Local news

I've been meaning to put up a link to The Lisbon Reporter. An email from a friend requesting that I do so got it done.

At some point I want to get up a future post about sites like the new one in Lisbon, as well as the fine job informing the public in Rumford and the River Valley being done by The Rumford Reporter. My full-length book, picking up where Moxietown left off, will have an entire chapter devoted to local news. Moxie Matters: Life's Beginnings in a Small Maine Town will have material about the history of newspapers in Lisbon Falls (the late John Gould got his start as a local newspaperman). In my opinion, The Lisbon Reporter is carrying forward that spirit, and the great work done by Norm Fournier, during the glory days of the old Lisbon Post (1970s and 1980s).

In an era when daily newspapers in Maine are irrelevant, or quickly moving in that direction, keeping apprised about local politics, corruption (seemingly intertwined in too many communities), and the people that make local communities unique has fallen to dedicated people determined to maintain the spirit of community journalism.

A tip of the hat to the good folks at The Lisbon Reporter (and The Rumford Reporter). Keep on being the news. We're enjoying over here, on the other side of the river.