The longstanding Everett Leader Herald newspaper is shutting down following a major legal settlement with Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria. The mayor's legal team announced that, as part of the settlement, the publication will cease operations within a week and pay $1.1 million to Mayor DeMaria. This decision comes ahead of a trial that was set to start in January 2025 in Middlesex Superior Court.
The defamation lawsuit, lodged by DeMaria three years back in 2021, accused the weekly paper's owner, Matthew Philbin, and its publisher and editor, Joshua Resnek, of engaging in a long-standing conspiracy to damage his reputation. The Boston Globe reported that the suit claimed the defendants carried out "an extraordinarily blatant conspiracy" to publish knowingly false articles portraying DeMaria in connection with corruption, ostensibly to protect their own business interests and influence political outcomes in Everett.
According to court documents cited by MassLive, the plaintiff's legal team presented evidence of email communication between Philbin and Resnek demonstrating their intent to "fabricate articles accusing the mayor of crimes that the defendants knew were fabricated." The mayor's attorney, Jeff Robbins, was quoted saying, "The evidence in this case, which was extraordinary itself, reflected a three-year-long purposeful, intentional campaign."
The closure of the Leader Herald not only marks an end to a century-old journalistic enterprise but also addresses claims of serious emotional and reputational damage that DeMaria alleged to have suffered due to these articles. As Robbins stated, the mayor's father even confronted him with the horrid words, "If what I’m reading is true, you’re not my son," as detailed by Boston Globe. These emotional impacts were compounded with medical issues such as chest pains and depression, further asserting the stain on DeMaria's reputation.
In an environment where the trust in media hangs by a delicate thread, this settlement draws attention to the responsibilities of the press and the harms they can inflict. Central to Robbins' comments was the notion that while the press serves to protect against abusive governance, it can also wield its power detrimentally. "This is the kind of set of facts which really does damage to journalists who work their tails off to do the right thing," Robbins told the MassLive. A news conference is to be held by the mayor's office to discuss the settlement's details further and perhaps reflect on its implications for local journalism.
