A vibrant and independent press is essential for self-government. But in rural and suburban America, cash-strapped local newspapers are struggling. In many communities, not a single reporter is covering town hall.

Without the watchful eye of the press, officials are free to operate without fear of public scrutiny. So, one might imagine that government officials in those towns without news coverage view the demise of local newspapers as job security.

The truth is, we miss those pesky newspaper reporters.

When the local newspaper goes out of business or a town is removed from a reporter’s beat because of newsroom layoffs, the resulting void allows for disinformation to spread throughout a community. Without the local journalism, it becomes so much harder for town officials to engage citizens and build trust in the democratic process.

I know this because the town of Gray is in a “news desert,” a place where residents have significantly diminished access to the credible local news and information that is important for a functioning democracy.

Our town government is working hard to fill the void left by the well-loved Gray News, which folded more than a decade ago. The town publishes a monthly newsletter and posts content on social media. However, the voice of this content is government-led rather than community-driven. That leaves much to be desired for residents seeking engagement and objective information.

Some enterprising folks in Gray’s neighboring community of New Gloucester launched a free, volunteer-run online news site, NGXchange. But the site relies solely on volunteer time and energy, which may be hard to sustain.

For many residents living in news deserts, the primary news source about local government is Facebook, whose algorithms reinforce the “us versus them” polarization that plagues our politics. Indeed, studies have shown that the disappearance of a local newspaper correlates with increased polarization and lower voter turnout.

Nationally, more than a fifth of all Americans now live in communities that are news deserts or at risk of becoming deserts, according to a study by Northwestern University’s Medill School.

The desert is expanding like a dust storm. Since 2005, the United States has lost more than one-fourth of its newspapers. It is on track to lose a third by 2025, according to the study.

Fortunately, people are working to save local journalism.

In 2019, the Salt Lake Tribune became the first legacy newspaper in the U.S.  to convert to nonprofit status. Newspapers in Chicago and New Jersey have also converted to the nonprofit model. Becoming nonprofit allows news outlets to raise money from foundations, individual donors and members.

In Maine, we have a more vibrant news ecosystem than in other states. Much of that is due to Reade Brower, who owns daily newspapers in Portland, Augusta, Waterville, Lewiston and Brunswick and 25 weeklies that serve communities in much of the rest of the state, from Sanford to Mount Desert Island. Even t​​he Bangor Daily News – the only daily in Maine that Brower does not own – is printed in Brower’s facility in South Portland.

While Brower has been a good steward of Maine journalism, the Brower era is nearing an end. Last month, he announced that he wants to sell his newspapers.

The stakes are high because Brower has almost the entire newspaper industry in Maine under his control. The worst-case scenario: Brower sells all his newspapers as a bundle to a hedge fund that closes some and runs the rest into the ground.

The news desert we experience here in Gray would then expand across the state.

So, it is good news that Brower has voiced interest in considering new ownership models, such as B corporation or nonprofit, rather than cashing out and selling his Maine newspapers to a hedge fund.

It’s also good news that the Maine Journalism Foundation, a new nonprofit led by former Press Herald columnist Bill Nemitz and a group of experienced news and business leaders, is working to purchase Brower’s company with the goal of sustaining quality journalism throughout Maine.

Let’s hope they succeed. And just maybe – one can always dream – these new owners could send a reporter to the Henry Pennell Municipal Complex in Gray on occasion and replace our news desert with a flourishing garden.