The Maine Trust for Local News is a bit of a fable for some towns in Maine. Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland (total year-round population, estimated 12,000) lie near Lewiston/Auburn. Each of these towns borders one another. Each has a separate municipal government. All three communities share in providing public education as Regional School Unit 16 for some 1,600 students with over 200 staff members with three elementary, one middle school and one high school.

Except for a handful of stories, there has been but a whisper of coverage of these three towns since December 2024 in any print or online news organ of the Maine Trust for Local News. No monthly or bimonthly municipal meetings, including local elections, were covered. No coverage of passing the $29.8 million RSU 16 school warrant in June following public meetings, an in-person district-wide vote, plus a vote to change the cost sharing formula.

If the Maine Trust for Local News wishes to succeed as a nonprofit news organization it had better acquire more meat than good looks. The rural areas deserve better coverage than the paltry mix they get today. The organization should not playact as a metropolitan news organization that covers some rural avenues, but as a country-oriented neighborhood newspaper with a wide angle depth of field.

The Maine Trust for Local News should not be something it’s pretending to be, but become something that’s real. Achievement is earned, not granted.

Eriks Petersons
Former freelance reporter, Sun Journal
Mechanic Falls