The push is on for money, but the claims are way off base.

When was the last time Maine Public Broadcasting covered a selectmen’s meeting in Woodstock? Or a car accident in Rangeley? Or the flooded animal shelter in Norway? Or a high school baseball game in Lewiston? Or a new hotel in Auburn?

If you can’t remember when, here’s the reason: Maine Public Broadcasting repeats news from around Maine but, 99 percent of the time, it doesn’t cover it. Which probably isn’t the impression you got from listening to the station’s latest plea for more money.

In its second campaign for money in several weeks, the station went through the usual litany of reasons that Mainers should contribute more money to keep it afloat.

But, there was a new theme last week that went like this: Newspapers are covering less community news, so you should contribute money to make sure community news in Maine gets covered by Maine Public Broadcasting.

I gagged on my tea and toast when I heard that Thursday morning. Let me level with you: If newspapers ever stop covering local news in Maine, it just won’t get covered. Period. Not by MPBN or anyone else.

There’s no denying that the economy is in rough shape. When that happens, newspapers tighten their belts, as do most businesses and families in Maine.

Tough times are not limited to newspapers. In fact, Maine Public Broadcasting went through one recently when it ran out of money before the completion of its fiscal year and was forced to go to the public hat in hand for more money.

Perhaps I should have used that as an occasion to hype newspapers: “Hey, MPBN is broke. Buy a newspaper!”

Missed opportunity, I suppose.

Newspapers and most businesses and families in Maine don’t have the option of asking for public money. When the economy tightens up, we do, too.

But, at least at this newspaper, that has not meant cutting back on community news coverage. We have the same number of news reporters on the streets covering news as we did 10 years ago.

Here is an important point to understand about the news business: There are news reporters and there are news repeaters.

Newspapers provide the feet on the street, the reporters and freelancers who attend council meetings, sit through court hearings, stand in the rain at high school track meets, and run out at night to photograph fires.

I’d estimate that more than 90 percent of the news people and news reporters in this state work for its weekly and daily newspapers.

They cover and photograph news, write it up and, often, supply it to The Associated Press. Each morning, Maine Public Broadcasting reaches for the Associated Press morning report, compiled from newspapers around the state, and repeats a few sentences of these newspaper stories.

Maine Public Broadcasting says it covers stories in depth in its numerous appeals for money. Again, I gag every time I hear that.

Its on-air anchors read the first couple of sentences of newspaper stories. If you want stories in depth, you need to refer to the original newspaper in which it appeared.

If you took all of Maine Public Broadcasting’s original reporting on any given day and turned it into text, it might fill half a page inside your daily newspaper.

So, in response to Maine Public Broadcasting, here’s my fundraising pitch: If you really want to ensure community news coverage in Maine, take your next MPBN donation and buy a newspaper subscription.

If your local newspaper stops covering your community, nobody else will.

Rex Rhodes is executive editor of the Sun Journal. His e-mail address is: [email protected].