The town of Marblehead, an affluent community of about 20,000 residents on Boston’s North Shore, is proving to be a hotbed for hyperlocal journalism.
Just a few years ago, its only newspaper was the Gannett-owned Marblehead Reporter. Then, after the chain dumped virtually all of its weeklies’ local coverage in favor of regional content, three different independent news projects moved in to fill the void. One eventually ceased operations, leaving the town with two. Soon, though, the count will return to three.
What’s fueling the latest startup is the departure last month of Will Dowd from the Marblehead Current. Dowd, the community editor as well as a co-founder, had been with the Current from its launch in 2022. But the Current, a nonprofit print weekly with a robust website, is dealing with some financial challenges, which led to the elimination of Dowd’s full-time job.
Now Dowd is starting The Marblehead Independent, built on the increasingly popular Ghost newsletter platform. He expects to debut later this month. Dowd told me by email that he decided to go solo rather than accept the Current’s offer to continue as a paid freelancer for much less money. “I don’t hold any animosity over it; the board had to do what it had to do,” he said.
The Current recently published an editorial thanking Dowd for his work but adding that its nonprofit status “does not relieve the Current of its obligation to balance its books.” An uncertain financial environment, the editorial said, led it to impose “drastic temporary measures, like 25% across-the-board pay cuts,” adding: “We, of course, will continue to work for brighter days, as we turn over every rock in search of funding.”
The town is also served by the Marblehead Weekly News, a for-profit print weekly mailed to every home in town and owned by The Daily Item of nearby Lynn. For a time, a for-profit digital project known as the Marblehead Beacon operated as well. The Beacon suspended publication in late 2023, although its website is still live.
At a time when many communities don’t have a single reliable local news source, Marblehead is served by a plethora of outlets, the Current’s challenges notwithstanding. The median household income in Marblehead is about $166,000, which is about 64% higher than the statewide median of $101,000.
But that only proves a point that my research partner Ellen Clegg and I often make. Affluent suburban communities are finding ways to overcome the local news crisis while rural areas and urban communities of color are often being left behind.
Meanwhile, I hope both the Current and the Independent — and, yes, the Weekly News, too — are able to survive and thrive.
