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
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