Civic Documenters: Empowering Communities to Strengthen Local News Coverage

Laconia, NH -- The decline in local news coverage has been a cause for concern across the country, with significant consequences for communities. According to a report by the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), fewer newspaper newsroom employees since 2004 has contributed to this alarming trend, resulting in a lack of crucial information for citizens, and a decrease in voter turnout and government accountability.

In response to this pressing issue, the Granite State News Collaborative, Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, and the New England First Amendment Coalition are expanding Civic Documenters (CivDoc), a project aimed at addressing the challenges facing local newsrooms and increasing civic engagement in communities. The project is inspired by the success of the City Bureau’s Documenters program, and the work of  Richard Watts at the University of Vermont. CivDoc empowers community members by training them to document government and school meetings and assist local journalists in their reporting efforts.

Through a comprehensive five-week training program, CivDoc aims to demystify local government, educate about open meeting and public record laws, and equip a select group of New Hampshire residents with the skills necessary to effectively document local government proceedings. Following the training, Civic Documenters will collaborate with newsrooms on an ongoing basis to gather essential information for local news stories. Participants will be paid stipends for each meeting covered. 

CivDoc began last year for those in the Monadnock region with The Keene Sentinel and the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript as partner newsrooms. The next cohort will be exclusive to residents in and around  Laconia, Franklin, Tilton, Bristol and Gilford. This program will be offered in partnership with editors from The Laconia Daily Sun.

“We know that communities that have strong local news resources and are civically engaged are better able to effect the changes they want to see in their communities,” said Melanie Plenda, executive director of the Granite State News Collaborative. “As leaders in our communities it’s our responsibility to do whatever we can to help strengthen and support local news and the community connections local news fosters.”

"Lack of local information hinders communities," said Laura Simoes, executive director of the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications. "CivDoc fills an information gap while boosting collaboration and helping residents to take a more active role in their communities. By partnering with local news outlets, Participants grow their own civic engagement and strengthen journalism's role in our democracy."

“This is a special opportunity to not only help New Hampshire residents become more civic-minded, but to also support newsrooms. We hope CivDoc will continue to be a model for other towns in New England and will give local journalism a much-needed assist,” explained Justin Silverman, executive director of New England First Amendment Coalition.

Individuals interested in becoming a Civic Documenter are invited to participate in the program, beginning March 11. Participants will need to complete a series of workshops and assignments during the five-week training period.  These lessons will be attended remotely, except for the last workshop which will be in person.

Upon completion of the training, Civic Documenters will engage in regular meetings with local news editors to receive assignments and contribute to local news stories. 

To apply for the Civic Documenters program, please review the tentative training schedule to ensure your availability. This schedule, the  application and additional information about the program can be found at nefac.org/civdoc. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2024. Questions can be sent to Melanie Plenda at melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org.

About the Granite State News Collaborative

The Granite State News Collaborative is a collective of more than 20 local media, education and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on the issues that most impact our state. The hope is that together we can provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than we could individually. Learn more at Collaborativenh.org.

About Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications

The Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and defending the First Amendment, and fostering excellence and integrity in journalism and communication. The School provides classes, workshops, and resources to empower individuals with the skills and knowledge necessary to become more effective communicators and more engaged community members. Learn more at  loebschool.org.

About the New England First Amendment Coalition 

The New England First Amendment Coalition is the region’s leading advocate for the First Amendment and the public’s right to know about government. NEFAC provides many public services and training programs that help strengthen communities and newsrooms throughout the region. Learn more at nefac.org.

Melanie Plenda, GSNC                                  melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org

Los aliados del Granite State News Collaborative y NH Informado publican artículos bilingües sobre las elecciones antes de las primarias presidenciales

Los aliados del Granite State News Collaborative publicaran una serie de artículos bilingues y videos que buscan explicar y desmitificar el proceso electoral en vísperas de las elecciones 2024, empezando con la primaria presidencial. Este serie quiere empoderar a las comunidades ofreciendo un entendimiento claro del sistema electoral, y fomentar ciudadanos informados y comprometidos. 

En colaboración con New Hampshire Public Radio y New Hampshire Public Broadcasting, la serie What to Expect When You’re Electing o Ya Es Tiempo cubrirá un rango de temas, incluyendo el cronograma electoral, el rol de las primarias y el marco electoral más amplio. El objetivo es brindarle a los votantes el conocimiento que necesitan para tomar decisiones informadas y activamente participar en el proceso demócrata.

NHPBS también producirá una serie de videos para redes sociales en inglés y en español para extender el alcance de los artículos. Estos serán publicados desde la primera semana de enero 2024 hasta la semana de la primaria. El cronograma de publicación para la serie electoral está estratégicamente diseñado para coincidir con hitos claves en el calendario electoral, para así asegurar información relevante y oportuna para votantes. Después de las primarias, los artículos serán publicados a lo largo del año, antes de las elecciones de septiembre y diciembre.

La iniciativa es el resultado de la relación y trabajo realizado por NH Informado, un grupo de periodistas que colaboran entre sí junto a miembros de la comunidad Latina del estado. El grupo busca mejorar el acceso a noticias, historias y recursos en español.

Los socios del Collaborative, NHPR y NHPBS invitan a los medios de comunicación, organizaciones comunitarias y al público, a involucrarse en la causa y compartir los recursos como parte de un esfuerzo colaborativo de mejorar la alfabetización cívica.

Sobre NH Informado:

Los socios de NH Informado están alineados para cumplir un solo objetivo: ampliar la disponibilidad de noticias en español, cultivar conexión y entendimiento entre los Latinos y la comunidad en general, y elevar las voces de la comunidad Latina de New Hampshire.

Otras metas incluyen ser un servicio dedicado de noticias y medios, crear en conjunto contenido culturalmente adaptado e integral, y aumentar la conciencia y la comprensión entre la comunidad en general. Con el compromiso de abordar el posicionamiento latino en los principales medios de comunicación, nuestro objetivo es mejorar la capacidad de más periodistas latinos que informan en español en New Hampshire.

Nuestra audiencia principal son hispanohablantes en la comunidad Latina, pero nuestra contenido bilingüe también se extiende hacia Latinos que hablan inglés y la comunidad general de New Hampshire. 

NH Informado es una colaboración que surgió en abril 2020 cuando un grupo dedicado de miembros de la comunidad latina y profesionales de medios se juntaron para apoyar la iniciativa en español de NHPR: ¿Qué Hay de Nuevo, NH? (What's new, New Hampshire?). Lo que empezó como discusiones se convirtió en una alianza dinámica motivada por un compromiso compartido de servir a la comunidad Latina hispanohablante de New Hampshire, el grupo étnico/culltural más grande del estado.

Sobre The Collaborative:

The Granite State News Collaborative es un colectivo de más de 20 organizaciones locales de noticias, organizaciones comunitarias y educacionales que han acordado trabajar juntos para llevar más noticias a las personas que la necesitan.

Nuestros socios locales incluyen: 603 Diversity, The Berlin Sun, Business NH Magazine, The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough, Citizens Count, The Clock (El diario estudiantil de Plymouth State University), The Concord Monitor, The Conway Daily Sun, The Eagle Times,The Eagle-Tribune, The Equinox (El diario estudiantil de Keene State College), The Keene Sentinel, The Laconia Daily Sun, Manchester Ink Link, The Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University, The New Englander (El diario estudiantil de New England College);The Nashua Telegraph, The New Hampshire (El diario estudiantil de University of New Hampshire),NH Bar News, NH Business Review, New Hampshire Press Association, New Hampshire PBS, NH Public Radio, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, The Pierce Arrow (El diario estudiantil de Franklin Pierce University), Seacoast Media Group, The Valley News. 

Sobre NHPR: En mayo 2020, NHPR lanzó ¿Qué Hay de Nuevo, New Hampshire?, un servicio de noticias en español enfocado en historias que las personas pueden utilizar al igual que reportajes sobre y para la comunidad Latina del estado.

Sobre NHPBS, The State We Are In: Esta serie busca revivir el reportaje a profundidad y discurso civil que alguna vez fueron el sello distintivo de los programas de debate y asuntos públicos en el estado.

Granite State News Collaborative Partners and NH Informado launch bilingual election explainers ahead of the presidential primary

The Granite State News Collaborative partners are set to publish a series of bilingual explainer stories and videos aimed at demystifying the electoral process ahead of the 2024 elections, starting with the presidential primary. The series seeks to empower communities by offering a clear understanding of the electoral system, fostering informed and engaged citizens. 

In collaboration with New Hampshire Public Radio and New Hampshire Public Broadcasting, the series What to Expect When You’re Electing or  Ya Es Tiempo will cover a range of topics, including the electoral timeline, the role of primaries  and the broader electoral framework. The goal is to equip voters with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions and actively participate in the democratic process.

NHPBS will also produce a series of social videos in English and Spanish to extend the stories’ reach. Stories will be published the first week of January 2024 and run through the week of the primary. The release schedule for the election explainer series is strategically designed to coincide with key milestones in the electoral calendar, ensuring timely and relevant information for voters. After the primary, election explainers will be published throughout the year ahead of the September and November elections. 

This initiative is a result of the relationship and work done by NH Informado, a group of  Ccollaborative journalists and members from the state’s Latino community. The group aims to improve access to news, stories and resources in Spanish. 

The Collaborative partners, NHPR, and NHPBS invite media outlets, community organizations, and the public to engage with and share these resources as part of a collective effort to enhance civic literacy.

About NHInformado:

NH Informado partners are aligned with our purpose: to increase the availability of news in Spanish, foster connection and understanding between Latinos and the broader community, and elevate the voices of New Hampshire's Latino community.

Our goals include serving as a dedicated news/media service, co-creating comprehensive and culturally tailored content, and increasing awareness and understanding among the broader community. With a commitment to addressing Latino othering in mainstream media, our goal is to enhance the capacity of more Latino journalists reporting in Spanish in New Hampshire.

Our primary audience is Spanish speakers in the Latino community, but our bilingual content also extends its reach to English-speaking Latinos and the broader New Hampshire community.

NH Informado is a collaboration that emerged in April 2020 when a dedicated group of Latino community members and media professionals came together to support NHPR's Spanish-language news initiative, ¿Qué Hay de Nuevo, NH? (What's new, New Hampshire?). What began as discussions evolved into a dynamic partnership driven by a shared commitment to serving New Hampshire's Spanish-speaking Latino community, the state's largest ethnic/cultural group.

About The Collaborative:

The Granite State News Collaborative is a collective of more than 20 local news, community and educational organizations that have agreed to work together to get more news to more people who need it. 

Our local news partners include: 603 Diversity, The Berlin Sun, Business NH Magazine, The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough, Citizens Count, The Clock (Plymouth State University student newspaper), The Concord Monitor, The Conway Daily Sun, The Eagle Times,The Eagle-Tribune, The Equinox (Keene State College student newspaper), The Keene Sentinel, The Laconia Daily Sun, Manchester Ink Link, The Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University, The New Englander (New England College student newspaper);The Nashua Telegraph, The New Hampshire (University of New Hampshire student newspaper),NH Bar News, NH Business Review, New Hampshire Press Association, New Hampshire PBS, NH Public Radio, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, The Pierce Arrow (Franklin Pierce University student newspaper), Seacoast Media Group, The Valley News. 

About NHPR: In May 2020, NHPR launched ¿Qué Hay de Nuevo, New Hampshire?, a news service in Spanish focused on news people can use as well as stories about and for the Latino community in the state. 

About NHPBS: https://nhpbs.org/statewerein/ :This series seeks to revive the in-depth reporting and civil discourse that once was the hallmark of public affairs and discussion shows in the state.

Local Media Partners Launch In-Depth Presidential Candidate Forums for New Hampshire Voters

The Granite State News Collaborative partners will hold a series of forums with presidential primary candidates to explore in-depth the issues that impact New Hampshire voters.

Each forum will be co-hosted by a rotating pair of journalists from newsrooms across New Hampshire including the Concord Monitor, Keene Sentinel, New Hampshire Public Radio, New Hampshire Business Review, New Hampshire Bulletin, NHPBS, Citizens Count and other news outlets. 

Forums will be open to the public and broadcast on NHPR. News articles covering the forum will be available through Granite State News Collaborative partner outlets.

Conversations with the candidates will likely touch on the economy, health care, education, climate change, immigration and foreign policy. New Hampshire voters are also encouraged to submit their questions for the candidates in advance. The Granite State News Collaborative is collecting questions here.

“This is truly a team effort,” said Melanie Plenda, Executive Director of The Granite State News Collaborative. “I don’t think something like this has been tried on this scale before in New Hampshire. I think it shows our collective commitment and willingness to try something new if it means being able to get vital information out to our communities.”

Collaborative partners participating in this effort include: Berlin Sun, Business NH Magazine, Concord Monitor, Conway Daily Sun, Keene Sentinel, Laconia Daily Sun, Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Manchester Ink Link, the Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication, Nashua Telegraph, NH Business Review, NHPBS, NH Public Radio, and  Seacoast Media (Fosters; Portsmouth Herald). Community partners include: Citizens Count and NH Bulletin.

FORUM REGISTRATION:

GENERAL PUBLIC: All forums are free, but registration is required and seating is limited. A specific registration link will be available before each forum.

MEDIA: All forums are open to the media. A media room will be available onsite at NHPR with a livestream of the broadcast. 

About the Granite State News Collaborative

The Granite State News Collaborative is a nonprofit collective of more than 20 local media, education and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on the issues that most impact our state. 

The hope is that together we can provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than we could individually. To learn more, visit collaborativenh.org.

About Citizens Count

Citizens Count is a nonprofit that provides the people of New Hampshire with the tools and information they need to make a difference. We make it easy to learn what's happening with key issues, from gun rights and drug policy to health care and renewable energy. We research and profile every candidate for state or federal office in the Granite State.  We build connections between people and their elected officials, helping them share their story and make an impact. We do it all without any bias or agenda, because we believe that democracy works best when we all have a seat at the table.   

About the New Hampshire Bulletin

The New Hampshire Bulletin is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping the people of the Granite State informed about state government, policy, and politics. This public service is free to readers, and other news outlets are free to republish our stories. Launched in April 2021, the Bulletin is an affiliate of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers.

Introducing Civic Documenters: Empowering Communities to Strengthen Local News Coverage

The decline in local news coverage has been a cause for concern across the country, with significant consequences for communities. According to a report by the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), fewer newspaper newsroom employees since 2004 has contributed to this alarming trend, resulting in a lack of crucial information for citizens, and a decrease in voter turnout and government accountability.

 In response to this pressing issue, the Granite State News Collaborative, Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, and the New England First Amendment Coalition announce the launch of Civic Documenters (CivDoc), a pilot project aimed at addressing the challenges facing local newsrooms. The project is inspired by the success of the City Bureau’s Documenters program, and the work of  Richard Watts at the University of Vermont. CivDoc will empower community members by training them to document government meetings and assist local journalists in their reporting efforts.

 Through a comprehensive five-week training program, CivDoc aims to demystify local government, educate about open meeting and public record laws, and equip a select group of New Hampshire residents with the skills necessary to effectively document local government proceedings. Following the training, Civic Documenters will collaborate with newsrooms on an ongoing basis to gather essential information for local news stories. Participants will be paid stipends for each meeting covered. The pilot program will initially be exclusive to residents of the Monadnock Region and will be undertaken in partnership with editors from The Keene Sentinel and the Monadnock Ledger- Transcript.

“We know that communities that have strong local news resources and are civically engaged are better able to effect the changes they want to see in their communities,” said Melanie Plenda, executive director of the Granite State News Collaborative. “As leaders in our communities it’s our responsibility to do whatever we can to help strengthen and support local news and the community connections local news fosters.”

"Lack of local information hinders communities," said Laura Simoes, executive director of the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications. "CivDoc fills an information gap while boosting collaboration and helping residents to take a more active role in their communities. By partnering with local news outlets, Participants grow their own civic engagement and strengthen journalism's role in our democracy."

“This is a special opportunity to not only help New Hampshire residents become more civic-minded, but to also support newsrooms in the Monadnock region. We hope CivDoc will be a model for other towns in New England and will give local journalism a much-needed assist,” explained Justin Silverman, executive director of New England First Amendment Coalition.

Individuals interested in becoming a Civic Documenter are invited to participate in the pilot program, commencing in September 2023. Participants will need to complete a series of classes, workshops, and assignments during the five-week training period. Upon completion of the training, Civic Documenters will engage in regular meetings with local news editors to receive assignments and contribute to local news stories. The program will be expanding to other regions across the state in the coming months. 

To apply for the Civic Documenters program, please review the tentative training schedule to ensure your availability. The application and additional information can be found at nefac.org/civdoc/. The deadline to apply is August 15.

Questions can be sent to Melanie Plenda at melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org.

About the Granite State News Collaborative

The Granite State News Collaborative is a collective of more than 20 local media, education and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on the issues that most impact our state. The hope is that together we can provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than we could individually. Learn more at Collaborativenh.org.

About Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications

The Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and defending the First Amendment, and fostering excellence and integrity in journalism and communication. The School provides classes, workshops, and resources to empower individuals with the skills and knowledge necessary to become more effective communicators and more engaged community members. Learn more at  loebschool.org.

About the New England First Amendment Coalition 

The New England First Amendment Coalition is the region’s leading advocate for the First Amendment and the public’s right to know about government. NEFAC provides many public services and training programs that help strengthen communities and newsrooms throughout the region. Learn more at nefac.org.

New Podcast Highlights Journalism in the Granite State

What's it like to cover the news in New Hampshire, and who are the people doing it? 

The Granite Beat, a new podcast launched by The Laconia Daily Sun with the Granite State News Collaborative, seeks to answer these questions, and is available via all of the usual streaming services.

Each week, co-hosts Adam Drapcho and Julie Hart will interview one of the many people who dedicate themselves to providing news coverage of this small but interesting state. Courts and cops reporters, columnists, health journalists, politico watchers– each one with a different view of New Hampshire, their own Granite Beat.

 "The podcast, we hope, will appeal to both journalists and those consuming news, helping them understand the process that goes into bringing a story from idea to publication. I've learned a lot so far, and I think listeners will, too," said Hart, who is the digital editor for The Laconia Daily Sun.

The podcast will highlight journalists throughout the Granite State. "We plan to highlight some of the stories, and storytellers, that sometimes don't get noticed outside of their own local market. We also ask these journalists not just what they learned, but how they learned it. It's our hope that this will enhance the value that New Hampshire residents have in their local journalists," says  Drapcho, freelance writer.

Drapcho and Hart were inspired by journalism podcasts that "...pulled back the curtain on how some of the biggest headlines were generated,” says Drapcho, "It's my hope that The Granite Beat will elevate some of those stories out of their regional markets so that they'll get more readers or listeners than they would otherwise, and to improve the trust that the state's news consumers have with their local journalists.”.

Listen to the Granite Beat Podcast here.

The Granite State News Collaborative is a collective of more than 20 local media, education and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on the issues that most impact our state. The hope is that together we can provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than we could individually.

GSNC partners include: 603 Diversity; The Berlin Daily Sun, Business NH Magazine, The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough, The Concord Monitor, The Conway Daily Sun, The Eagle Times, The Eagle-Tribune, The Keene Sentinel, The Laconia Daily Sun, Manchester Ink Link, The Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University, The Nashua Telegraph, NH Bar News, NH Business Review, New Hampshire Press Association, New Hampshire PBS, NH Public Radio, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Seacoast Media Group and The Valley News.

Granite State News Collaborative Receives $15,000 Grant from Endowment for Health to Support Race and Equity Initiative

GSNC is a collective of more than 20 local media, education, and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on the issues that most impact the state. The Collaborative partners aim to provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than they could individually.

In 2020, The Collaborative and its partners launched a multiyear Race and Equity Initiative that aims to: highlight the stories of people of color in New Hampshire, partner with them to amplify their voices, investigate the policies and systems in place that have had disproportionately negative impacts on these members of our New Hampshire community and surface potential solutions. This examination also includes analyzing the impact of these systems on other historically marginalized communities including those living in poverty and rural communities.

Focus areas of the initiative include access to civic engagement, affordable housing, economic opportunity, education, environmental justice, health, policing/criminal justice and arts and culture.

"We know that access to trusted information is vital to healthy, vibrant communities and our state. We are so grateful for the continued support from the Endowment," said Melanie Plenda, Executive Director of The Collaborative.

GSNC will use these funds to hire experienced investigative freelance print, audio, video, and photo journalists and editors to produce in-depth, rigorously reported story packages and series relative to the initiative. They will also employ a data editor to help compile data which will inform projects and will be made available to the public for free to download. Additionally, the Collaborative will continue to offer project management and coordination services to ensure that the work is done and distributed across myriad networks in order to reach the most people.

The Endowment for Health is a statewide, private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to improving the health of New Hampshire's people, especially those who are vulnerable and underserved. The Endowment envisions a culture that supports the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of all people, through every stage of life.

Our partners include: 603 Diversity; The Berlin Daily Sun, Business NH Magazine, The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough, The Concord Monitor, The Conway Daily Sun, The Eagle Times, The Eagle-Tribune, The Keene Sentinel, The Laconia Daily Sun, Manchester Ink Link, The Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University, The Nashua Telegraph, NH Bar News, NH Business Review, New Hampshire Press Association, New Hampshire PBS, NH Public Radio, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Seacoast Media Group and The Valley News.

For inquiries please contact:

Melanie Plenda, Executive Director

Granite State News Collaborative

Email: melanieplenda@granitestatenews.org

Phone:(603) 762-3302

The Granite State News Collaborative Receives $10,000 Grant from the Couch Family Foundation to Support Multi-Year Race and Equity Initiative in New Hampshire

The Granite State News Collaborative is thrilled to announce that it has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Couch Family Foundation. The grant will be used in part to support the Collaborative's multi-year initiative examining race and equity in New Hampshire.

GSNC is a collective of more than 20 local media, education, and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on the issues that most impact the state. The Collaborative partners aim to provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than they could individually.

In 2020, The Collaborative and its partners launched a multiyear Race and Equity Initiative that aims to: highlight the stories of people of color in New Hampshire, partner with them to amplify their voices, investigate the policies and systems in place that have had disproportionately negative impacts on these members of our New Hampshire community and surface potential solutions. This examination also includes analyzing the impact of these systems on other historically marginalized communities including those living in poverty and rural communities.

Focus areas of the initiative include access to civic engagement, affordable housing, economic opportunity, education, environmental justice, health, policing/criminal justice and arts and culture.

"We are excited to receive this grant from the Couch Family Foundation," said Melanie Plenda, Director of The Granite State News Collaborative. "This support will enable us to hire experienced investigative freelance print, audio, video, and photo journalists and editors to produce in-depth, rigorously reported story packages and series relative to our project."

GSNC will use these funds to hire experienced investigative freelance print, audio, video, and photo journalists and editors to produce in-depth, rigorously reported story packages and series relative to the initiative. They will also employ a data editor to help compile data which will inform projects and will be made available to the public for free to download. Additionally, the Collaborative will continue to offer project management and coordination services to ensure that the work is done and distributed across myriad networks in order to reach the most people.

The Granite State News Collaborative and its partners believe that together they can provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than they could individually. This grant from the Couch Family Foundation is a significant step towards achieving that goal.

The Couch Family Foundation's mission is to be a catalyst for change in the lives of children and their families by creating quality and equitable opportunities to help them learn, thrive, and lead healthy, fulfilling lives. The Couch Family Foundation partners with organizations serving the Upper Valley Region of New Hampshire and Vermont to support people and programs working to improve children’s health and well-being, early learning and development, family resiliency, and community vibrancy.

GSNC partners include: 603 Diversity; The Berlin Daily Sun, Business NH Magazine, The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough, The Concord Monitor, The Conway Daily Sun, The Eagle Times, The Eagle-Tribune, The Keene Sentinel, The Laconia Daily Sun, Manchester Ink Link, The Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University, The Nashua Telegraph, NH Bar News, NH Business Review, New Hampshire Press Association, New Hampshire PBS, NH Public Radio, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Seacoast Media Group and The Valley News.

For inquiries, please contact:

Melanie Plenda, Director of The Granite State News Collaborative

Email: melanie@collaborativenh.org

Phone: (603) 762-3302

GSNC Partner Series Invisible Walls Earns Two Prestigious Awards

The Invisible Walls series, which examines the impacts of exclusionary zoning in New Hampshire, was honored with a Publick Occurences Award from the New England Newspaper and Press Association as well as an award from Housing Action NH. 

“Invisible Walls” is a joint project of the Granite State News Collaborative, NH Business Review, Business NH Magazine and NH Public Radio that describes how exclusionary zoning laws have reinforced areas of persistent poverty, impacting many aspects of community life, including crime, public health, affordable housing and access to economic opportunity in Manchester. The team used Manchester as a case study, but the same sorts of exclusionary zoning practices present in Manchester are common across the state, and likely have had similarly-broad effects.

The edit team leading the project included Matt Mowry, editor of Business NH Magazine,  Johnny Bassett, data editor at Granite State News Collaborative, and Jeff Feingold, editor at  NH Business Review.  Editors Carol Robidoux from Manchester Ink Link as well Daniela Allee and Cori Princell from NH Public Radio also contributed input, reporting, video, audio and editing to the project. Reporters on the project include Kevin Andrade, Johnny Bassett, Kelly Burch, Judi Currie, Jeff Feingold, Nour Habib, Ryan Lessard, Gabriela Lozada, Matt Mowry and Dave Solomon. Bill Wilkinson also contributed research to this story.

According to NENPA, the Publick Occurences award recognizes the very best work that New England newspapers produce each year— whether it’s individual or team stories, series, spot news coverage, columns or photojournalism that ran in print and/or online. NENPA presents up to 16 Publick Occurrences awards to member newspapers annually. Up to eight Publick Occurrences awards are presented to daily newspapers, and up to eight  are presented to community weekly and specialty newspapers, NENPA says.

According to the judges’ comments: Granite State News Collaborative: Manchester housing project is an innovative examination of some of the underlying and rarely discussed causes of income inequality and segregation. It was more than thoroughly researched, informative, and well-written with many voices. Lively, nuanced, alert reporting and writing

The series was also honored by  Housing Action NH, a coalition of 80 organizations united around affordable housing policy, during its “Home Matters in NH Awards” at the 5th Annual Housing We Need Forum hosted by the Center for Ethics in Society at Saint Anselm College. The series was one of two awards given to media who demonstrated excellence in covering housing issues.

 You can read the entire Invisible Walls series here. 

Now through December 31, NewsMatch–a collaborative fundraising movement to support independent, public service journalism like GSNCwill match each match every donation up to $1,000 dollar for dollar. Funds raised go toward supporting programs like this. Anyone interested in contributing to the effort click here.

New project aims to increase civic engagement and help community news outlets

The Granite State News Collaborative is partnering with Franklin Pierce University and the Nackey S. Loeb School in a pilot community journalism project to train members of the public how to report on municipal meetings. 

“Training members of the community about government and how to cover local meetings not only increases local news capacity to cover the meetings where the outcomes of debates and decisions impact life in the Granite State, these trainings also increase understanding of these issues for the public,” Executive Director of the Nackey S. School of Communications, Laura Simoes, said.  “This can lead to increased civic engagement. Community Journalism trainings have the added benefit of growing awareness and transparency around the news reporting process, and growing trust in the work of the media.”

Last spring, the Nackey S. Loeb School teamed up with instructor Richard Watts, founder of the Vermont-based Community News Service at the University of Vermont. Watts led the first cohort of Loeb School Community Journalism students, who learned journalism skills, including interviewing, media ethics, and public information requests. 

Director of the Granite State News Collaborative, Melanie Plenda, said one hope for the pilot program is to bring a diversity of lived experience to the process, to newsrooms and local coverage. To that end, one of the first phases of the project, funded by a $3,000 grant from NH Women’s Foundation, aims to get more women involved in their communities by training them to become citizen journalists by covering local governing boards. 

“When local news and information systems are healthy it creates agency for marginalized communities to engage in democracy, protect themselves, and build a sense of local community,” said Director of the Granite State News Collaborative, Melanie Plenda. “This is especially true for women who can often be disproportionately impacted by decisions made at a local level such as affordable housing, education and economic opportunity.”

The team also hopes future cohorts will include multilingual community journalists so that the news they produce can be done in multiple languages.

“Through this partnership, we’re hoping to increase local news capacity–including non-english speakers– to cover the meetings where the outcomes of debates and decisions impact everyday life in the Granite State,” said Plenda, adding that news translated into other languages will increase access to vital information impacting civic engagement among those who may have been left out because of language barriers.

This fall, the Loeb School hosted a second cohort of Community Journalism students, taught by Mike Cote and Mark Hayward from the Union Leader, with an emphasis on covering local government. Through the partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative and Franklin Pierce University, the Nackey S. Loeb School will continue this program, featuring future trainings, partnerships with local news, professional editing, mentorships and stipends for community journalists. 

The Nackey S. Loeb School has a 21 year history of training the public in First Amendment and Communications topic and Simoes said this is a natural extension of the work being done at Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications. 

“The healthy future of any community depends, at least in part, on arming citizens with better information about the problems they face, as well as potential responses to those problems–community journalism is having those same citizens identifying and reporting on community needs,” Simoes said.

Participants who apply and are accepted, will agree to attend (virtually or in person) at least one

meeting a month for six months and produce at least one reported article for each meeting

covered. Participants will receive a $100 stipend each month, Plenda said. The Collaborative will provide an editor to work one on one with the community journalists and will be the liaison between the journalist and a receiving outlet. Community journalists' work that meets editorial standards will appear in local outlets and will be made available to other partners in the GSNC.

To learn more about the next cohort of Community Journalism classes or contact lsimoes@ loebschool.org or melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org.

Now through December 31, NewsMatch–a collaborative fundraising movement to support independent, public service journalism like GSNCwill match each match every donation up to $1,000 dollar for dollar. Funds raised go toward supporting programs like this. Anyone interested in contributing to the effort click here.

GSNC receives Eversource Grant to Support Reporting

The Granite State News Collaborative has received a $5,000 grant from the Eversource Energy Foundation that will help support the Collaborative’s many ongoing journalism projects.

The grant will allow the Collaborative to focus on issues such as civic engagement, affordable housing, access to economic opportunity, education, environmental justice, as well as health and policing and criminal justice.

Since March of 2020, The Granite State News Collaborative–a collective of more than 20 local media, education and community partners, including many local newspapers– have cross-published more than 4000 shared news stories. Of those, Collaborative reporters have contributed nearly 600 in-depth and investigative pieces that have included single stories, series and projects.

“Because we are working together and because of generous philanthropic and public support we have been able to launch ambitious solutions-focused investigative series on the impacts of exclusionary zoning practices, environmental justice and access to civic engagement, to name just a few,” said Granite State News Collaborative Director Melanie Plenda.

The Collaborative has also launched two new podcasts, a digital public affairs show with NH PBS and helped NHPR launch the first ever Spanish news broadcast in New Hampshire.

 “We know that when people have access to news and information about their towns, cities and state, they can hold the powerful accountable, advance solutions and work with one another to build their communities and a future they want to see,” Plenda said.

The Eversource Energy Foundation is an independent, nonprofit philanthropic organization that is funded solely by shareholders from Eversource Energy and is dedicated to supporting communities and making a positive difference in the lives of their customers according to the Foundation’s website. In 2021, the Eversource Energy Foundation contributed more than $5 million to charitable organizations in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

“The company is proud to invest in organizations that provide a meaningful and sustainable impact in the communities we serve, and the Granite State News Collaborative is doing just that – helping to ensure an informed citizenry and supporting local journalism in every corner of the Granite State,” said Eversource Foundation President and Vice President for Corporate Citizenship and Equity Theresa Hopkins-Staten. “With a shared recognition that racially and ethnically diverse, engaged communities are critical to our economic and cultural health, we’re excited to support the collaborative in its ongoing efforts to help our citizens and our state thrive.”

Plenda said grants from organizations like the Eversource Energy Foundation are what make the Collaborative’s work possible.

“We are doing solutions-based journalism in New Hampshire communities that could not be done without support from charitable organizations like the Eversource Energy Foundation,” Plenda said. 

For more information about the Granite State News Collaborative and its partners contact Melanie Plenda at melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org

GSNC is a fiscally sponsored nonprofit. We rely on public support to do the innovative and impactful work we do. Consider lending your support today. 

Four College News Outlets Join The Granite State News Collaborative

The Equinox, The New Hampshire, The Pierce arrow and The Clock Online have joined the Granite State News Collaborative’s growing collective of media outlets.

Director of The Collaborative, Melanie Plenda, said the purpose of partnering with college newspapers was to give college students access to local news which will help them be more engaged in their communities. 

“It also offers them the opportunity to have their work amplified and distributed in publications across the state, to network with local newsroom leaders and partner with other college colleagues and professional journalists,” she said.

Caitlin Howard, Administrative Executive Editor of The Equinox at Keene State, said partnering with The Collaborative gives The Equinox editors, staff and readership a look into what is happening at a statewide level and beyond.

Howard, a senior dual major in Journalism and Political Science, said “It’s easy to get stuck in the bubble of focusing on your college campus and its immediate community, so being part of The Collaborative allows for an expanded knowledge of what is happening in New Hampshire as a whole.”

As college students, Howard continued, The Collaborative also provides The Equinox with the opportunity to work with and learn from other college journalists from around the state.

“Through the partnership, I hope our readers gain a more well-rounded understanding of what’s happening beyond our campus community,” she said. “It provides our readers with the ability to read news from other sources and news organizations all on one site or in one paper.”

Executive Editor of The New Hampshire at the University of New Hampshire, Max Scheinblum, said his paper’s transition from print to digital has made it imperative to make connections with publications across the state.  

“Becoming a Collaborative partner enables us to do this at the highest level, and we are elated to continue producing news alongside these other upstanding news organizations,” he said. “We hope our readers will now enjoy a wide array of stories that aren't typically reported on at The New Hampshire.” 

Scheinblum, an English and Political Science Major, said the partnership will help broaden his paper’s audience and horizons. 

“Partnerships like these are critical given that local news publications are, unfortunately, becoming less and less viable,” he said. “Having these connections allows non-traditional voices to be heard and gives our collective audience a more diverse set of stories. It also is a great way to foster community within the industry in a smaller, more rural state like New Hampshire. When high-quality journalism is circulated across all our great publications, everybody wins.”

Tom Benoit, Managing Executive Editor for The Equinox, said it will be good to good for the school’s paper to be read by a more wide-spread audience. 

“From our news stories to our opinion pieces, the voice of college students is an important one, and it will be good for that voice to be heard across the state,” Benoit said. “I think our readers will get more coverage from other news outlets across the state, which will enhance the information the Keene State College community receives.”

The Collaborative is a collective of more than 20 local media, education and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on issues impacting people in the Granite State. Since March of 2020, The Collaborative’s partners have published more than 4,000  shared news stories and Collaborative reporters have contributed nearly 600 in-depth and investigative pieces including single stories, series and projects.

For more information about the Granite State News Collaborative and its partners contact Melanie Plenda at melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org

GSNC is a fiscally sponsored nonprofit. We rely on public support to do the innovative and impactful work we do. Consider lending your support today. 

GSNC to Amplify Arts, Culture and History of NH’s Diverse Communities with Help from Eppes-Jefferson Foundation

The Granite State News Collaborative has received a $15,000 grant from the Eppes-Jefferson Foundation to expand its arts and culture coverage of diverse communities in New Hampshire. The Eppes-Jefferson Foundation, Inc. was created in support of the arts, historical preservation and education.  

The Collaborative is a collective of more than 20 local media, education and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on issues impacting people in the Granite State. Since March of 2020, The Collaborative’s partners have published more than 4,000 shared news stories and Collaborative reporters have contributed nearly 600 in-depth and investigative pieces including single stories, series and projects.

Director of The Collaborative, Melanie Plenda, said the grant from the Eppes-Jefferson Foundation will be used for The Collaborative’s exploration of the arts, culture and history of the diverse communities in New Hampshire as part of its Race and Equity Initiative. 

“This will be a new focus area for the Collaborative and we believe arts, culture and history are important components that need to be added to this initiative.” said Plenda, who described the arts as a form of journalism.  “Like journalism, the arts can be used to educate, capture and explain moments in time and reveal common bonds in our human experience and foster understanding. What they also do is reach people in a way that traditional journalism may not. That’s why adding this component to our reporting is so crucial.”

The goal of this part of the  project is to foster understanding between communities and to educate New Hampshire about the diverse communities that exist in the state, Plenda said. 

Co-Executive Director of the Eppes-Jefferson Foundation, David Ward, said the Collaborative’s intention to expand its Race and Equity initiative to include arts, culture and history of diverse communities in New Hampshire, aligns with the Foundation’s mission. 

“Our hope is that [the Collaborative’s] innovative journalism will raise awareness, spark interest, and even lead to fresh opportunities for readers and listeners,” Ward said. 

Plenda said the Collaborative will use the funds received from the Eppes-Jefferson Foundation to pay for the reporting, editing and photography necessary to accomplish these objectives. 

“We want to do this in partnership with existing cultural and non-partisan community groups, writers, performers and artists,” she said, adding that the Collaborative will be assisting in the writing and editing process but that the work and editorial guidance will come from them. “We know they have the expertise and lived experience that will ensure that we in the media are presenting fair and accurate representations of their communities.”

Any new or commissioned work produced specifically for the project, community partners and/or freelancers will be compensated from this grant for that work.

Resulting pieces will be published on the Collaborative’s website and will be made

available for distribution and publication through The Collaborative’s statewide network of local media partners which have the potential of reaching more than 3.8 million people through print, online and broadcast in New Hampshire and parts of Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine. 

Additionally, The Collaborative co-produces a digital public affairs show with NH PBS where artists, performers and historians are able to further amplify their voices, Plenda said.

“We have been working for the past two years to build up trust between NH’s communities of

color and The Collaborative,” Plenda said. “As a result we have a good track record of being able to co-create projects with community members such as The Common Ground initiative; Our Story NH; and Flavors of our Neighbors.”

Anyone interested in contributing to this or any of GSNC’s other reporting efforts, click here for more information. Now through December 31, NewsMatch–a collaborative fundraising movement to support independent, public service journalism like GSNC– and a national foundation will match each match every donation up to $1,000 dollar for dollar. In other words, for every dollar donated, GSNC gets an additional two dollars in matching funds. 

For more information about GSNC contact Melanie Plenda at melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org or visit collaborativenh.org

GSNC and partners launch Community Journalism Project with Help from NH Women’s Foundation

The Granite State News Collaborative has received a $3,000 grant from the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation to support their Community Journalism Project. The project aims to get more women involved in their communities by training them to become citizen journalists by covering local governing boards. 

“When local news and information systems are healthy it creates agency for marginalized

communities to engage in democracy, protect themselves, and build a sense of local

community,” said Director of the Granite State News Collaborative, Melanie Plenda. “This is especially true for women who can often be disproportionately impacted by decisions made at a local level such as affordable housing, education and economic opportunity.”

The pilot cohort of 10 citizen journalists will produce articles based on their coverage of local government meetings for local news outlets in the Collaborative’s network. Work will be overseen by a team of professional freelance editors to ensure the work is accurate and up to journalistic standards, Plenda said, adding that funding from the NH Women’s Foundation will be used to pay for project management and stipends for the pilot’s cohort of professional editors and citizen journalists.

“Women are too often under-represented in journalism and too often they aren't able to fully access or participate in their local government because of existing constraints on their resources and time,” Plenda said. “This pilot project can begin to address some of that through their lived experience and by determining the news value of what their local boards and committees are debating and discussing.”

The idea for a community journalism project began last spring when the Nackey S. Loeb School teamed up with instructor Richard Watts, founder of the Vermont-based Community News Service at the University of Vermont. Watts led the first cohort of Loeb School Community Journalism students, who learned journalism skills, including interviewing, media ethics, and public information requests. 

The Collaborative will be working with Prof Watts and Executive Director of the Nackey S. School of Communications, Laura Simoes, whose program will provide the training based on Watt’s curriculum. Dr. Kristen Nevious, ED at Franklin Pierce University's Marlin Fitzwater Center will help oversee and supervise students in the program. 

“All of these partners have extensive experience not only in journalism, but journalism training,” Plenda said.  “Further, our freelance editors, the majority of whom are women, have dozens of years of professional journalism experience and will oversee the articles and assignments.” 

Plenda, who has more than 20 years of journalism experience and 4 years of project management experience with the Collaborative, will coordinate the effort.

The goal is to begin producing at least 75 local news pieces over the course of the pilot period and Plenda said that at least two local news outlets serving predominantly underserved news areas, will have increased the number of local governance coverage.

 “We will be bringing more women--whether students or members of the public--into the civic process by giving them the education and information they need to cover these meetings and small stipends that will afford them the chance to do so,” she said.  “And we will be strengthening local news outlets, and in turn their communities, which often lack the staffing capacity to cover the meetings where some of the most consequential issues are being debated and decided.”

While this is a pilot program, Plenda said she anticipates continuing the program beyond the four month pilot period. 

“We are already beginning to work with other local partners to garner support that will help us build the program into our budgeting process for 2023,” Plenda said. 

Since 2020,  Collaborative partners cross-published more than 4,000 stories – about 600 of which were produced by Collaborative freelancers. Plenda said there is an established working relationship and infrastructure in place to help bring this project to successful fruition. 

Anyone interested in contributing to the effort click here. Now through December 31, NewsMatch–a collaborative fundraising movement to support independent, public service journalism like GSNC– and a national foundation will match each match every donation up to $1,000 dollar for dollar. In other words, for every dollar donated, GSNC gets an additional two dollars in matching funds. For more information contact Melanie Plenda at melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org or visit collaborativenh.org

GSNC Selected for Matching Funds by National Foundation

The Granite State News Collaborative has been selected by a national foundation to receive an additional match for its year end NewsMatch 2022 fundraising campaign. This foundation is supporting newsrooms, “upholding democracy through their coverage of elections, voting rights, and local and statewide government.”

“We’ve got something special happening in journalism right here in New Hampshire and that is getting noticed,” said GSNC Director Melanie Plenda.

This is a goal-based match. That means, as long as GSNC can raise a minimum of $4,000 locally, those dollars will be matched twice–once, by Newsmatch, once by the partner foundation. So, for every dollar donated, GSNC gets an additional two dollars.

“We’re so excited,” Plenda said. “We’re already picturing all of the in-depth, solutions focused stories these funds can help us get out to Granite Staters across New Hampshire.” 

Within just a few hours of announcing the match, Granite Staters quickly started pitching in with donations. 

“It was amazing to see people really sort of rally in those few hours to show how much they value having local, trusted news in their communities,” Plenda said. “It really does feel like we’re all a big team trying to get to that goal together. It was really wonderful and I hope it keeps up.”

If you would like to support this effort visit GSNC’s Read. Watch. Listen. Support. Local News Campaign Page. 

The Collaborative is a collective of more than 20 local media, education and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on issues impacting people in the Granite State. Since March of 2020, The Collaborative’s partners have published more than 4,000 shared news stories and Collaborative reporters have contributed nearly 600 in-depth and investigative pieces including single stories, series and projects.

For more information contact Melanie Plenda at melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org or visit collaborativenh.org

Amid crisis and collaboration, a plan to sustain local news emerges

Local news turns to partnerships, philanthropy as key parts of its future

By Roberta Baker

Granite State News Collaborative

MANCHESTER – At a time when information flows more freely than ever, the local news industry finds itself at a crossroads. 

The advertising and subscription model that held up the industry for so long has consistently been chipped away over the past two decades. The financial challenges have only accelerated over the past few years with the pandemic, and more recently with new pressures from inflation. Across the nation and here in New Hampshire, that’s meant far fewer reporters to dig into local and statewide issues. And in some communities, it’s meant no reporter or news publication at all.

Report for America, a national service organization that helps local newsrooms add to their reporting staffs, says the slow decline of the local journalism business model has a far-reaching impact.

“We’re facing a colossal collapse in local news across the country,” said Lauren McKown, senior vice president of development for Report for America and The Ground Truth Project. “A crisis in local news is a crisis in democracy.”

McKown was speaking last week at the New Hampshire News Philanthropy Summit at the New Hampshire Institute for Politics at St. Anselm College. The event brought together about 70 journalists, business leaders and philanthropic funders to begin the discussion on how local news, trustworthy information, civic engagement and community need to align.

The event served as the next step in the New Hampshire news industry’s recent efforts to bring more reporting and more journalists to the state with innovative partnerships and a newfound spirit of collaboration.

“I believe developing new ways to fund journalism will be key to ensuring its sustainability,” said Steve Leone, vice president of Newspapers of New England and publisher of the Concord Monitor, where two of the staff’s five news reporting positions are currently 100% funded by nonprofit support and community donors.

That’s part of the turnaround story in New Hampshire, where many news organizations are forging partnerships with community donors in order to sustain local journalism into the future and underwrite in-depth coverage of important issues facing our communities and the state.

“Leaders in business, philanthropy, higher education, and journalism have a responsibility to come together to help solve this,” said Melanie Plenda, director of the Granite State News Collaborative, a statewide nonprofit of about 20 media organizations. “And we’ve already started that work. Media outlets across the state that used to compete with each other for ads and eyeballs are now actually co-reporting and sharing articles with each other for distribution, all so that our communities have more of what they need.” 

“This is about recreating a piece of the fabric of democracy and community,” said Laura Simoes, executive director of the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications, which co-sponsored the event with the Concord Monitor and the Granite State News Collaborative. “We get to chart a new course and find fixes to problems that involve all of us.”

Many of the funders in attendance agreed, though they also admit they’re among the early adopters in believing that philanthropy has a role to play in supporting local newsrooms. Katie Merrow, vice president of community impact at New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, sees local journalism as a critical piece to promoting community health.

 “We’re just continuing our mission,” said Merrow. “It’s a natural extension of the way we work in community….  None of us has the scale to fix all these problems. Journalism is high leverage because it gives people information and understanding to act and act now,” she said. 

Merrow also pointed out that the system of local journalism, although very challenged, continues to have deep penetration across the state and it’s critical to keep it going.

“If we let it die and then have to rebuild it. That will take far more resources,” she said.  

An industry in crisis

The story of American journalism is best told in numbers. 

Surveys indicate that 75 percent of local readers and news consumers believe their local news organizations are doing well, said Leah Todd Lin at the Solutions Journalism Network. But national journalism studies tell a far different story. 

According to research led by Penelope Abernathy at the University of North Carolina, there are 225 counties in the United States that do not have a local newspaper. Half the counties in America have just one, and it’s usually a weekly publication. New England has 10 counties with only one paper and three with no publication at all. This barren landscape has led to the rise of the term “news desert.” 

A look at the national “news desert” map shows a patchwork of communities that have little to no news coverage. These are predominantly in rural areas because they don’t have the local economies capable of supporting a paper through advertising. So community members get less news. That, studies say, also means municipal spending generally increases because no journalist is at the public meetings to report the news. In these areas, a town’s borrowing costs can also go up and voting turnout can also suffer.   

According to national research on the crisis in local news by Report for America founder Steve Waldman, approximately $1 billion to $3 billion is needed each year to build and sustain the nation’s news system. This sounds like a daunting sum, said McKown at Report for America, but research shows that Americans collectively donate about $450 billion a year. A funding shift of 0.2 to 0.25% is needed to support local news.

A sampling of solutions

At a time of industry upheaval, consolidation and widespread newsroom closures, philanthropy is emerging as a way to bring critical issues to readers. 

The Loeb School, a Manchester-based non-profit dedicated to preserving freedom of speech and freedom of the press, connects nonprofit and for-profit newsrooms to grants – including for solutions journalism projects such as “What’s Working” at the Union Leader, which focuses on workforce, employment and economic issues confronting the state, communities and business; the Monadnock Region Health Reporting Lab at the Keene Sentinel; and “The Sunshine Project” and “Voices” at the Laconia Daily Sun.

“A lot of us have built (grant funding) into our business model,” said Mike Cote, managing editor for news and business at the Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News, which has six full-time news reporters for local and statewide coverage. “The hardest part is keeping the momentum going. A lot of people don’t realize how small our newsrooms have become.”

Because of the reach and success of “What’s Working,” the Union Leader is seeking and linking sources to continue funding. 

“The number of journalists we have lost in the last 15 years is astounding,” said Leone at the Monitor about New Hampshire journalism. That underscores the need for outside support to supply local coverage.

Funding from Report for America and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation enabled the Monitor to hire a full-time education reporter who started in 2020, and St. Paul’s School will begin support for that position in June, according to Leone. A full-time health reporter was funded through May 2022 by Report For America, Concord Hospital, Granite VNA, Concord Imaging, Riverbend Community Mental Health Center and NAMI NH, and the paper is building a new round of support to relaunch the coverage later this year, he said.  Next month a new Report for America position focused on disparity issues will be funded jointly by RFA, Northeast Delta Dental and Merrimack County Savings Bank.

Funding through local and national grants and major and individual donors has enabled the Granite State News Collaborative, with an army of freelancers and partners in roughly 20 New Hampshire news outlets, to generate approximately 650 in-depth, investigative, solutions-focused stories since March 2020, said Plenda.

The pandemic and the current political climate boosted the demand for trustworthy coverage, journalism experts and funders agreed. 

We’re “unified in our mission to provide good, rigorously reported and vetted journalism,” Plenda said, including through recent grant-funded projects on race and equity and restorative justice. “I see us competing with the loudest and most repetitive voices, whether on CNN or social media. People see local news as less polarized and more trusted.  We’re doing our part to get good information to people.” 

“People are used to finding any information they need with a click of a button, and many don’t discern between a real news source and a blog or someone’s opinion, which is a threat to democracy,” said Julie Hirshan Hart, co-editor of the Laconia Daily Sun, where solutions journalism projects “Voices” and “The Sunshine Project” have spotlighted public health, mental health, social issues, civic discourse and the experience of youth during the pandemic. “We’ve seen that grant funding can help us fill the gaps and create a sustainability plan so we can keep delivering quality, real journalism to our community and the state,” she said. 

It’s important to find funders with “unity of purpose ”and to align reporting with community needs that are important, said Terrence Williams, CEO of the Keene Sentinel, the country’s fifth-oldest continuously running newspaper, founded in 1799. Local problems with health care access, cost and depth-of-care were revealed in community listening sessions, which sparked the creation of the Health Lab and defined its coverage mission. 

The Sentinel recently hired a statehouse reporter through crowd funding. Two more philanthropy-supported reporters are starting at the end of May at the online and print news outlet, which serves readers in western Hillsborough and Cheshire counties and southeastern Vermont, Williams said. 

“Solutions journalism is, by definition, not just looking at a problem, but finding who’s doing things that are working,” said Cote at the Union Leader. Without funders, “It’s harder for New Hampshire community newspapers to delegate a reporter to a topic for a year.” With outside support, the journalism remains independent, he explained. “In five years, there’s never been an issue with influencing coverage in any way.” 

Eyes on NH

The goal for local media now is to attract renewable contributions from a wide range of sources, including community and business leaders such as doctors, lawyers, local car dealerships, drug stores and manufacturers, as well as foundations, grant funders, large corporations, health care systems and individuals.  

News philanthropy offers non-profits and for-profits a way to strategically extend their impact and reach, the speakers said.

“The Endowment started its media partnerships through underwritten coverage on specific issues,” said Karen Ager, director of communications for the Endowment for Health. “Over time, we realized we couldn’t fund every good idea coming out of NH newsrooms, so our current strategy includes capacity support to sustain the practice of solutions journalism statewide.” 

These solutions are forming the foundation for long-term sustainability in New Hampshire, said Leah Todd Lin of the Solutions Journalism Network.

“I’m based in Lebanon, but my work is national. So I really have the chance to talk to a lot of newsrooms, a lot of news leaders and a lot of funders, people who are interested in supporting local news all over the country,” Todd Lin said. “And so my message to people out of the state of New Hampshire is always: ‘look at what New Hampshire is doing.’...And when I’m in the state, like today, my message is: ‘I hope you you know what you have here and how special it is.’ ”

McKown and Report for America have also picked up on the approaches being taken in the state, touting the mix of newsroom collaboration, philanthropy and business partnerships.

“You have all the ingredients here to have a strong future for your state. Local (news) is really at the heart of this,” said McKown. 

Want more information? Contact GSNC Director Melanie Plenda at melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org