The National Trust for Local News is shedding papers in Colorado, while in Maine a former top executive with the Trust is taking on a new role. The Trust, a nonprofit that buys newspapers to save them from falling into the hands of corporate ownership, has some 50 titles in Colorado, Maine and Georgia.
I’ll deal with Colorado first. The Trust made its debut in the spring of 2021 when it purchased Colorado Community Media, a chain of 24 weekly and monthly newspapers in the Denver area. The Colorado Sun, a digital startup based in Denver, was brought in to help run the papers and was given an ownership stake. Ellen Clegg and I wrote about all that in our book, “What Works in Community News.”
A lot has happened since then, including the Sun’s decision to unwind its relationship with the papers. Now CCM is breaking up, with 21 publications in the Denver metropolitan area being transfered to Times Media Group, a Tempe, Arizona-based chain whose owner has ties to Colorado. Seven other papers will be retained by the National Trust.
The move comes several months after CCM closed two newspapers in the face of financial losses. Corey Hutchins, who writes Inside the News in Colorado, reported that staff members were bristling at the low salaries they were being paid while multiple executives at the Trust were bringing home more than $100,000 a year.
Times Media Group runs more than 60 papers in Arizona and the Los Angeles area. I honestly don’t know what kind of reputation the company has. But it’s ironic that a nonprofit founded as an alternative to chain ownership has found it necessary to cut a deal with one of those chains.
Meanwhile in Maine
Last December, Lisa DeSisto, who was CEO of the Maine Trust for Local News, the National Trust subsidiary that owns the Portland Press Herald and other Maine papers, resigned abruptly. She wasn’t the only top executive to leave, and the Maine papers’ print presence was reduced in order to save money, according to Boston Globe media reporter Aidan Ryan.
Now DeSisto is returning to the journalism business, signing on as a senior adviser to launch Maine’s chapter of Press Forward, a national philanthropic effort aimed at helping to fund local news coverage.
“While I enjoyed four full months of ‘retirement,’ this is a perfect part-time project for me to utilize my experience and deep relationships in the state and industry to bolster local journalism for Maine,” DeSisto told me in an email. The full announcement follows:
Maine Community Foundation Launches Local Press Initiative
Press Forward Maine to be led by Maine media executive Lisa DeSisto
PORTLAND & ELLSWORTH — The Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF) today announced the launch of a new initiative to strengthen Maine communities by ensuring strong, local news coverage in all parts of the state. MaineCF applied and has been selected by the nonpartisan philanthropic initiative Press Forward to become one of 36 independent chapters nationwide.
Press Forward and Press Forward Maine share the goal of strengthening communities by reinvigorating local news. Press Forward Maine will be housed within MaineCF and led by Senior Advisor Lisa DeSisto, former CEO of Maine Today Media and the Maine Trust for Local News. The initial focus will be building a broad-based advisory panel to identify and prioritize the best ways to reimagine and expand access to local reporting.
“Our own research and the ‘Strengthening Maine’s Civic Life’ report we funded last year tell us two things,” said MaineCF CEO Deborah Ellwood. “One, most people in Maine are interested in reading and learning about their communities but, two, may encounter barriers for understanding how they can engage and participate locally. Press Forward Maine will bring people and resources together to close that gap because quality reporting means people can learn about any issue, understand how to get involved, have their voice heard and find solutions together. We are very pleased Lisa DeSisto is joining to help lead this effort as senior advisor and excited to get to work with our donors and partners.”
DeSisto, who also worked at The Boston Globe for 17 years before leading Maine’s largest media organization through many changes over 13 years, said, “I know all too well that these are changing times in the news business. This is important work and am glad to continue as senior advisor to Press Forward Maine. We are committed to contributing to a vibrant media ecosystem by partnering with large and small news organizations. As a nonprofit community foundation with a 42-year record of working in communities across all 16 Maine counties, Maine Community Foundation is the perfect institution to convene media partners and craft new models for collaboration and innovation to better engage with Maine people.”
MaineCF’s Vice President of Philanthropy Bree Arsenault said there is interest in supporting local news infrastructure among MaineCF’s current and potential donors. “There seems to be an understanding among those looking to build a better Maine that local news and information are essential to inform and involve people in working together to find solutions. We are pleased to partner with Lisa DeSisto and work with our network of donors and partners to invest in promising solutions.”
In 2023, MaineCF embarked on a needs assessment project to help define the next phases of the foundation’s strategic work. Over a period of nine months, more than 1,500 community leaders, donors, nonprofits and stakeholders from every county in Maine provided their insights and perspectives on the state’s challenges, needs and opportunities.
Respondents repeatedly noted the need for more information about how to get involved locally. Consistent access to news and information is central to the health of Maine communities and core to the state’s progress on its biggest challenges. These include resilience to severe weather events, the need for affordable housing and economic opportunities in all parts of Maine.
The MaineCF-funded “Strengthening Maine’s Civic Life” report by the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs at Colby College and Public Engagement Partners highlights the state’s strengths and vulnerabilities and uncovered a high level of support for quality local news.
According to this research, Maine people rank 10th in the nation on keeping up with the news, with 74% percent of Mainers engaging in reading, watching or listening to news about political, societal or local issues, compared with the national average of 68%. Residents expressed facing barriers to civic participation, including lack of information about engagement opportunities.
The Maine Community Foundation brings people and resources together to build a better Maine through strategic giving, community leadership, personalized service, local expertise and strong investments. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.mainecf.org.
Press Forward is a national movement to strengthen communities by revitalizing local news and information. A coalition of funders is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news and scale infrastructure the sector needs to thrive. Press Forward is housed at The Miami Foundation. For more, visit pressforward.news.
Disclosures
National Trust co-founder Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, who left her position earlier this year, was interviewed for our book and our podcast. Ellen and I are professional friends with DeSisto, and we spoke at a fundraiser for the Maine Trust last fall.
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