Emily Barr will assume responsibility as president of the Board of Directors of The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, which publishes The Maine Monitor, on January 1. She will replace longtime president Jed Davis, who will continue to serve on the board as president emeritus.
Davis has served on the Board of Directors since 2012 and been president since 2016.
“When founders John Christie and Naomi Schalit met Jed Davis in 2012, they found someone as passionate and determined as they were about building a nonprofit news organization that would make a real difference in Maine,” Executive Director Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm said. “Jed has been a critical part of MCPIR’s success ever since.”
Under Davis’s committed leadership, MCPIR has grown to become an important public service in Maine — delivering hard-hitting investigative reporting and providing it for free for all to read and for any Maine news outlet to republish. More than 15,000 people across Maine’s sixteen counties read The Maine Monitor’s newsletters.
“What inspired me to join the MCPIR Board, and continues to drive me to this day, is a belief as strong as our founders’ in the essential importance of independent journalism in a functioning democracy,” Davis said. “I’m proud to be a part of this organization and look forward to continuing to support its work and the Board of Directors under Emily’s leadership.”
Emily Barr joined the MCPIR Board of Directors in October 2023 and has served as its secretary. Barr had a 43-year career in broadcast television, including the last ten as president and CEO of Graham Media Group, a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company, formerly known as The Washington Post Company.
She is the former head of the ABC Board of Governors and the NBC Affiliates Board, and was the former TV chair of the National Association of Broadcasters. Barr also serves on the boards of the Associated Press and Carleton College.
“It’s an honor to take on the leadership of the MCPIR Board of Directors and to continue the incredible work of Jed Davis, who has given so much to the success of the organization,” Barr said. “We have a fantastic Board of Directors who are committed to MCPIR’s mission of delivering high-quality, nonpartisan investigative and in-depth journalism that informs Mainers about issues impacting our state and empowers them to act for their communities.”
