A national nonprofit plans to take over ownership of five of Maine’s six daily newspapers as part of a landmark deal that could help preserve local news across the state.
The National Trust for Local News has entered into an agreement to purchase the Portland Press Herald and all of the other assets of Masthead Maine, with a closing date in late July, Reade Brower, owner of Masthead Maine, and Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, chief executive officer and co-founder of the trust, said in interviews Monday.
Besides the Press Herald, the deal includes the Sun Journal in Lewiston, the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, the Times Record in Brunswick and 17 weekly papers in southern and western Maine, including the Forecaster group.
