譯/周辰陽
非營利組織買下緬因州的22家報紙
A nonprofit that aims to maintain local ownership for newspapers will buy 22 papers in Maine, including The Portland Press Herald and The Sun Journal of Lewiston.
一家旨在維護地方報紙所有權的非營利組織將買下緬因州的22家報紙，包括《波特蘭新聞先驅報》與《路易斯頓太陽日報》。
The National Trust for Local News, a nonprofit started in 2021, will buy the papers from Masthead Maine, a private company that owns most of the independent media outlets in the state, including five of its six daily papers.
成立於2021年的非營利組織「全國地方新聞信託」將從「緬因刊頭」購買這些報紙。「緬因刊頭」是一家民營企業，擁有該州大部分獨立媒體，包含其6家日報中的5家。
The deal includes the five daily papers and 17 weekly papers, Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, CEO of the National Trust for Local News, said Tuesday.
「全國地方新聞信託」執行長伊麗莎白．韓森．夏皮羅周二表示，這個交易包含了5家日報與17家周報。
"We firmly believe in the power of independent, nonpartisan local journalism to strengthen communities and forge meaningful connections," Hansen Shapiro said. "We understand the pivotal role that Masthead Maine and its esteemed publications play in serving the communities of Maine with reliable, high-quality news."
韓森．夏皮羅說，「我們堅定相信獨立、無黨派地方新聞業的力量，能強化社群與打造有意義的聯繫。我們理解緬因刊頭與其受敬重刊物以可靠、高品質新聞，在服務緬因社群發揮關鍵作用。」
"This could be the most important moment in the history of Maine journalism," Steve Greenlee, executive editor of The Portland Press Herald and The Maine Sunday Telegram, said in an email. "Our news report has always strived to serve the public good, and now our business model will align with that mission."
《波特蘭新聞先驅報》與《緬因周日電信報》總編輯格林李在電郵中表示，「這可能是緬因新聞業歷史上最重要的時刻，我們的新聞報導始終致力為公益服務，現在我們的經營模式將和這個使命一致。」
Many local newspapers have shut down in the past 20 years, as declining print circulation and slowing advertising revenue hollowed them out. Private equity firms and hedge funds in recent years have snapped up the distressed assets, often cutting the shrinking newsrooms even further.
過去20年間，由於印刷版發行量衰退與廣告收入放緩將其挖空，許多地方報紙關門了。近年來，私募股權公司與避險基金搶購這些不良資產，常常進一步削減不斷萎縮的新聞編輯室。
A number of nonprofit news organizations have cropped up around the United States in recent years to try to address the crisis in local news and fill a void left by closed newspapers.
最近幾年，美國各地冒出一些非營利新聞組織，試圖解決地方新聞危機並填補報紙關門留下的空白。
The National Trust for Local News, based in Denver, was started with a goal of preserving local news outlets by helping them find ways to become sustainable. The organization owns 24 local newspapers in Colorado through a collaboration with The Colorado Sun. It has philanthropic funders including the Gates Family Foundation, the Google News Initiative and the Knight Foundation.
「全國地方新聞信託」總部設在丹佛，成立目的是協助地方新聞媒體設法持續發展使其得以保存。該組織透過與《科羅拉多太陽報》合作，擁有科羅拉多州24家地方報紙，其慈善資助人包括蓋茲家族基金會、谷歌新聞倡議計畫與奈特基金會。
"We see the nonprofit model as one that can better sustain journalism's dual nature as both a consumer product and a public good,"said the executive board of the News Guild of Maine, the union representing nearly 200 workers at the papers.
代表這些報紙將近200名工作人員的工會「緬因新聞同業公會」執行委員會說，「我們認為非營利模式更能夠妥善維持新聞業作為消費產品與公共產品的雙重屬性。」
