Pros
One of the best places in Maine to start your journalism career. Friendly work environment and great opportunity to learn about beat reporting and a multitude of subjects — you're mostly deciding your own coverage every week. The company will also cover some, if not all, costs for various professional development opportunities. What's also great: Your stories will likely run in two of the state's largest newspapers: the Lewiston Sun Journal, which owns The Forecaster, and the Bangor Daily News, which has a content sharing partnership with The Forecaster. That also lends to meeting other journalists at other publications and and plenty of opportunities to move up the food chain.
Cons
Pay is low, but not as low as other community newspapers in Maine. The editor can be fairly hands off, which can be great at times because of the autonomy, but other times you might be wondering, "am I doing a good job or what?" All that really does, though, is force you to be more proactive with the editor. It also seems difficult to find the time for more long-term, investigative projects because of the need to fill up a newspaper every week. Lastly, it can get a little tiring when you're covering 3-4 night meetings a week. Hours are flexible, but it can still mess with your internal clock.