On the Maine Today Media rescue in Down East

My Down East piece on the rescue of Maine's largest newspaper group, Maine Today Media, has been on newsstands for a couple of weeks, but just posted online. Alas, after our monthly magazine went to press, the original rescuers pulled out and were replaced by Donald Sussman, the wealthy husband of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (who's now considering a bid for Olympia Snowe's U.S. Senate seat.)

Still, three-quarters of the article is still relevant (really, it is), including the assessment of the damage Rich Connor left behind and the prospects and constraints the Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel face going forward.

For additional background on the MTM story, there's this piece from the twilight of the Blethen era and an assessment of the first year of Mr. Connor's tenure.

[Update, 3/3/2012: The Portland Newspaper Guild has put out their inside story of how the Sussman rescue went down, with some additional details about the Connor and Kushner/Harte episodes.]