THE COASTAL PACKET: Maine only state where one individual owns majority of newspapers

Wednesday, June 6

Maine only state where one individual owns majority of newspapers

Pine Tree Watch - At a time when the U.S. newspaper industry is most often described as “dying” and “decimated” and publishers agree that “flat is the new up” with regard to profitability, a lot of eyes are on Maine.

They’re looking here, not because the picture is significantly brighter but because Maine’s newspaper industry is now unlike any other in the country. There’s not another state that has a single individual owning the majority of its daily newspapers, as is suddenly the case here.

In rapid-fire style – just three years – Camden businessman Reade Brower has acquired six of the state’s seven daily newspapers. The speed with which he’s done it is causing wariness among some journalists and others in Maine and an abundance of curiosity throughout the industry nationwide, about his motives and strategies.

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