Maine news ex-CEO’s pay hike preceded firings

The co-founder of the National Trust for Local News, the “nonprofit” owner of Maine’s largest newspaper chain, who quit on Wednesday, had been under fire for taking huge salary increases amid budget cuts.

As The Maine Wire reported a month ago, Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro has been under fire for grabbing massive pay hikes even as she was cutting the budget for the newspapers she just bought.

Shapiro conveniently ignored the issue of her controversial salary hike in her rehearsed resignation statement.

“We have built something extraordinary together, she said. “I am deeply grateful to our team.”

The trust bought the Portland Press Herald, Lewiston Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel, and a dozen other weekly newspapers from Reade Brower in 2023.

How much the trust paid remains a secret.

A group of local donors that had tried to keep the papers from being purchased was scooped by the national biggie.

Since the sale, the papers have been operated by the Maine Trust for Local News.

Shapiro’s departure came in the wake of The Maine Wire report that she took a huge salary increase after buying the Maine papers – even as she began cutting the budget and ousting freelance writers.

One of those fired columnists, Avery Yale Kamila, told The Maine Wire she fears full-time staff writers may be next on the chopping block.

Shapiro’s 2023 salary – the year she bought the newspapers – was $370,000. That’s a $139,000 increase over the previous year, according to tax filings, as first reported by The Maine Wire.

Since the trust bought the Maine papers, there has been huge turnover in leadership. Shapiro is simply the latest executive casualty.

Editor’s note: Ted Cohen is a former long-time Portland Press Herald staffer.