• by Ray Schultz , July 12, 2023

The National Trust for Local News will buy 22 Maine newspapers, including six dailies and 17 weeklies. 

The nonprofit founded in 2021 will purchase the papers from a private company: Masthead Maine, according to The New York Times.  

The deal includes The Portland Press Herald and The Sun Journal of Lewiston, the Times continues.  

Terms were not reported.  

Masthead Media’s Reade Brower had indicated he was exploring a sale, the Times adds. 

Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, the chief executive of the National Trust for Local News, said she was told by Maine residents that there was a chance for nonprofit ownership after Portland Press Herald columnist Bill Nemitz asked readers to donate to a crowdfunding effort to help a nonprofit preserve local journalism in the state.