Welcome to the Robinson Report

A New Chapter for the Maine Wire

Greetings, readers. Steve Robinson here, Editor-in-Chief of TheMaineWire.com.

I’m thrilled to introduce The Robinson Report, a new project of the Maine Wire built on Substack that will expand on the mission of the Maine Wire, delivering unfiltered journalism, entertaining and informative political commentary, and incisive investigative reporting to Mainers and beyond. This is a natural extension of our work to uncover truth, hold power to account, and use the tools of adversarial journalism as an antidote to Maine’s social, cultural, and political malaise. I’m excited to share what we have in store.

The Maine Wire’s journey has been one of steady growth and impact. Although the Maine Wire has been a part of the Maine Policy Institute since 2011, we fundamentally changed the character and purpose of the organization when I took over as Editor-in-Chief in Nov. 2022. We began with just one part-time employee—myself—working to shine a light on stories the legacy media ignored. That includes stories about radical progressive ideology infiltrating our public institutions, pernicious ideas about transgenderism harming Maine children, and a culture in Augusta that assumed widespread corruption was just business as usual.

Today, we’re a team of nine full-time employees, dedicated to digging deeper and reporting with clarity. Thanks in large part to our Director of Digital Media, Graham, our social media presence has grown from a few thousand followers across X, Instagram, and Facebook to over 110,000, allowing us to reach more than 25 million readers and viewers each month. This growth reflects a clear demand for news that cuts through the noise, questions the power structure, and challenges the status quo. Where most news outlets in Maine see themselves as referees in a cage fight between two political parties, the Maine Wire sees itself as watchdogs for the voters and taxpayers of Maine, regardless of partisan persuasion.

Our guiding principle is that all good journalism challenges the power structure, and our track record speaks for itself. When the Department of Administrative and Financial Services claims all their no-bid contracts are perfectly legit, we don’t take them at their word. When the Office of Cannabis Policy says there’s no organized crime problem in Maine, we don’t just assume that’s true. And we certainly don’t think something is true — or particularly newsworthy — just because someone with a fancy title puts out a press release.

In just two-and-a-half years, the Maine Wire exposed corruption within state government, revealed the troubling ties between government-funded NGOs and left-wing politicians, highlighted radical progressive ideologies infiltrating our schools and public institutions, and pulled the curtain back on a sprawling web of transnational criminal organizations. The Maine Wire has consistently delivered news that matters—stories that resonate with Mainers and address their concerns.

Now, we’re launching The Robinson Report on Substack. I’m sure most people are thinking, “Great, another Substack…” So we owe an explanation for why we’re adding The Robinson Report to the Maine Wire ecosystem and using Substack to do so. Here are the three basic reasons

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First, Substack offers robust censorship resistance. We’ve faced suppression on major social media platforms for investigating controversial topics and engaging with polarizing figures, especially in and around elections. Substack ensures we can report, analyze, and discuss consequential topics and taboo topics without fear of being throttled or banned, preserving our ability to connect with our audience.

Second, Substack supports seamless multimedia distribution. This allows us to produce podcasts, video content, and documentaries, starting with our feature-length film, Triad Weed: How Chinese Mafia Infiltrated Maine. These formats will bring our stories to life in new, engaging ways. Substack also makes it far easier for me to connect directly with readers through regular newsletters, which will be a cornerstone of the Robinson Report.

Third, Substack provides a way for supporters to sustain our work through paid subscriptions. Operating the Maine Wire requires significant resources. While we’ve grown with the support of generous philanthropists who share our desire to improve journalism in Maine, diversifying our revenue through subscriptions strengthens our independence and ensures we can continue—and expand—our mission. We hope to offer reasonably priced subscriptions and over-deliver every week.

Let me be clear: TheMaineWire.com will never hide behind a paywall, and most content on The Robinson Report will remain free. We don’t believe you should have to pay to learn about your state government, local schools, or elections. Instead, we hope readers will subscribe to support our relentless pursuit of truth and our adversarial approach to journalism. We hope our readers will stand with us in what is truly a fight for the future of this state.

We see journalism not as some mystical priestly rite that only a select few credentialed experts can perform but as a trade—a tool to question authority, challenge power, gather information, and bring transparency to the dark corners of politics and society. Unlike outlets like the Maine Trust for Local News, the Bangor Daily News, and Maine Public, which often function like the government’s defense attorneys (and also receive money from that same government), the Maine Wire and The Robinson Report will never accept government funding and will always remain committed to questioning government-sponsored narratives, regardless of whichever party controls Augusta. Our aim will always be to deliver credible, valuable insights into political and cultural life, from Augusta to Allagash, and from Portland to Washington, D.C.

We’ll experiment to deliver what our supporters value most. To start, expect a regular serving as an intelligence briefing on the most critical issues in Maine, New England, and beyond. We’ll also offer regular video content, including The Robinson Report show, hosted by me, featuring long-form analysis in video and podcast form. You’ve seen our new studio and recent videos—this is where we’ll dive deep. The show will include interviews with fascinating people, mostly from Maine, though we’ll occasionally venture further. Politicians? We’ll keep those to a minimum—they tend to bore, but those conversations are an occupational hazard.

Robinson Report subscribers who opt to support us financially will receive exclusive benefits, like full access to all future video content, including our show episodes, interviews, and documentaries. Paid subscribers will also have access to the VIP chat feature so you can bring your complaints right to me or offer potential topics for future shows or investigations. In the future, we also plan to offer merchandise, host live events, and generally build a community and a media enterprise united around the idea that the Mainer way of life can once again be, truly, the way life should be.

I owe a debt of gratitude to the hardworking team at the Maine Wire, the folks at the Maine Policy Institute, the generous donors and investors who’ve helped us come this far. But most of all, I owe a special thank you to the tens of thousands of readers, listeners, followers, and viewers who’ve shared with me their time, attention, story tips, wisdom, and encouragement. I hope you’ll follow me into this next chapter, subscribe and support our future plans, and share in this common purpose.

— Steve Robinson