鈥楩resh brewed news鈥�: Community caf茅 offers locals a chance to sip with reporters
| Camden, Maine
It鈥檚 a sunny morning in downtown Camden, Maine.
Inside the , the scent of freshly brewed coffee lingers, and chatter is sporadically interrupted by chirps from a caf茅goer鈥檚 walkie-talkie. Three women settle into a window-side table. They鈥檝e known each other since high school, and they regularly meet to discuss politics.
It鈥檚 an apt place to do so. Print copies of the 鈥� an online daily and weekly print newspaper covering midcoast Maine 鈥� are displayed near the cash register. Merchandise bearing the paper鈥檚 mascot lines nearby shelves. Just upstairs, a small, bustling newsroom is rushing to meet the weekly print deadline.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onIt鈥檚 no surprise that news outlets are struggling for both dollars and trust. In Camden, Maine, a local newspaper opened a caf茅 to welcome in the community.
The Villager Cafe, which opened in April, isn鈥檛 just a caf茅. It鈥檚 a newsstand and events space for the Midcoast Villager. The newspaper wants the caf茅 to be a 鈥渢hird space for community engagement,鈥� in the words of deputy editor Alex Seitz-Wald.
Today, both cratering trust in the media and declining readership have led some to wonder whether the United States is in a 鈥�post-news era.鈥� Last year, 130 newspapers shut down at a rate of almost 2 1/2 per week, according to from Northwestern University鈥檚 Local News Initiative. As of last October, 206 counties across the U.S. don鈥檛 have a local news outlet at all.
Local media outlets, facing steep financial losses, are finding new ways to reengage with their audiences. Some, such as , an NPR affiliate in Boston, have opted for performance and event spaces; others, such as , host festivals.
The loss of local newspapers is 鈥渞eally damaging to civic life and civil discourse, and the ability of average people to be informed about their community,鈥� says Meg Heckman, an associate professor of journalism at Northeastern University in Boston.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot harder to know what鈥檚 going on in town hall, [or] what changes to federal environmental policy might mean to rural farmers or fisheries or tourism,鈥� she adds.
鈥淵ou either grow or die鈥�
Reade Brower has long been regarded as Maine鈥檚 鈥�.鈥� In 2019, he owned six of Maine鈥檚 seven daily newspapers, more than 20 weekly publications, and three printing presses. In 2023, he sold the vast majority to the National Trust for Local News, a nonprofit. Four of the papers he held onto 鈥� the Camden Herald, the Republican Journal, The Courier-Gazette, and The Free Press, as well as an online news platform known as Village Soup 鈥� became the Midcoast Villager. It published its first issue in late 2024.
Locals were unsurprised that the newspapers were struggling 鈥� and there was little pushback to consolidating the publications into one newspaper.
鈥淣ow, it鈥檚 so common to understand that media is not working as a business,鈥� says Kathleen Fleury Capetta, co-founder of the Midcoast Villager. 鈥淭he foundation was set for us.鈥�
With the advent of online platforms like Google, Facebook, and Craigslist, advertising revenue that long funded news publications has all but disappeared. U.S. newspapers in advertising revenue in 2006; that number dropped to less than $10 billion in 2022.
Around 85% of U.S. adults believe that local news outlets 鈥渁re at least somewhat important to the well-being of their local community,鈥� according to a . But only 15% say they鈥檝e paid or given money to any local news source in the past year, which has largely remained unchanged since 2018.
People have been curious to check out the caf茅, says Aaron Britt, co-publisher, peppering him with questions like: 鈥溾�業s it open? Can I come in? What鈥檚 going on? I want to see it,鈥欌�� says Mr. Britt. 鈥淎nd I鈥檝e just heard like nothing but great things. People like the food, people run into everybody that they know.鈥�
The idea, he adds, is 鈥淐ommunity members can feel like, 鈥極h, this is my spot.鈥欌��
Mr. Brower had long dreamed of putting caf茅s into every community in which he owned a paper. Ms. Capetta had previously been asked to plan and open a news caf茅 in the Cayman Islands 鈥� though the concept fell apart due to the pandemic. Together, they came up with the Villager Cafe.
鈥淚 believe very strongly in the statement that you either grow or die,鈥� says Mr. Brower.
Shifting perspectives
Alongside the decline of local newspapers, the media industry is facing a lack of trust.
For the past three years, 鈥渕ore U.S. adults have no trust at all in the media (36%) than trust it a great deal or fair amount,鈥� according to a . However, Americans have a of their local news according to 2024 polling by Pew, with 78% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans stating that local news media report news accurately.
鈥淚 think a lot of where we are today is due to the perception that there are editors and writers away in this tower who are covering issues, but they鈥檙e not fully connected with readers,鈥� Ms. Capetta says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to shift that perspective.鈥�
Each Friday, a rotating Midcoast Villager editor hosts where members of the public can discuss local issues and gain insight into how the week鈥檚 stories came to be.
There鈥檚 a Silent Reading Club, where people can commune with fellow readers for an hour of silent reading, bookended by a few minutes of conversation. In the future, Mr. Seitz-Wald hopes to hold debates on local issues.
鈥淭he caf茅鈥檚 goal at the very start has been, 鈥楬ow do we connect our community and create a respectful place of dialogue?鈥欌�� says Mr. Brower. 鈥淲e believe we鈥檙e achieving that.鈥�
Though the caf茅 model may be a step in the right direction toward fostering trust, Professor Heckman cautions against this model as a 鈥渟ilver bullet鈥� for the struggling news industry.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think brewing coffee every morning is necessarily going to solve all of the audience trust issues out there,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 do think for a local audience, the ability to attach a physical location and names to faces, to personalities, to people who are in their community, they shift the dynamic a little bit.鈥�
Staffers at the Midcoast Villager have already fielded calls from other media organizations interested in the approach.
鈥淎nybody is welcome to call us up and steal our idea if they like it,鈥� Mr. Brower says.
