News-media roundup: Most Maine papers for sale; political coverage at risk; many rely on 'public individuals' for news

The owner of most of the newspapers in the nation's most rural state, Reade Brower of Masthead Maine, says he is considering potential buyers, including the new Maine Journalism Foundation headed by longtime Maine journalist Bill Nemitz, who "said the not-for-profit model would keep Maine's newspaper industry locally owned and committed to news, and not the financial bottom line," The Associated Press reports. Brower, who's been in the business less than 15 years, told AP, “Certainly I am open to the pathway of a nonprofit option. It’s really important to me, the integrity of the process. I'm trying to create a process that is open and fair and gives me the most options.”

For their news, 89 percent of Americans follow at least one "public individual," defined as someone who has "public influence, for example, a celebrity, journalist, academic expert, show host, online influencer or business leader," and 32% say they trust such individuals more for the news than news organizations, according to a poll by Gallup for the Knight Foundation. (Click graph to enlarge)

"The shrinking newsroom crisis will be impossible to ignore in 2024," because the nation's newspapers are no longer equipped to give voters the information they need about candidates, writes Phillip Elliott, political writer for Time. Citing a paper by historian Jon K. Lauck in Middle West Review, about the decline of newspapers in the Midwest, Elloitt writes, "Beyond hollowed-out newsrooms or shuttered papers, the broader threat is one to democracy itself, one that will be more noticeable in 2024 than any previous election cycle. Without independent journalists to cover, analyze, and query candidates and their campaigns, voters are left to rely on the spin and propaganda that the political machines themselves churn out. . . . Without someone standing ready with a notebook, tape recorder (or iPhone app, as the case is nowadays), and just plain clear eyes on a candidate, voters aren’t really getting the full picture."

The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., has given its climate-and-environment newsletter, Tipping Point, a new name: Rising Waters: Climate Stories of the South, with a broader purview, "the entire Southeast region," the newspaper announced. It carries the same name as the paper's 2020 series, Rising Waters, on the threat of climate change and sea-level rise to South Carolina, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. The newsletter will be emailed on Fridays at 8 a.m. Sign up for it here.

This is Ethics Week of the Society of Professional Journalists, known for its Code of Ethics.