PORTLAND, Maine — A few months ago, retired Portland Press Herald columnist Bill Nemitz spearheaded an effort to save the state’s largest media company from falling into the hands of private investors who might be far more interested in profits than quality journalism.
The owner of Masthead Maine, Reade Brower, was ready to sell, but made it clear he hoped to find a new owner who would be a good steward of the company’s five daily newspapers, the Portland Press Herald, Lewiston Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel, and Brunswick Times Record, as well as roughly two dozen weekly papers.
Moving quickly, Nemitz and two other Mainers with extensive media experience, Bill Burke and Emily Barr, created the nonprofit Maine Journalism Foundation. Its goal: to raise the money needed to buy Masthead Maine and run it as a nonprofit enterprise with a commitment to first-rate journalism.
Now we know the outcome of the MJF’s ambitious mission. It failed. Nemitz’s reaction?
"We are absolutely thrilled," he said.
The Maine Journalism Foundation won’t be buying Masthead Maine. Instead, Masthead will be taken over by a partner that’s likely an even better fit: the National Trust for Local News—a nonprofit devoted to independent, nonpartisan news coverage.
The National Trust will acquire the five dailies and seventeen of the weeklies. Brower will hold onto the remaining weeklies. The employees who’ve been putting out the papers—managers, editors, reporters, photographers, and more—will keep their jobs.
"This is really the realization of what we dreamed about," Nemitz said. "It’s great news for all of Maine. It’s great news for Maine newspaper readers and for journalism generally."
In the end, it came down to money, and the National Trust had more of it.
"We did some great fundraising here locally, but not to the point where we were going to be at the purchase price required," Burke said. "These are valuable properties. They’re very well run—great papers. And once we knew the National Trust is aligned as we are in terms of what we wanted to accomplish, they were the perfect partner."
This deal unfolded quickly, and the pace is not slowing down. The expectation is the National Trust for Local News will close on the sale before the end of July.