Vacuum in Maine News ? Asks “The Boston Globe” in Front Page Article in July 3rd Issue

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Reade Brower, 66,  Owner of  Many Newspapers in Maine that Form His Monopoly on Print News in Maine.

If you didn’t read about the “for sale” sign that Reade Brower announced in late April of 2023, for his “Portland Press Herald” and other newspapers across Maine, you can read about it in today’s issue of “The Boston Globe” on the front page, below the fold, though. Brewer’s monopoly of Maine’s print news is composed of five daily newspapers and twenty-five weeklies.

At the time of the April 24 announcement by Brower in the Porftland newspaper, he said he was in negotiations with a group, Maine Journalism Foundation,  headed by retired columnist Bill Nemitz.  Nemitz was tryig to raise $15 million from the area community for the purchase from Brower of his monopoly.  Nemitz warned against allowing a venture-capital company to purchase the monopoly from his former boss.  Everyone  knows too well what venture-capital companies do to newsrooms.  They GUT them. Some believe that the “PPH” newsroom is already gutted. “The Globe” reports that Brower is “expected to sell soon.”

But to whom remains a mystery in this “Globe” article.

Back in 2015 Brower purchased “The Portland Press Herald” from hedge-fund owner S.  Donald Sussman.  Sussman, from Greenwich, Connecticut is a summer resident of an island off the coast of Maine.  That is where he met Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D) whom he married and later the couple divorced.  It was rumored at the time that she was opposed to her husband’s  purchase of “PPH.”  Smart woman!

Not to be ignored is the unique opportunity such a change in ownership could provide to “The Bangor Daily News.”  The BDN has a strong presence in Portland.  It is highly regarded by many for its coverage of Portland news.  Years ago as a blogger for the Bangor paper, mhn.com became aware of the paper’s interest in dominating the print news in southern Maine as well as in upstate Maine.

In past years, the local daily has been highly critical of this blogger’s on-line efforts..  One of its writers who is no longer with the daily and was once with Bath Iron Works, Bath, wrote a particularly nasty article about bloggers, specifically the munjoyhillnews.com – above the fold in the local section.  At a city hall meeting, this blogger told one of the reporters for the paper, that my on-line hits had increased dramatically after that written smear.  No similar smears were experienced by this blogger from the local daily following that conversation. Shucks!  However, sometimes this blogger was referred to as “unprofessional” by reporters in print stories.

On June 27, 2023, the munjoyhillnews.com celebrated its fifteenth year on-line. It is not for sale.