In a stunning settlement, a newspaper started in the 19th century will fold after a defamation lawsuit from the mayor of Everett, Massachusetts.
The Everett Leader Herald, whose masthead reads that it was established in 1885, is set to cease publication this week. Mayor Carlo DeMaria says the newspaper agreed to that condition, and to pay him $1.1 million, to avoid a trial next month.
DeMaria says the newspaper tried to destroy his reputation to serve its own financial interests.
“It wasn’t just dishonest, it was corrupt,” the mayor said at a news conference Monday.
He says owner Matthew Philbin and Joshua Resnek, the paper’s publisher and editor, manufactured quotes and notes to attack his reputation, claiming he was taking kickbacks.
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DeMaria said the newspaper published “article after article, accusation after accusation about me, that they knew was false.”
The Boston Globe wrote Sunday that court documents showed Resnek admitted to fabricating quotes and reporting false information, with his attorney writing that his client was motivated by a desire to “bring about Mr. DeMaria’s defeat” in the 2021 election.
The mayor’s attorney, Jeffrey Robbins, says Philbin and Resnek were out to get DeMaria because he wouldn’t help the paper’s owner with his other business interests in the city.
“What followed followed were a torrent of emails and texts, saying things like ‘We’re going to bury this guy,’ ‘We’re gonna administer a holocaust on this guy,’ ‘we’re crushing him,'” Robbins said.
DeMaria says he’s glad the ordeal is over.
NBC10 Boston has reached out to Resnek and Philbin, but has not received a response.
