The National Trust for Local News (NTLN), a nonprofit that aims to provide long-term sustainability for local news sources, has entered into an agreement to purchase the assets of Masthead Maine, the state’s largest network of independent news and media outlets, the Portland Press Herald reports.

Assets include five of the state’s six daily papers, including the Press Herald, the Sun Journal in Lewiston, the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, and the Times Record in Brunswick, as well as 17 weekly papers in southern and western Maine, including the Forecaster group. According to the Press Herald, a closing date is set for late July, and neither the owner of Masthead Maine, Reade Brower, nor NTLN co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro would disclose the sale price.

Shapiro told the Press Herald that the papers will continue to be managed by Masthead Maine CEO Lisa DeSisto and her staff. In addition, NTLN will recognize the four labor unions representing Masthead employees and honor their contracts. The trust also owns a chain of 24 community newspapers in suburban Denver, which are part of the Colorado News Conservancy.

“This is the most independent route I think I could have taken that maintains both the independence of the press and continuity for staff and readers,” Brower told the Press Herald. “I believe they want to continue to run this as a sustainable business, which I like, and I don’t believe they will try and drain resources, which I like.”

“Our overall framework and set of values is that local news is really critical to communities being able to hang together and function well,” said Shapiro. “We have an overall set of principles and strategies for sustainability and for enhancing the quality of local service, but all the details of what that means for the papers is really something we’re going to be working closely with Lisa on and working with community members on.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Sara Winter)