This week, we’re going to talk about a troubling national poll that shows a sharp decline when it comes to consumer trust in news organizations, and what the Gazette is doing locally to restore confidence and earn your trust.
But first, let’s discuss some good news.
NEW STUFF & CHANGES
ON-DEMAND | We launched the ON-DEMAND section this week to promote and support our fellow Biddeford-based independent digital creators, most notably Cy Cyr’s Brick + Tides digital magazine, which features in-depth stories and stunning photos; and Randy Forcier’s regular podcast, which is one of our favorite podcasts.
LOCAL SPORTS | Spring sports season is now fully underway, and the Gazette is ramping up its sports reporting, and we’re hoping to continually expand our coverage of high school and intramural sports coverage.
WE NEED YOUR HELP |There are lots of games every week, so we’re relying on community support. If you’re a fan, parent, athlete or coach, send us your stories, photos, schedules and other information. Send to BiddefordGazette@gmail.com (Please avoid using Facebook messenger)
We can package and feature stories on our site, and we have direct access to social media platforms that reach more than 40,000 people in the Biddeford-Saco area!
Let us help you give our young athletes the recognition they deserve!
COMMUNITY FEEDBACK | We are seeing a huge jump in reader engagement, most notably in letters to the editor and submitted feature and news stories this month. This is awesome, and it reflects or mission of serving our community and providing a resource that our readers find valuable.
Consider this, in April 2025, the Gazette published a total of 10 stories, which included two community-submitted items. There were no letters to the editor (Only 20 percent of our coverage came from the community and we averaged .333 stories per day)
And now?
We published 51 items this month (not including obituaries and community calendar items). But here’s the best part: More than half our coverage has come from people like you. Of the 51 items we published, 28 were contributed from the community. That’s huge, and so satisfying!
Our goal is to reach a 75 percent mark when it comes to community contributions, allowing me to focus on in-depth and enterprise news and feature reporting that you won’t find anywhere else, not to mention spending time with my soon-to-arrive grandson.
In the newsroom, we jokingly call this goal, “LESS RANDY | MORE BIDDEFORD.” The Gazette has evolved over the last 16 months, and we’re planning some good and exciting stuff in the weeks ahead.
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THE BAD NEWS
According to a 2025 Gallup Poll, public confidence in the news industry has hit an all-time low. For the first time ever, the bottom of the barrel is no longer Congress, it’s now the news media. Yikes!
We discussed this troubling news with several of our colleagues earlier this year at the New England Newspaper & Press Association spring conference.
All the experts – including a journalism professor from Northwestern University – agree, there is only one path forward: We have to work harder than ever before to regain consumer confidence.
This means adhering to rigorous standards, including disclosure, transparency and public accountability. You can find our EDITORIAL STANDARDS and our CORE VALUES statement on our website.
But words are just words. So, I’d like to offer two examples of the Gazette’s commitment to its own editorial standards and policies this week.
We have a rigorous corrections policy. When we make an error in our reporting, we immediately acknowledge and fix the error, notating the discrepancy with a prominent statement. Of the four original stories, we published this week, two had errors, one minor and the other significant. Both were equally embarrassing.
The offending stories were “Biddeford’s unhoused funding challenges” and “Area leaders hear about CMP’s upgrade plan”
A 50 percent error rate is just as horrendous as it is embarrassing. You deserve better. That’s nowhere close to our overall annual error rate, but we are taking steps to address the issue.
Secondly, nearly half (three) of the several letters to the editor that we published this month were critical of the Gazette and its coverage. We published those letters with the same enthusiasm and visibility that we apply to all of our stories.
Why is this important? How can you trust someone who doesn’t admit their mistakes and work to correct them? Should a news organization silence its critics?
Let’s close with some happy news. According to our very non-scientific poll – with a very limited pool of responses (100 +/-) — our reader survey shows that more than 83 percent of respondents have high confidence in the Gazette. We’ll take that as a win, just like the Trident gum commercial from the early 1970s.
If you’re like us, you probably always wondered what motivated that one contrarian dentist who would not recommend Trident for his patients who chew gum.
Finally, we have the answer. Hint: Squirrel. Enjoy the 30-second video that finally puts this debate to rest.
Have a great week!
BIDDEFORD GAZETTE 