Blethen Maine Newspapers, the company that owns the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Central Maine Morning Sentinel newspapers, is launching a new business that will focus on weekly newspapers.

Maine Community Publications will form under the Central Maine Newspapers umbrella, which includes the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, Morning Sentinel in Waterville and Coastal Journal in Bath.

David Morse, who until Monday had been CEO and publisher of the Rockland-based Courier Publications, will serve as president of Maine Community Publications.

The Coastal Journal will be included in the new company, which Morse said will grow by starting new weeklies and acquiring existing community and niche publications.

The new company will focus on southern, central and midcoast Maine, Morse said.

Morse will report to John Christie, president of the Central Maine Newspapers group, he said.

Morse’s departure was announced to Courier Publications employees Monday afternoon. The formation of Maine Community Publications was announced at the Blethen papers on Monday.

Courier Publications publishes the thrice-weekly Courier-Gazette in Rockland, the Lincoln County Weekly, The Capital Weekly in Augusta, the Camden Herald, the Republican Journal in Belfast, the Ellsworth Weekly and the Bar Harbor Times, and operates a printing press in Rockland. The company employs more than 100.

Morse joined Courier Publications when it formed in 1991. At its peak in the late 1990s, the company included 20 newspapers in midcoast and southern Maine and in Massachusetts. In 2001 it reportedly sold for more than $13 million to Crescent Publishing Co. of Greenville, S.C.

Morse said it was difficult for him to leave Courier, but he relished the challenge of helping a new company expand.

“The Courier family has meant everything to me,” he said Monday.

“I have unparalleled pride in what Courier Publications has accomplished through the years, but it’s time for me to move on to a new challenge. The opportunities presented to me by the Blethen newspapers are exciting, and I can’t think of a better company to work for.”

Morse said the highlight of his tenure at Courier was when the company’s papers swept the general excellence category of the Maine Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest, and he let staff members shave his head as a reward.

Michael McGuire, who has served as executive editor under Morse, was named associate publisher-editor on Monday by Crescent’s principal owner, Bern Mebane.

In a prepared statement released Monday, Blethen Maine Publisher and CEO Chuck Cochrane said he was looking forward to having someone of Morse’s experience and accomplishments join the company.

Blethen Maine Newspapers is owned by the Seattle Times Co.