The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, the nonprofit publisher of The Maine Monitor, and the Bangor Daily News announced today the launch of a new partnership to strengthen journalism for Maine.
The partnership will include a coordinated investigative team and a shared Report for America reporter.
Creating a coordinated investigative team
The initiative will bring Maine’s two statewide investigative journalism teams — The Maine Monitor and Maine Focus — into collaboration in order to more effectively cover issues and stories that need deep reporting and to do more investigative journalism for Maine.
The Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor will continue their independent missions and publications. This project makes it possible for The Maine Monitor and Maine Focus teams to collaboratively identify issues of importance that demand investigative reporting and bring their collective reporting and editing experience to bear.
“By regularly consulting, brainstorming, and evaluating story tips and ideas, we can evaluate which of our exceptional investigative reporters — whether from The Monitor or from Maine Focus — is best positioned to undertake the investigation,” said Kate Cough, editor of The Maine Monitor. “Our teams know and respect each other and look forward to benefiting from everyone’s experience, knowledge, and ideas.”
“This partnership will allow us to collectively do more accountability journalism for Maine,” said Dan MacLeod, executive editor of the BDN. “Having the state’s two award-winning investigative journalism teams working together is ideal.”
Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, executive director of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, announced that the organization would also work with the BDN to seek philanthropic grant support to fund the investigative collaboration.
“This collaboration will result in the best and most strategic in-depth and investigative reporting to enhance accountability and solutions journalism and address critical issues to benefit Maine,” said Schweitzer-Bluhm. “Reporting from this initiative will be jointly published and will be free to read through The Maine Monitor.”
“Additionally, beginning immediately, there will be no paywall on reporting from this investigative partnership on bangordailynews.com,” said Jo Easton, director of development for the Bangor Daily News. “Maine Focus reporting has a track record of inspiring action and informing policy change. We are thrilled that by teaming up with our friends at The Monitor we’re able to give all Mainers access to this journalism, free of charge.”
Shared RFA Corps member to cover local government
Starting in July, the BDN and The Monitor will also partner to jointly support a Report for America Corps Member who will be on the BDN staff and cover local government and politics. The corps member will periodically produce in-depth stories with guidance from The Monitor’s editors, and all reporting from the corps member will be co-published in both publications.
“Maine readers deserve more news coverage,” Todd Benoit, president of the BDN, said. “Through the new collaboration and by partnering to support this position, we are adding resources to cover important topics in Maine. We appreciate the partnership with The Maine Monitor, and are happy to see more readers get access to the future reporting.”
The shared RFA corps member is in addition to an RFA corps member who will start at The Maine Monitor in July to cover religion and society in Maine. This reporter’s work will be available for all news organizations to freely republish, in keeping with The Maine Monitor’s mission and practice.
Overall, Benoit and Schweitzer-Bluhm jointly noted, the two news organizations are working together to strengthen Maine’s news ecosystem, which continues to see local papers close or reduce publication.
“Our mission since 2009 has been to strengthen public service journalism for Maine,” Schweitzer-Bluhm said. “By partnering with Maine’s only remaining locally owned daily with a 136 year history of excellent journalism, we are doing just that.”
