The Nashua Telegraph joins The Granite State News Collaborative

GSNC is proud to announce that the multi-award winning Nashua Telegraph has joined the Granite State News Collaborative.

The Telegraph, for most of its existence known as the Nashua Telegraph, is a daily newspaper in Nashua, New Hampshire. It was founded as the Nashua Daily Telegraph in 1869, although a weekly version dates back to 1832. As of 2005 it was the second-largest newspaper in the state, with a circulation of about 27,000 daily, and 34,000 on Sunday.

“It is so heartening to see that such a large and important publication sees the value in working together with other publications across the state to bring the best, in-depth news to readers,” said Project Manager Melanie Plenda. “We are so happy to have them as partners and to add their tremendous reporting and editing talents to our growing list of shared resources.”

The Collaborative was founded in January 2018 by Carol Robidoux (Manchester Ink Link); Dawn DeAngelis (NHPBS); Kristen Nevious (The Marlin Fitzwater Center); and Nancy West (InDepthNH), as a way to pool resources to improve coverage for Granite Staters, The Collaborative has grown to include 15 full partners and eight associate partners.

Partners in The Collaborative share content, freelancers and co-report on in-depth. By pooling its collective resources, expertise, institutional knowledge and experience the team has been able to produce numerous in-depth, multimedia story packages on the behavioral health crisis in New Hampshire with a focus on stories that have previously gone unreported or under-reported.

For more information about Collaborative partners or how to join, please email melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org.

GSNC Adds Citizens Count as a Community Engagement Partner

GSNC is proud to announce it has partnered with Citizens Count, a nonpartisan, civic engagement nonprofit serving New Hampshire citizens by providing objective information about issues and bills, elected officials, candidates, and elections; promoting the civil exchange of opinions in a variety of forums; and connecting citizens with their elected officials.

“Citizens Count is proud to partner with the Granite State News Collaborative in its coordinated reporting and engagement activities across the state,” said Jacquelyn Benson, Content Editor for Citizens Count. “Our mission to provide nonpartisan information about issues, candidates, and elections and promote the civil exchange of opinions aligns with the inclusive and responsive community-based work of the collaborative's members.”

GSNC project manager Melanie Plenda said she and the rest of the membership are excited about exploring the ways Citizens Count and GSNC can work together to not only better inform readers, viewers and listeners, but the journalists covering issues and legislative matters as well.

“Citizens Count dedicates all of their time tracking every piece of legislation, something that is nearly impossible for most work-a-day journalists,” Plenda said. “By partnering with them, among other things, they can provide us education on the issues and legislation so that we may better inform our readers.”

For more information on GSNC contact Melanie Plenda and melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org. For more information on Citizens Count, contact info@citizenscount.org.

GSNC speaks at NENPA Conference in Boston

GSNC members were asked to speak about their experience with collaboratives and solutions journalism at the New England Newspaper and Press Association.

NENPA is proud to represent and serve more than 450 daily, weekly and specialty newspapers throughout the six-state region. It is the professional trade organization for newspapers in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island.

Partners Anna Berry (NH Bar News), Roger Carroll (Laconia Daily Sun), Kristen Nevious (Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communication at Franklin Pierce University) and GSNC project manager Melanie Plenda spoke of their experiences working collaboratively and the value of adopting a solutions journalism focus. The group was joined by Anne Karolyi (Republican American, CT) and Eugene Sonn (WHYY, PA) to discuss among other things strengthening local news through collaborative solutions journalism, the value of solutions journalism and how has it changed how local news organizations work; the value of collaboration and the impact working across media has inside the newsroom

The session began with Karolyi, managing editor of the Republican-American in Connecticut, and a founding partner of the SJN collaborative there. Leah Todd, New England Regional Manager for Solutions Journalism Network, GSNC’s fiscal sponsor, gave brief intro to solutions journalism and SJN's vision for collaboratives. Sonn, the audio news director for WHYY in Philadelphia, a founding member of The Reentry Project in that city also spoke about his experience there. This was followed by editors Carroll and Berry, collaborative project manager Plenda and academic partner Nevious recounting their experience so far in the New Hampshire collaborative.

For more information on GSNC contact Melanie Plenda at Melanie.Plenda@collaborativenh.org.

GSNC Adds Associate Partners Nackey Loeb and New Hampshire Press Association

The Granite State News Collaborative is pleased to announce that it has created associate partnerships with The NH Press Association and The Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications .

“All of our missions are so closely alligned that it just seems natural that we would find ways to pool our efforts and work together to help better inform the citizenry of New Hampshire,” said Granite State News Collaborative Project Manager Melanie Plenda. “I’m excited to see the initiatives and projects we can take on with all of us working together toward the same goals.”

Plenda, who also sits on the board for the NHPA, said that among the first projects GSNC-in conjunction with Dr. Kristen Nevious, Director of the Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University and GSNC board member, will be working on with NHPA and Nackey Loeb to hold a summit of college journalism and communications professors and advisors .

“Our ultimate goal is to establish lasting relationships between educators and journalism professionals that create and maintain initiatives to advance the principles of a free press in the Granite State,” said NHPA Executive Director Philip Kincade. “Our immediate goal is to collaborate with them to create a training program or series of programs that will complement what students learn in the classroom, foster their interest in the field, and provide them with skills to help them seek and gain employment in the field in the future.”

These college training programs fit into GSNC’s larger student engagement initiative that seeks to inspire and train the next generation of journalists, creating a pipeline from classroom to local newsrooms.

“The continued vibrancy and health of our democracy depends on an informed citizenry,” said Nevious. “It is absolutely critical that today’s journalists train those of tomorrow for this task. The Granite State News Collaborative has embraced that responsibility, and we are committed to reaching into our schools to nurture young journalists and give them the skills they need to contribute to the security of our nation’s future.”

The mission of the NH Press Association is to identify and advance the common interests of its member, protect the freedom and advance the ethical standards of New Hampshire’s press, promote and encourage higher standards of journalism to the benefit of the industry and the public. Additionally, they aim to aid and advance the study and teaching of journalism; encourage and promote a better understanding between the public and the Press, cultivate friendly relations among members of the Press; to improve the conditions of journalism and journalists by promoting and protecting the principles of freedom of speech and of the press and the public’s right to know; and to act as an educational center and medium for the dissemination of knowledge and information about journalism and the news business;

Likewise, the Nackey S. Loeb Center for Communications— which is a 501 (c) 3 private non-profit school founded in 1999 by Mrs. Loeb, late president and publisher of The Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News newspapers of New Hampshire— is focused on the communications field with an emphasis on journalism studies. Mrs. Loeb founded the school to "kindle the enthusiasm of future generations of journalists by providing a solid foundation of skills and values."

The school offers classes, workshops, and the First Amendment Forum. Most classes are free of charge.

For more information about the Granite State News Collaborative contact Melanie Plenda at melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org; on the NH Press Association contact Executive Director Phil Kincade at pwkincade@gmail.com; and on Nackey Loeb, contact Executive Director, David Tirrell-Wysocki at dtwysocki@loebschool.org.