[1] “It was blatantly a Democratic paper in a town dominated by Democrats,” in its early history, according to Elizabeth A. Warner, author of A Pictorial History of Middletown, who credits the overt political affiliation as part of the reason for its success.

Michael was president of The Eagle Publishing Company which owned The Eagle, the Middletown Press in Middletown, Connecticut, and two daily newspapers in Vermont: the Bennington Banner and the Brattleboro Reformer, as well as a weekly newspaper, the Journal in Manchester, Vermont; his brother Mark C. Miller was editor of The Eagle, while brother Kelton B. Miller II was publisher of the Vermont newspapers.

A sister, Margo Miller, a writer for The Boston Globe, sat on Eagle Publishing's board.

[3] The Eagle paper was said to be struggling financially in the early 1990s, burdened by mismanagement and debt incurred by the decision to purchase new multi-million dollar four-color printing presses.

Paton, formerly CEO of ImpreMedia, started on February 1, 2010 by announcing he would provide all reporters with Flip video cameras as a sign of his commitment to the company's digital transformation.