The CEO of the nonprofit group that owns most of Maine’s newspapers received a massive pay increase for 2023, a boost that came even as she reduced staff at many of Maine’s once-reputable newspapers.
The pay hike was first flagged by former Press Herald reporter Ted Cohen in a post at Patch.com.
As Cohen reported, Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, CEO of the National Trust for Local News, saw her salary skyrocket 217 percent over two years, according to the organization’s latest IRS filings. Hansen earned $116,667 in 2021, $231,250 in 2022, and a whopping $370,540 in 2023.
Hansen is not only the CEO of the “National Trust,” but also its co-founder. According to her LinkedIn page, the nonprofit “conserves, transforms, and sustains community news organizations.”
The Maine Wire has previously reported on the exits of CEO Lisa DiSisto (publicized) and editor Steve Greenlee (not publicized), but according to Cohen, the flight of long-timers from the news organization that controls the Press Herald and a stable of lesser papers has been even more extensive.
From Cohen:
It’s been a rocky start for the National Trust for Local News CEO Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro as at least seven top executives have walked out of the Portland Press Herald — Maine’s largest paper — in the last year, culminating with the recent resignation of Publisher Lisa DeSisto.
…
Under Hansen’s direction, one daily and two weeklies have already been killed — and more cost-cutting is underway.
Since the National Trust for Local News has purchased most of Maine’s newspapers, the group eliminated the daily Brunswick Times Record, turning it into a twice-weekly, and killed two weeklies — the Southern Forecaster and Coastal Journal –in broad cost-cutting moves.
Job cuts and further possible elimination of print editions are now reportedly all on the table.
Stefanie Manning, managing director for the Maine Trust for Local News, a subsidiary of the National Trust, told employees at a recent company meeting that layoffs and print cuts are possible.
Shapiro’s massive pay hike is only now becoming public thanks to the publishing schedule for publicly available tax documents that nonprofits, like the Maine Trust for Local News, are required to file annually. To put that $370,540 into perspective, a quick Google search suggests the average reporter salary in Maine is around $50,000.
According to Shapiro’s LinkedIn page, she’s held a number of academic roles since 2004 but does not have previous experience working in news media.
At the same time the Press Herald collection of newspapers is struggling to stay afloat with its new, well-paid national masters, it’s also facing additional problems in Maine maintaining its appearance of credibility and independence.
In Sept., the Maine Wire broke the story that the paper had accepted a no-bid contract from Gov. Janet Mills’ Dept. of Education to run puff-piece propaganda articles.
Despite the paper’s almost religious avoidance of criticizing Democrats, the paper’s reporters still struggle to get access in Augusta.
After the 2024 election, for example, when Gov. Mills spoke at length to Politico about extremism in the Democratic Party, her communications team refused multiple interview requests from the left-wing paper.
More recently, the Press Herald has come under scrutiny, including from David Trahan of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, for lobbying on behalf of ballot referenda despite holding itself out as a non-partisan nonprofit.
Technically, the Maine Trust for Local News, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Local News, is unlimited in how it can engage in political advocacy. That’s because it’s not a 501(c)(3) but is instead a so-called low-profit limited liability company or L3C. Such organizations can accept donations from foundations but are not themselves tax-exempt.
The track record Cohen’s report illuminates is in keeping with the inauspicious beginning for the struggling media venture. The very week the National Trust for Local News acquired the papers, DeSisto told one of her reporters that the paper would soon disclose the names of the individuals who financed the purchase.
That promise was never kept.
Fortunately, the National Trust’s tax filings suggest funding has never been more abundant for the organization.
Whereas the nonprofit reported revenue of less than $4.3 million in 2022, that sum jumped to a staggering $46.1 million in 2023.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="33557 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=33557">8 Comments
The people backing the trust find the money loss a cheep way to control the minds of some Mainers—they are still voting Democratic left.
People with any sense abandoned the PPH long ago. This is just the greedy taking advantage of the liberals still stupid enough to buy into their garbage. Let them eat cake or the more modern version, “this is fine”.
Headline, “Liberal rag goes under destroying workers livelihoods and no one cares”
Did you see the “opinion” piece in Sunday’s paper? It was about how the PPH changed someone’s life.
LOL
Trying to convince people who don’t read their rag that it’s worth reading.
You all can thank Bill Nemitz for this debacle!! He drove the fund raising and now its just a money scheme for rich communists. Anyone who was dumb enough to pony up money for this is about to see a massive loss. I don’t read any of those papers anyway since they are just communist propaganda, just like the local and national news. Good riddance.
Such is the nature of communist organizations and governments that the elites prosper at the expense of the majority.
Cayuga Cat, is that as in “Far above Cayuga”s waters?”
Miss Shapiro appears to have funding from George Soros, according to Maine Public. For some reason my last post on this was killed.
“Maine Public reported that the Soros-backed National Trust now controls the largest network of newspapers in Maine. In total, the National Trust acquired five daily papers and a further 17 weekly publications.”