Inquirer & Mirror Abruptly Ends Former Publisher Marianne Stanton’s Run As Columnist

Marianne Stanton, who served as the Inquirer & Mirror’s publisher for 30 years, penned her final column for the newspaper last week after she was abruptly told by the newspaper’s new management team that she would no longer be writing its “Here And There” column moving forward.

Stanton retired from her role as editor and publisher in July 2023, but over the past year, she continued to write the “Here And There” column, which has been a staple of the newspaper for nearly two centuries. Last week, Stanton wrote that she had “received an e-mail from the new management at this newspaper telling me that this week will be the last time I will write the ‘Here and There’ column.”

Stanton was likely referring to the Inquirer and Mirror’s chairman and CEO, David Worth, who purchased the newspaper with a group of investors named 41 North Media LLC, as well as its new publisher, Robert Saurer. It’s unclear exactly who informed Stanton of the decision by email, but the move came with no immediate replacement in the wings to take over the column.

In the aftermath of Stanton’s column published last Thursday, her husband, John, who is the associate editor of the Inquirer and Mirror and has also worked there on and off for decades, sent an email out to many of Stanton’s readers informing them of the decision and asking them to “make your voices known” about it by submitting letters to the editor to Josh Balling, the newspaper’s editor.

“This was not a journalism decision. It was personal,” John Stanton said in the email, which was forwarded from a recipient to the Current. “If you have enjoyed Marianne’s writing in the past, her understanding of this island and concern for those who make it their home now would be a time to make your voices known as a Letter to the Editor.”

John Stanton concluded the email by reiterating that Balling, despite being the assistant editor of the newspaper for decades as Marianne Stanton’s right-hand man and now its editor, was not part of the decision to take the column away from her.

This goes against a statement made by Saurer in July – who was named the paper’s new publisher that month after just two years on the island – in which he said he would be working with Balling moving forward on the paper’s future.

“I will continue to work in concert with editor Josh Balling as we both chart the course of the paper and its associated products,” Saurer said in the statement appearing on ack.net. “I look forward to the continued partnership with Josh and working with the entire Inquirer and Mirror team as we strive to achieve the mission of the I&M.”

Both John Stanton and Balling respectfully declined comment on the matter.

The Current also reached out to Worth and Saurer requesting comment on the situation and what led them to the decision.

Worth responded saying it is the newspaper’s policy not to comment on matters internal to the company.

Stanton’s 30-year tenure leading the newspaper from both an editorial and business standpoint is the longest of the paper’s 11 publishers since 1865.

“I will miss connecting with my readers through Here and There and sharing my views of Nantucket with them,” Stanton told the Current Friday morning when we reached out for comment on the situation. “But they will be able to follow me on Substack beginning Nov. 1.”

Marianne Stanton is a Nantucket native who spent the entirety of her 42-year journalism career on Nantucket. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the University of Denver and received her MBA from the Simmons Graduate School of Management in the midst of her career. Her parents, Marie and Tom Giffin, owned the paper from 1970-1990 before it was sold to Ottaway Newspapers. She was named publisher in 1993.

Stanton was inducted into the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2023, according to the Inquirer & Mirror last year.

The newspaper was sold to 41 North Media LLC in November of 2020 after three decades of corporate ownership.