The Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel newspapers have new daytime editors directing local news coverage for the region.

The trio of new editors, who are current staff members receiving promotions, have more than 50 years of combined experience at the newspapers, which are owned by the Maine Trust for Local News.

Jessica Lowell is now the city editor of both newspapers, working directly with reporters and photographers on the daily news report; Stacy Blanchet is deputy managing editor for community news, overseeing community and entertainment; and Ben Bragdon is deputy managing editor for local news, overseeing enterprise reporting projects and assisting in daily editing.

The promotions of the three experienced staff members will help tackle the staff’s daily needs and those of their Maine Trust colleagues, help accelerate the newsrooms’ digital transformation and deepen the coordination of coverage and engagement with audiences, according to Scott Monroe, managing editor of the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.

“I’m excited to have this new team of experienced editors guiding our local news coverage,” Monroe said. “Our staff is committed to community journalism that makes a difference in peoples’ lives, and I’m looking forward to the work that we’ll produce together with our talented reporters and photojournalists.”

The two daily newspapers share a website — centralmaine.com — and a single Sunday edition, Central Maine Sunday.

Among the key priorities of the news staff will be continuing to build on the success of community newsletters, such as Skowhegan Now.

Lowell, 59, is an award-winning journalist who has spent more than three decades working for newspapers and magazines in New Hampshire, New York, Wyoming and Maine. For the past eight years, she has covered local and county governments, business and breaking news for the Kennebec Journal.

Blanchet, 54, has worked for central Maine newspapers for 34 years. She began in the photography department, and moved to the news desk about a year later, designing pages for the features and news departments. In the mid-1990s, she became a newsroom artist, expanding her role by creating graphics and other design elements to assist with articles, page layout and designing special sections. A decade later, she moved to editing content for the community news sections, laying out pages and assisting in production.

Bragdon, 46, has been the editorial page editor for the Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel and Central Maine Sunday since 2013. Before that, he was managing editor for weekly newspapers at Current Publishing in Westbrook. Bragdon began his career as a reporter at the Piscataquis Observer in Dover-Foxcroft and editor at the Moosehead Messenger in Greenville. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Boston University.

 

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