About Us | The Maine Monitor

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The Maine Monitor is the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN: 27-2623867), dedicated to delivering high-quality, nonpartisan investigative and explanatory journalism to inform Mainers about issues impacting our state and empower them to be engaged citizens. Our organization is governed by an independent Maine-based board of directors with fiscal and strategic oversight responsibilities.

Without local journalism to bring issues to light and to hold lawmakers and others accountable, research shows citizens are less engaged, voter participation declines, and corruption increases.

Senior Leadership

Executive Director: Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm (micaela@themainemonitor.org)
Editor: Kate Cough (kate@themainemonitor.org)
Deputy Editor: Stephanie McFeeters (stephanie@themainemonitor.org)

Our Mission

The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting was founded in 2009 to address Maine’s need for investigative reporting on issues impacting our communities and to staunch the decline in investigative reporting happening as Maine’s legacy news organizations cut staff and reporting.

Since 2020, we’ve published The Maine Monitor to deliver our original reporting directly to our readers. We have no paywall and share our work for free, so there is no barrier to accessing our website or newsletters. That means Mainers of all income strata can learn from our reports and become more engaged citizens as a result.

We also provide all our articles for free to all media organizations in Maine and across New England, supporting their publications with in-depth content. Our original stories are published every week by outlets throughout Maine, giving The Maine Monitor impressive reach and influence.

We are committed to delivering fearless, independent, citizen-supported, nonpartisan journalism that informs Mainers about the issues impacting our state and inspires them to take action. Through investigative and in-depth stories, we engage readers to participate and connect to create a better Maine.

View our complete mission statement.

members of the newsroom pose for a group photo. — Employees of *The Maine Monitor* pose for a photo at a 15th Anniversary celebration for the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, which publishes The Maine Monitor. Photo by Garrick Hoffman.

How We’re Funded

The Maine Monitor is published by the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. We rely on individual contributions, major gifts, corporate sponsorships, and foundation grants.

In 2023, donations and philanthropic grants from individuals and foundations accounted for 98% of our operating revenue. We are committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization. Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their products, services or opinions. Our news judgments are made independently — not based on or influenced by donors.

Read our complete Donor Policy. View all of our donors and funders. View all of our Form 990s filed with the IRS.

Policies on Ethics, Editorial Best Practices & Independence

We publish news and information about issues of public interest in Maine that is fair, accurate and reflects the standards for editorial independence and journalistic ethics adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News and the Society of Professional Journalists. Our news and editorial staff has and retains full authority over news and editorial content of our reporting to protect the best journalistic interests of our newsroom and the public. The news and editorial judgments of our newsroom staff are made independently and not on the basis of donor, sponsor, foundation or advertiser support or the involvement of MCPIR’s Board of Directors. We will cede no right of review or influence of news and editorial content. Read our complete news and editorial independence policy.

Our guiding principles: Our newsroom abides by six distinct guiding principles related to our work, including about transparency, trust, and fairness. View our guiding principles.

Reporting practices: The Maine Monitor recognizes that not everyone our reporters talk to is familiar with traditional journalistic practices, and our staff will be as transparent as possible about the process. Here’s a short guide on some of the most common phrases we may use with you.

Ethical policies: We have ethical policies on how our reporters navigate the fact checking process, how our newsroom handles the issuing of corrections to our stories, usage of anonymous sources and pseudonyms, endorsements and political involvement, conflicts of interest, use of artificial intelligence (AI), and bylines. Read our newsroom ethics policy.

Reader Engagement & Feedback

As a nonprofit, community-driven news organization, we value hearing from our readers and donors.

Contacting Us: Please complete this form to contact our newsroom, or email contact@themainemonitor.org, with your comments on our work or with your ideas for enterprise stories and investigations. You may also directly email individuals by locating their email address through our staff directory, at the bottom of stories in the reporter’s bio box, or at the top of reporter archive pages. Email addresses for board members can be obtained from our directory of board members. Snail mail can be sent to: P.O. Box 284 Hallowell, ME 04347. Phone calls can be arranged — please contact us via email first.

Surveys: At least once a year we circulate a survey to all newsletter subscribers to gather feedback on our journalism. After the survey’s closure, our senior leadership will analyze the results and work with all members of the newsroom to formulate and implement actionable plans based on the survey’s results.

Public Events: We hold, or otherwise participate in, numerous public events throughout the year across Maine. View a calendar of our upcoming events where you can learn more about our journalism and directly share feedback about our work. Events will also be promoted across our newsletters and social media accounts. Additionally and separately, a Monitor Member perk for those who donate $500 or more annually to our newsroom is an invitation to a quarterly gathering where you can chat directly with members of our newsroom.

Crowdsourcing: We will occasionally circulate questions or calls for reader perspectives through our newsletters or social media pages. View our ethics policy for more on our reporting practices.

Privacy Policy

We take your privacy very seriously and only track the digital data that is necessary to provide a quality user experience. The data we do track will be collected in aggregate and is not tied to specific individuals.

We track how our visitors use this site so that we can see what people like and don’t like. We analyze and aggregate information about use patterns and share the aggregated data with relevant parties (for example, we keep track of how many users click on particular stories and may provide overall “click rate” information to funders).

We may also collect personal information about you via registration for newsletters, donations, and membership. Where you have an opportunity to supply information about yourself you may choose not to provide requested information.

Read our complete privacy policy, which also covers the use and disclosure of anonymous information and information regarding third-parties.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Belonging

The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting and The Maine Monitor serve all of Maine and the diverse communities across Maine. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive board and staff that reflects the society we report on. As a women-led news organization, 9 of our 12 employees are women and 5 of our 8 board members are women. (This tally does not include regular freelancers and contributors to the newsroom.) View all of our employees and regular contributors, as well as all of our board members.

As part of our mission to serve all Mainers, our newsroom is committed to ensuring that our stories reflect Maine’s diverse population. In addition to telling specific stories about people from a variety of backgrounds, our newsroom is dedicated to including a wide range of voices and perspectives. All of our readers, regardless of background, should feel confident our newsroom is telling stories important to them, and reporting on issues that have an impact on their life and community. Additionally, we will regularly review our style guide to ensure we are using appropriate and inclusive language in our work. We welcome feedback from readers via this form.

The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, marital or parental status, disability, citizenship, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are committed to fostering a workplace in which our employees can grow, express themselves, and contribute to the mission and future of our organization. The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting prohibits and will not tolerate any such discrimination or harassment. View our Non-Discrimination Policy and our full Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility, and Belonging.