In the world of independent local news startups, 10 years is an eon. That’s how long John and Kristen Muldoon published The Local News, a nonprofit print weekly that covers Ipswich, on Boston’s North Shore, as well as several surrounding communities.
Now they’re moving on. Fortunately, they’ve worked out a succession plan. Trevor Meek, who’s worked as a reporter for the paper since 2023, is the new editor, and Eric Gedstad, who has a background in communications, marketing and government, will be the executive director (that’s nonprofit-speak for publisher).
“Yes, they’ll still be contributing to the paper,” Meek writes of the Muldoons. “And no, they’ll never be able to escape my desperate texts and panicked emails. But their day-to-day presence — their gallows humor, sharp instincts, and steady hands — will be sorely missed.”
As Kris Olson, a co-founder and consulting editor at the Marblehead Current, put it in an email to me, “John is essentially being replaced by two people…. That gives you a sense of how much John was doing.”
John Muldoon has written that The Local News began to find its stride in 2019, when Bill Wasserman, a North Shore journalism legend, became a supporter by donating $100,000 and by helping the paper with advertising, which enabled the operation to have a regular print edition.
Wasserman had previously owned The Ipswich Chronicle and a string of other weeklies only to watch them wither under a series of corporate chain owners that culminated in their acquisition by GateHouse Media, now Gannett. (I worked briefly for North Shore Weeklies under one of those chain owners way back in 1990.) Wasserman died in 2021 at the age of 94.
Somewhere along the line, the Muldoons decided to turn their paper into a nonprofit, with John explaining, “The key reason there was to protect the paper for the public from the depredations of any future corporate owner.”
The Boston Globe’s Billy Baker wrote about The Local News in 2024, reporting that the print edition was being sent to 9,300 homes in Ipswich and neighboring Rowley without charge.
John and I have corresponded over the years, and I got to meet him and Kristen last November at a local-news panel at an Ipswich brewpub, where all such events ought to be held. The Muldoons have made an enormous contribution to the North Shore, bringing real news coverage back to places that had largely been ignored for years.
Best wishes to both of them on their well-deserved retirement.
Discover more from Media Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I just spoke with Bill Wasserman’s daughter Becca last night. I was a friend of Bill and his wife Mary for many years. Bill and Mary would be so happy to see how much the Muldoons have done, especially by ensuring the paper’s continuance as a nonprofit.
Many thanks to all involved.
Just a note on how things started. I launched a “for-profit” website in May 2015, worked part time while Kristen worked full-time.
Over the years, we experimented by publishing a few print editions since I always felt that web only could only grow so far.
In 2019, we partnered with Bill Wasserman — who retired before the computer era in 1986! — to start a regular weekly nonprofit newspaper. That meant in Ipswich that we started with a fair wind. Bill was well known by the older crowd and I was known by the local news obsessives for my reporting over the previous four years.
Myself and Kristen worked without pay for the first year. She kept her full-time job while I was teaching part time. Bill’s money was put aside for strategic use.
As people asked over the year about costs, etc., I assumed they would not have free labor so I told them to plan on start-up costs of at least around $250,000, but probably more. Printing, postage, etc., are guaranteed expenditures. Advertising and donations are not guaranteed income. As for grants, you are guaranteed to spend a lot of time filling out forms.
As for me being replaced by two people: while flattering, it’s a necessary move. Trevor will take over editorial while Eric will concentrate on areas that I did not spend much time on. Those include development and uncovering other sources of income.