The Portland Phoenix, a weekly newspaper distributed for free to readers in southern Maine, is folding.
The Phoenix, a one-time spin-off from the Boston Phoenix, was revived in 2019 by Karen Wood and Marian McCue, both of whom had success running The Forecaster newspapers.
McCue says the pandemic collapsed the advertising needed to support the paper.
"When we first went out, again this was early 2019, five months before the pandemic started we started, we started strongly getting relationships with advertisers, and that all melted away...and it never came back," McCue says.
McCue says the goal of the paper was to focus on local news coverage and give local readers a source other than the daily Portland Press Herald.
"We were hoping to start a strong news alternative, based on news, not an ideological paper, that would be an alternative and provide another voice in Greater Portland to the monopoly that was Maine Today media," McCue says.
McCue says she was proud of the coverage the Phoenix gave to Portland's Charter Commission as it wrestled with the idea of creating a strong mayor position, and, this past year, as it documented the financial challenges facing Portland schools.
This week's issue of the Portland Phoenix, including an interview with the new Portland School Superintendent, will be its last.
