Transition seems to be the constant state
of affairs here at Mainely Media, LLC, the Sentry’s parent company that
serves more than a dozen communities in York and Cumberland Counties
with six, free community newspapers. As I enter my fourth year here, I
am something of an old timer in the newsroom. The changes here have
generally followed the growth of the company, which published four
papers when I started.

    Of course, with the addition of new people to the
staff, we have seen a fair number of people leave for the normal
reasons people move away and people move on– the big cities beckon as
do public relations companies and their big paychecks. In my three
years at the company, the Sentry has had five reporters: Jim Keithley,
Erin Violette, Zach Anchors,  Amanda Estes and me. It has also had
two editors, Elizabeth Elder and myself (All our editors pull double
duty).

    The Mainely Media, LLC newsroom has always operated
each paper more or less independently. Our six papers employ five
editors. This system has worked well in keeping each paper an
independent voice that tries to reflect the community, rather than
impose a cookie-cutter packaging of stories. What it does not do well
is foster leadership, strategic leadership and accountability. When an
editor writes a story, who edits the editor? Who plays referee when an
editor makes a decision? If we are concerned only with getting the next
paper out, who’s job is it to plan for the next week, the next month or
the next year?

    Running an organization by committee as we have been
doing is a great exercise in consensus building and collaboration, but
it also has its drawbacks.

    Recently, another old-timer, Chris Flood, the editor
of the Kennebunk/ Kennebunkport Post announced his departure to pursue
a new career. The remaining four editors, with management’s permission,
decided to change our organizations structure.

    We have created five new positions and eliminated
five. Two of us have agreed to take the position of Managing Editor
(one for our three York County papers and one for our three Cumberland
County Papers. Two of us have agreed to take the position of editor in
each county “bureau.” The fifth position is an addition to our reporter
roster.

    Colleen Marshall, the soon to be former Editor of
the Sanford-Springvale Register and the Gorham Gazette will be the
Managing Editor of the Sentry, the Gazette and the Scarborough Leader.
I will be an editor for those papers as well as spend time improving
our Web sites and will largely stop regular reporting duties.

    Amanda Estes will continue as the Sentry’s reporter,
although she will no longer be splitting her time as a reporter for the
Leader, allowing her to spend all of her effort and energy covering
South Portland and Cape Elizabeth.

    We are confident this new organization will allow us
to maintain those things we do well and strengthen those areas we have
not been able to give due diligence.

    We always welcome feedback on our efforts to serve
the communities where our papers are read. We hope to hear from you
about how well we do.