respectable man of intellect and integrity.
But for me, a skinny 16-year-old kid with stubborn acne, Mr. Melville was like the Wizard of Oz, and I was a combination of the Cowardly Lion and The Scarecrow. I had neither brains nor courage.
I was just sitting there at that desk, wondering what I should do. Phones were ringing all around me, but I was not allowed to answer them.
Our deadline was looming. If you have ever worked in a newsroom, you know that editors become increasingly grumpy with each passing second closer to deadline.
Melville, clutching his phone, suddenly turned to me, staring at me over the glasses that remain still perched on the end of his nose.
Mr. Melville was like the Wizard of Oz, and I was a combination of the Cowardly Lion and The Scarecrow. I had neither brains nor courage.
“Kid!” he barked. “Line Two.”
I was shocked, excited and terrified. The city editor was giving me a story. Finally! Something I could actually write! I was on my way now!
Oh, the places you will go
Turns out that the guy on ‘Line 2’ was a local funeral director. He was calling to give me a last-minute obituary for that afternoon’s newspaper.
I took copious notes on a legal pad. I do not remember the name of the gentleman I was writing about. I only remember that he belonged to about every social club you could imagine: The Elks, The Eagles, The Lions, Rotary . . . the list seemed endless.
The deceased also had roughly 250,000 nieces, nephews, cousins and grandchildren.
I hung up the phone and loaded a fresh sheet of paper into my typewriter. I had never written an obituary before, but Mr. Melville gave me a stack of some recent obits as a guide.
I put my very best effort into writing that obituary. I pained over each word, doing my best to avoid split infinitives and ending any sentence with a preposition.
Melville kept glancing at me and then the clock on the wall. I could tell he was becoming impatient.
I tore the copy from my typewriter and proudly placed it in a wire basket on Melville’s desk before returning to my chair.
I watched as he began to read my masterpiece. His brow furrowed and his posture stiffened. He grabbed a red pen and was waving it across my piece with an almost gleeful abandon.
After several painstaking seconds of anticipation, he finally turned to me and asked: “Where do you go to high school?”
Actually, that year I was attending Rumford High School, but I blurted out “Thornton Academy.”
“Well, don’t they teach English at Thornton Academy?” he huffed.
I was humiliated but could barely wait until the first run of that day’s paper was completed. I anxiously turned to the obituaries page but found nothing that remotely resembled my masterpiece.
In the end, the only two things I got right was the man’s name and age. Basically, everything else had been rewritten. No matter, I was proud.
My mother was proud, too. She cut out that obituary and posted that poor bastard’s obituary on our refrigerator – I was now part of an elite clan: a newspaper reporter who had published something in a real newspaper.
In the mood
More than four decades later, and I am now a semi-retired newspaper editor and reporter.
A few weeks ago, I launched a new endeavor, The Biddeford Gazette. The Gazette is a free, online news outlet that focuses on Biddeford news and events.
A lot has changed in the newspaper business over the last 40 years. For example, you can no longer smoke in a newsroom, but profanity among your coworkers is still strongly encouraged.
For better or worse, more and more people are turning to social media for their news and information. Thanks to technology, today’s news consumers can now custom tailor their news feed almost in the same way you create a music playlist on Spotify or YouTube.
Some of the changes are good, but many of the changes – especially AI (Artificial Intelligence) – are not so good.
Launching my own media source was never intended to become a source of income. It’s basically a hobby, a tool to help provide some handrails on the road of life.
Yes, I still do a little political consulting and some public relations work for clients throughout New England, but none in the Biddeford or Saco area.
The Biddeford Gazette allows me to report news on my terms, when I want and how I want. I’m not here to compete with any other traditional publication, including Saco Bay News, the Biddeford-Saco Courier or the Portland Press Herald.
Up until last year, my website was called Randy Seaver Consulting and provided an overview of the services I offered as a public relations consultant.
My lingering mental health issues, however, played a part in me stepping away from the full-time, stress-packed world of political consulting.
Then, as I began shifting my professional career, I renamed the site, Lessons in Mediocrity so that I could basically do whatever I want: serious journalism, political satire, fiction, local news and a diary of coping tools against schizophrenia, anxiety and depression.
Well, how did I get here?
Today is the first day of 2025.
I am no longer that skinny kid with pimples too afraid to look a girl in the eye. I am once again going to rebrand this website as the Biddeford Gazette.
Up until today, the Biddeford Gazette was a sub-page on my blog. Rest assured, my personal blog will continue – but now as a subpage to the Gazette.
Since launching the Biddeford Gazette just six weeks ago, I have been able to break some significant news stories and also have a bit of fun at the expense of local politicians. (Someone needs to keep them on their toes)
And I am pleased to announce that beginning January 6, 2025, the Biddeford Gazette will publish local obituaries that are supplied by local funeral homes.
Traditional media outlets charge significant fees to publish an obituary. The Biddeford Gazette will publish them for free with the help of some social media partners in the Biddeford and Saco area.
Imagine that, 44 years later, and I am going right back to where I started, doing my best to honor and remember those who are no longer with us.
This change just feels right.
Happy New Year!
P.S. This website is currently being reconfigured.
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LESSONS IN MEDIOCRITY | OUTLAW JOURNALIST 