The Mills administration has paid $120,000 to the Maine Trust for Local News (MTLN), the nonprofit that owns the Portland Press Herald and the Lewiston Sun Journal, to publish state-sponsored articles praising the Mills administration’s use of federal education dollars.
The articles are intended to bolster “goodwill” toward the state’s public school system and the Maine Department of Education’s (DOE) use of federal funding, according to state records reviewed by the Maine Wire.
[RELATED: Five Months Later, “National Trust” Won’t Say Who Funded Takeover of Maine Newspapers…]
According to the document, which disclosed the no-bid contract awarded to the nonprofit on Friday, Sept. 20, the Maine DOE will pay the “trust” a total of $117,300 for what the government described as a “marketing campaign.”
The payment will cover the publication and promotion of six articles portraying the Maine DOE in a flattering light. It’s unclear whether the state-sponsored “news” content will be written by someone from the Maine DOE or employees of the Maine Trust for Local News newspapers.
The taxpayer-funded “marketing campaign” will highlight the Maine DOE’s “use of federal emergency relief funding,” and will aim to “promote the best learning opportunities for all Maine students” and to “inspire ‘trust in our schools,'” according to the document.
The Mills administration described this initiative as a way to leverage the credibility and reach of the Maine Trust for Local News and their network of news outlets to generate “goodwill” toward Maine’s public school system.
“This campaign will utilize the authority of Maine Trust for Local News, which carries with the DOE’s constituents, to achieve these goals, resulting in an increase of goodwill for Maine’s public school system,” the Mills administration wrote in the procurement form.
The state-sponsored media will describe Maine as a “great place to teach and learn,” and will share the “success stories of Federal Emergency Funded programs.”
Neither the state nor the Maine Trust for Local News has disclosed the schedule for publishing the six “sponsored articles” online and in their publications, which include the Portland Press Herald, the Lewiston Sun Journal, the Waterville Morning Sentinel, and the Kennebec Journal.
In addition to the sponsored articles, the newspapers involved will also run paid advertisements to promote them on their websites. The contract runs from mid-August until the end of December.
Per the contract form, the Maine Trust for Local News is uniquely suited to be a purveyor of media favorable to the state government.
In fact, the nonprofit is so peerless in their role as the Mills administration’s de facto public relations team, according to the Maine DOE, that although they do not plan on running another similar marketing campaign, if they were, there “would be no one to compete” with the trust for future state-run media projects.
“Its 19 publications cover more areas than any other news organization and, combined with its three websites, have a larger Maine-based audience than any comparable outlet,” the Maine DOE wrote. “There is not another organization in Maine that can create a campaign of this size or nature.”
The Maine Trust for Local News, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Local News, is the nonprofit trust that last summer acquired several of Maine’s oldest news brands and daily newspapers, including the Portland Press Herald, Lewiston Sun Journal and Kennebec Journal.
On their website, under an “Our Guiding Principles” heading, the Maine Trust for Local News boasts that their local newsroom staff “are the only people who decide what stories to pursue, the timing of those stories, and their content.”
However, in this case, it appears as though the nonprofit is taking payment and direct instruction from the state government on what stories to publish, and the content of those stories.
At the time of the National Trust’s acquisition of the Maine news outlets, the nonprofit promised to disclose the funders behind the acquisition, a pledge that has yet to be fulfilled.
A report from digital media outlet Semafor suggested that left-wing billionaire George Soros and Swiss foreign national Hansjörg Wyss were key financial backers of the acquisition.
Both men are known for their significant contributions to progressive political causes in the U.S. Soros, through his Open Society Foundations, has a long history of funding liberal advocacy groups, including some in Maine.
[RELATED: Shadowy Left-Wing Group Spends Big on Maine Politics…]
Wyss, who is not a U.S. citizen and cannot vote, has nonetheless taken a keen interest in shaping American politics, particularly in Maine, where he has reportedly also funded the progressive blog Maine Morning Star — an affiliate of the nonprofit “States Newsroom” network.
The Maine DOE reports that they have received over $1 billion in federal emergency relief funding since March of 2020, funds meant to address the impacts on students caused by the disruption and shutdown of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
[RELATED: Maine Education Chief: “Academic Learning” Takes Backseat to Social-Emotional, Gender, and Race…]
According to the Maine DOE spending dashboard, the department has already allocated almost $575 million of those federal funds “to address diverse needs arising from or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, or to emerge stronger post-pandemic, including responding to students’ social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs.”
The funds for the Mills administration’s “marketing campaign” themselves are being taken from pandemic-era relief funds.
The Maine DOE’s procurement form indicates that the $117,300 award to the Maine Trust for Local News comes from American Rescue Plan Act funds, a COVID-19 stimulus package signed into law by President Joe Biden in early 2021.
While the Mills administration touts its marketing campaign as a way to rebuild trust in Maine’s public education system, recent data paints a less optimistic picture.
Despite Maine’s historic reputation as a national leader in education, the state has, in recent years, experienced a steep decline in academic performance.
[RELATED: New Report Analyzes the Decades-Long Decline of Maine K-12 Education…]
A report published by the Maine Policy Institute earlier this year found that while Maine consistently ranked first or second for math in reading in the 1990s, by 2022 the state’s ranking had fallen to an average of 36th nationwide. (Disclosure: The Maine Wire is a project of the Maine Policy Institute.)
This decline in math and reading proficiency among Maine’s public school students was concurrent with a 20 percent increase in the average inflation-adjusted amount Maine schools spent on each pupil from 2006 to 2022.
It’s NewSpeak, welcome to 1984 “The payment will cover the publication and promotion of six articles portraying the Maine DOE in a flattering light.”
Putting lipstick on a pig?
“…the Mills administration touts its marketing campaign as a way to rebuild trust in Maine’s public education system…” Yeah, that’ll work!
The Portland Pravda Herald, in particular, was already carrying the Mills administration’s water. Now, they can reap taxpayer dollars to continue the gaslighting for the ME Dept. of Indoctrination. What a bunch of hacks!
Maine
The Way Life Should Be .
KEY WORD : “ Should “ .
Democrats want to change this slogan …..like changing the flag
Maine
The Way We Want Life to Be ..
You will learn to do what we tell you to do .
You will learn to like what we tell you to do .
We know what is best for you .
We are Democrats .
You keep electing us !
So much money flying around , so much of it in the pockets of Democrats .
.
If this were LePage and General Mills were AG, she’d be taking him to court.
Too bad Maine R’s are spineless
American Rescue Plan Act ………we’re rescued ! Ha Ha Ha Ha
WTF does this have to do with “ being rescued I ask ?
The answer is Nothing !
Rescue us from the inflation that your rescue plan has created.
Democrats sure know how to spend money, but unfortunately they don’t know how to earn it .
Taxes , Licenses , Permits, Fees is how Democrats “ earn “ their money .
Democrats are really good at obscuring the truth and manipulating the media .
Brainwash the fools with television ads !
My TV doesn’t come in real good .
I wish the governor had sent us all ten bucks instead , so I could go buy some Fireball .
Are you shitten me? this is where my tax dollar goes? Last one out turn off the light.
If the education provided is good enough, the stories will write themselves for free.
They’re using our money to lie to us! Is there no limit to what they will do? How about they just clean up this mess? It proves this Governor and her supporters care more about staying in power than doing their job, and they have more in store for us and our kids.
Well, that’s better than when Trump stiffed David Pecker for covering up damaging stories about Trump’s personal life.
You don’t need a slick marketing campaign when you have a good product.
Maine has become one of the worst states in the nation re education. Just thirty years ago, it was amongst the best.
The last five years have been particularly disastrous.
Vote accordingly – and start to mock those who aren’t. Gently at first perhaps. But they need to defend themselves bc they are ruining our country with their ignorance.
We shouldn’t compound their ignorance with our apathy.
If you have to put a positive spin on how you use tax $ then you’re using them WRONG!
Can you spell G. A. S. L. I. G. H. T . . ?
For all you democrats in Damariscotta Gaslight means Lies .
WELL, THE ONLY WAY A MARKETING CAMPAIGN WORKS, IS IF PEOPLE ACTUALLY READ THOSE RAGS ,OR BELIEVES THE B.S. just read the maine wire, screw the t.v. paid actors ,state run media. ignore them, do not comply and we the people win!
Another no bid contract is given. Didn’t Mills threaten to sue Gov. Lepage over a no bid contract?
When i moved to Yarmouth 20 years ago (from Westbrook), Yarmouth schools were in the top couple in the state. Now, they are way down in the ratings yet we are required by the junta in charge to pay more and more. Property taxes went up 25 percent this year (yes, in one year) and show no sign of abating. This is the pinnacle of mismanagement and now we have to pay for favorable commercials? The beatings will continus until the moral improves. If you fools like all this, keep voting democrat.
I’m surprised they had to pay… but it might be the only reason PPress is still in business.
Time to get rid of ALL non-profits. You can then just call churches churches and continue to have no taxes on direct church related costs, but tax their other endeavors and properties!
She can pay for all the “fake” articles she wants. I work with those who recently graduated from the Maine education system. I’m disgusted with their lack of basic skills and knowledge. Maine has gone down hill!
All one has to do is see the School buses on the road with kids go home at 2:00 PM and not the 3:15 like it sue to be. With less time in the class room seat you get less learning. And this is from an x member of the AFT and MTA.
The tentacles of social democrats are everywhere strangling choice and initiative. Their thought process seems to be “who needs freedom when we can just bomb government with money from way-far-away and get states to do what we want? We know best and we’re just going to buy elected officials and bureaucrats to get what we want because no one will stop us and the voters love that centralized power anyhow.”
Well, the game will be over soon and we’ll all get to live on our knees and love it if we refuse to get rid of these hollow, avaricious, lying, self-important, government-as-god, infuriatingly self-righteous, authoritarian tyrants! Folks, voting for Trump is only a half-way measure. Eventually we just have to make government smaller and smaller and give it less and less until we get as little of it as possible! Watch Argentina. I’m just praying that Javier Milei can stay the course and then maybe I’ll just have to move there. The good ole USA is a long way from electing a libertarian anarchist who knows that government is not your friend. It’s just a cancer that can’t stop growing…and then the do gooders pile on and make it worse…and the voters, at least here in Maine, seem to love that. How stupid!
So, Mills is undoubtedly buying the news. This will ensure that the PPH prints only news favorable to the Mills administration, with the expectation that more taxpayer dollars will be forthcoming. I wonder how long this has been going on, because, I once sent a comment to the PPH regarding the Mills administration’s use of the fraudulent PCR test to pad the State’s Covid-19 “cases” statistics, which MIlls then used to devastate “non-essential” businesses, and the PPH did not print that comment. At that time, it was known that the Maine CDC was running PCR tests at 40 cycles or higher, which even Herr Dr Anthony Fauci is on video stating creates at least 97 percent false positives. And Mills was calling these false positives “cases”, which is indefensible. – Where the heck are the Republicans on this? We need a truly Independent Party, which the majority of the States voters (who are unenrolled) can join.
Is this even legal ???
Mills is a typical democrat, communist she dosen’t care that George Soros is working with China, now we know why Mills is letting China BUY UP MAINE they bought land next to every military base in Maine they buy Maine homes with cash then grow illegal weed or process HARD DRUGS OR SELL women into prostitution !!!
Each state needs an electoral college by county !!! Portland, Bangor and Lewiston elect ALL THE DEMOCRATS THAT ARE DESTROYING THE STATE OF MAINE !!!
When your kid comes home at 2 today have them read bait for you. Then you be the judge.
“PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — As world leaders meeting in the United Nations this week discuss the future of efforts to rein in the gangs strangling Haiti, Haitians are expressing hopelessness that an international response can turn the tide of violence.
Thus far, a UN-backed force of 400 police from Kenya and about two dozen Jamaican officers have done little to quell the country’s gangs, which have terrorized the country since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. World leaders have been discussing the next steps in a convoluted efforts to restore order to the Caribbean nation, and Kenya this weekend pledged 600 more officers.”
What are you going to do Governor, the gangs are here. You can not even control the illegal weed growing.in Maine
Better let Trump take over.. Close the Borders NOW Harris.
Everything is great, I read it in the paper
THIS HERE is why people don’t trust the “ News “ Media .
They are bought and paid for by the elites , the democrats , and the Soros mouthpieces .
We don’t trust Janet Mills either .
This can’t be legal. Republicans need to stand up against this type of government abuse of power.
It is rather amazing watching how far and how fast Maine has fallen. It is only going to get worse. With Mills at the helm, we are headed for the iceburg full speed ahead.
Homeschooling is a good choice now. Taxpayers are being overtaxed and the schools are becoming a dictatorship. It’s sad that the kids are the ones who will pay the real price. It’s horrible that this happening in our state and society in general. I miss Paul LePage. He cared about Maine. Our monies should not go to political left wing influencing
From 1st and 2nd in Math and Reading in 1990, to 36th in 2020. No wonder she needs positive spin!
If the level of education in Maine was as stellar as the Dems would like you to think, then why isn’t it self promoting?
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/articles/how-states-compare?fbclid=IwY2xjawFr-bhleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHeAPKkIHcb99tzittsEad_2eVBP69NxpEUULmSSSZciOOMzjg2dP6ApiyA_aem_VArSohziAvGpEgfjQbC6Nw
US News in the article above places Maine High Schools at 51st below the District of Columbia, worst in the nation! So since MDOE has come into existence Maine has gone from one of the best to THE WORST! And all these leftists that prop up these fake educational standards are hurting the state being able to compete, and hurting the young not being able to find good jobs outside the state! Now spending taxpayers money to prop up an utter failure of a department! Time to get back to what works and that’s not MDOE!!