The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting has announced the hiring of award-winning
journalist and new media executive Joshua F. Moore as the Center’s new executive editor.
Moore, who began work June 6, takes over leadership of the nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news service from John Beaudoin, who had an unexpected health problem and had to resign in March. (Beaudoin is staying connected to the Center; he immediately joined the board after leaving the staff.)
“We’ve always known that the success of the Center depends on our capacity to do the hard-hitting reporting while also expanding our readership and support,” said Jed Davis, president of the Center’s board of directors. “Josh’s journalism skills, plus his background in digital media, makes him an ideal person to help us reach new audiences but also stay true to our mission of producing nonpartisan, in-depth investigative journalism.”
Moore’s work has appeared in national, regional and local newspapers and magazines ranging from The Denver Post to WoodenBoat magazine, among many others. A graduate of Wesleyan University, he began his journalism career in Colorado, where he started as a beat reporter covering cops and courts for The Durango Herald, a daily newspaper in the Four Corners area. His coverage of a manhunt for cop-killers in the desert Southwest stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the national press that covered the massive search, earning him statewide awards and instilling the news bug in him at a young age. Promotions that followed included city editor and, at the nearby Cortez Journal, managing editor and helped Moore gain a broader understanding of the news operation. The Durango Herald’s coverage of a 73,000-acre fire near Moore’s home earned him the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists — one of the top journalism awards in the country.
Returning home to Maine, Moore became an associate editor of Down East and later the magazine’s deputy editor. His work growing Down East’s digital footprint led to a new opportunity as the co-creator of USHarbors.com, an online startup serving boaters that grew to more than 4 million users annually.
Moore, 45, lives in Camden with his wife, Kristin, and their two children.
Since its founding more than six years ago by veteran Maine journalists John Christie and Naomi Schalit, the Center has produced more than 200 stories that have been published on its website and in the newspapers, radio and television programs, and websites of the more than 30 media partners that the center distributes its work to at no cost.
Christie and Schalit both remain deeply involved with the Center, with Christie serving as senior editor and Schalit continuing as senior reporter.
“Having observed what John and Naomi were building ever since they started the Center, it is an honor to now sit in the editor’s chair,” said Moore. “The need for nonpartisan journalism has never been greater, and I look forward to putting the Center’s work in front of even more readers.”
