Finally! Today is over 50 60 degrees and winter is releasing us. Despite growing up no more than three miles from where I live today in the midcoast, I’m still shocked at how long our winters grind on for (even though they’re shorter today than they used to be). With the relief of spring, at least for me, comes a desire to connect and share what we’ve been working on all winter.
I’m delighted to share that MINC has added two young nonprofit news outlets and continues to invite new applicants. Over the winter, we convened training for members, and designed and awarded reimbursement grants in support of training needs that advance digital transformation and/or business sustainability through infrastructure improvements and skill building. There’s even a news drone coming soon to one member newsroom.
Harpswell Anchor and Saco Bay News grow MINC to eight newsrooms
The Harpswell Anchor and Saco Bay News have both signed on to MINC in order to expand their training and fundraising capacity, and create new opportunities for collaborative work with fellow independent Maine publishers.
Founded in 2020, Saco Bay News is an independent news site that provides current, reliable news on everything from breaking news and municipal updates to human interest stories Monday – Saturday for the Southern Maine communities of Saco, Old Orchard Beach and Biddeford.
Liz Gotthelf, publisher of Saco Bay News, sees MINC as a resource for building capacity and meeting the challenges of publishing in today’s environment. “I’m super-excited to be part of MINC and have the opportunity to collaborate with other independent news outlets across the state. Together we can find efficiencies, share ideas, and help each other continue to inform our communities,” said Gotthelf.
The Harpswell Anchor was (re)founded and reimagined in 2021 as a nonprofit after the Covid closure of the original Harpswell Anchor. The Anchor produces local news, with an emphasis on coverage of local government and public education, and enterprise journalism into topics ranging from affordable housing to emergency services and the aquaculture industry.
As a founder of the Anchor and now its director of development and operations, Janice Thompson has observed MINC’s growth and impact from its founding in 2023. “The team at the Anchor is delighted to join MINC, as the group has been instrumental in building connections among Maine newsrooms,” Thompson observed. “We are a hyperlocal newspaper and our community is strongly supportive; that said, we benefit from collaborating with other organizations for training and grant funding.”
Welcome to you both!
Growing training opportunities beyond the newsroom
While expanding membership, this winter we also remotely hosted a defamation and safety training from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press for members, and invited applications for up to $2000 per newsroom in support of efforts in 2026 to advance business sustainability through infrastructure improvements and skill building.
This funding is enhancing training opportunities available to member newsrooms, and all newsrooms receiving support for attending training opportunities will share key takeaways with the larger group. Some of the funded opportunities:
- Send journalists to the Hack/Hackers AI x Journalism Summit to explore how AI can enhance information gathering;
- Send reader revenue staff to industry conferences to learn best practices for customer service and product development for legacy news organizations growing their digital service;
- Send publishers and development staff to nonprofit news leadership summits to learn practical strategies for strengthening the position of local news as a public good, and diversifying the revenue that supports it;
- Attend a class to improve grant writing skills;
- The Maine Monitor will host a hands-on in-person photography training to improve visual journalism skills for all MINC newsrooms; and
- Support for a reporter at one newsroom to become an FAA Certified Drone Pilot in order to provide drone video footage to enhance and expand digital content.
These training opportunities were made possible by the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation with additional support from the Broad Reach Foundation and the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation.
Looking ahead
With an expanded membership and increasing interest across the field in pathways to reduce the costs of doing business for local news organizations, MINC newsrooms continue to explore opportunities for collaboration in our journalism, audience growth, and business operations.
The Maine Independent News Collaborative was founded as a collaborative journalism support project in 2023 by founding partners the Bangor Daily News, Eastern Maine Development Corporation and Unity Foundation. Today, MINC represents more than 100 journalists, 1.5 million readers, and eight local news organizations with common values: Amjambo Africa, Bangor Daily News, Harpswell News, Lincoln County News, The Maine Monitor, Penobscot Bay Press, Saco Bay News and The Quoddy Tides. MINC is fiscally sponsored by EMDC.
Reach out anytime. You can find me at jeaston@bangordailynews.com, or 207-990-8256.