Portland Press Herald

The Portland Daily Press was founded in June 1862 by J. T. Gilman, Joseph B. Hall, and Newell A. Foster as a new Republican paper.[3] Its first issue, published June 23, 1862, announced strong support for Abraham Lincoln and condemned slavery as "the foulest blot upon our national character."[1] Its offices, along with the offices of all the newspapers in the city, were destroyed on July 4, 1866 in the Great Fire of 1866. On the morning of Friday, July 6, the Portland Daily Press published a double-sided handbill about the fire.[4]

The paper quickly gained the largest circulation in Portland, and was one of five daily newspapers in the city to survive to the 20th century.[1] In 1904 the paper was bought by a syndicate of Maine Republicans, including Henry B. Cleaves, and gubernatorial candidate Joseph Homan Manley, who the paper had previously opposed.[5]

In 1921, the Portland Daily Press was merged with the Portland Herald to form the Portland Press Herald in a sale of the Press from then U.S. Senator Frederick Hale to Guy P. Gannett,[6][7] who had bought the Herald earlier the same year.[1] The first edition of the Portland Press Herald was published in November 21, 1921.[1] The Press Herald's circulation skyrocketed in the first year of Gannett's ownership, when the paper sold for 2 cents; circulation went from a little over 18,000 to nearly 29,000.[1] Under Gannett's ownership, the traditionally pro-Republican newspaper adopted a balanced editorial approach; during the 1922 gubernatorial campaign, the newspaper published Democratic candidate William Robinson Pattangall's criticism of the Republican incumbent, Governor Percival Baxter. In a letter to readers, Gannett wrote, "The American people think for themselves. They want and should be given the news and all the news fully and uncolored by any personal or political consideration."[1]

In the 1920s, Gannett's media empire in Maine grew: he purchased the Portland Evening Express and Daily Advertiser in 1925 (whose name he shortened to Evening Express) and by 1929 also bought Augusta's Kennebec Journal and Waterville's Central Maine Morning Sentinel.[1]

In 1923, Gannett built a new building to house all of the paper's operations on 390 Congress Street across from Portland City Hall.

In 1998, the family trust that ran what was by now Guy Gannett Communications decided to break up its media interests. Ultimately, it decided to sell the Press Herald to The Seattle Times Company. Gannett officials cited shared values; the Times Company was also a family-owned business, and its owners, the Blethen family, had roots in Maine.[8] The Press Herald and its sister publications were reorganized as Blethen Maine Newspapers, an independent division of The Seattle Times Company.[9]

A paid advertisement in the newspaper's February 3, 2007 "religion and values" section, placed by the First Baptist Church of South Portland, listed the sermon as "The Only Way to Destroy the Jewish Race"; this caused outrage in Greater Portland's Jewish community,[10] and led to an apology by the minister of that church.[11] Two weeks later, an ad for PeoplesChoice Credit Union ran, depicting a "Fee Bandit" character that used stock photography of a Hasidic Jew to represent the character rather than the Old West banker intended for the visual representation.[12] This incident prompted investigations by the Anti-Defamation League; Steven Wessler, director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence and the person in charge of dealing with hate crimes in the state; and the Jewish Community Alliance. The newspaper's management, as well as the credit union, later apologized for the advertisements; the newspaper said it would scrutinize ad content better in the future.[11][13][14]

On March 17, 2008, the Press Herald converted from its traditional multi-section format to two sections. A brief editorial highlighted advertising concerns and said the other sections could be found online. The next day, the Blethens announced that they were putting the Press Herald and its other Maine newspaper properties up for sale.[15] The Portland Press Herald also had three rounds of job cuts in 2008; in the third round of cuts, the newspapers' owner eliminated 36 jobs and closed the news bureaus in Augusta, Biddeford, Bath, and Washington, D.C., in response to declining newspaper ad revenue.[16]

After more than a year on the market, on June 15, 2009, the papers were sold to MaineToday Media, Inc., headed by Richard L. Connor, publisher of Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, with financing from HM Capital Partners and Citizens Bank.[17] MaineToday also owned a variety of Maine press properties, including the Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel, and Bath's Coastal Journal, as well as mainetoday.com.[18]

Although MaineToday originally announced a plan to move the paper's offices out of downtown into the South Portland printing plant,[19] it was later reported that the company's headquarters would move to One City Center in downtown Portland.[20] As part of the sale, Portland Newspaper Guild members took a 10% pay cut in exchange for 15% ownership in MaineToday Media. More than 30 non-union jobs were eliminated.[21]

Connor's short tenure was characterized by controversy and a rapid decline in the newspaper's financial condition. On September 11, 2010, the Press Herald reported on local Ramadan celebrations with a front-page story. Later that day, Connor insisted on apologizing to readers for his editors' decision to run that story. [22] "Many saw Saturday's front-page story and photo regarding the local observance of the end of Ramadan as offensive, particularly on the day, September 11, when our nation and the world were paying tribute to those who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks nine years ago," wrote Connor.

Connor's apology attracted nationwide scorn. In Time Magazine, critic James Poniewozik called Connor's behavior "craven" and "depressing for the state of journalism."[23] In an appearance on NPR's On The Media, Connor admitted that "some of the people who complained about the lack of 9/11 coverage were really couching anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic attitudes," but refused to retract his apology, and he eventually hung up on host Bob Garfield before the segment was over.[24]

Connor demonstrated a similar lack of ability in managing the business side of the newspaper. In 2011, he eliminated 61 positions, many of which were in the newsroom, and in November of that year, a paper supplier sued the newspaper for $124,000 in unpaid bills.[25] Connor finally left the newspaper at the end of 2011 under strong pressure from the board of directors and a restructuring firm that had taken over day-to-day management.[26]

Maine Values LLC, a company owned by wealthy businessman and philanthropist S. Donald Sussman, made a $3–4 million investment in MaineToday Media in February 2012, acquiring a 5% equity stake in the company and a seat on its board.[18] The next month, Maine Values boosted its ownership stake in MaineToday to 75%.[27] Sussman, who lived in North Haven, Maine, therefore held a majority stake in the newspapers.[1]

In 2013, Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. paid MaineToday Media over $500,000 under the company’s employee theft insurance policy to recoup money that former publisher Richard P. Connor had allegedly stolen from the company for unauthorized personal use. Forensic audits by MaineToday and its insurers had revealed that Connor had given himself unauthorized salary increases and used company funds to pay for personal expenses, including credit card bills, dental work, an SUV, vacation home rentals, and numerous other personal expenses.[28]

In 2015, MaineToday Media was sold to Reade Brower, owner of a number of midcoast Maine newspapers and a printing operation in Brunswick, Maine.[29] Over a decade, Brower has consolidated six of Maine's seven daily newspapers, as well as 21 weekly newspapers, under his ownership.[30]

In July 2023, it was announced that a national nonprofit, the National Trust for Local News, would buy the Press Herald from Brower. The Press Herald, along with 4 daily and 17 weekly Maine papers owned by Brower, is part of the new Maine Trust for Local News.[31]