There’s a lot to feel hopeful about in local news in New Hampshire. And some of the best reasons have come from sitting down and listening to you.
Over the past several months, the Granite State News Collaborative and our partners, which include NH Business Review, have been getting out into communities, gathering people for conversations about how they find information, what they’re missing and what would make local news more useful in their lives.
We’ve heard about the challenge of sorting through conflicting claims online. The frustration of learning about a community event after it happened. The desire to understand a local decision — and what you can do if you want a say in it.
These are practical needs. Meeting them is at the heart of what local journalism should do.
They’re also helping us imagine what comes next.
Concerns about misinformation helped inform our Election Fact Check Hub, where people can submit New Hampshire election claims for journalists to check. Requests for an easier way to find out what’s happening close to home are helping shape a statewide community events calendar now in development.
These ideas begin with a simple question: What do you need?
We want to keep asking it. And we want to keep turning what we hear into reporting, tools and services that make a difference in your daily life.
That work feels especially necessary at a time when press freedom has been tested and the role of journalism is so often challenged. The ability to ask questions, examine public records and report freely on the people making decisions is essential to a community’s ability to understand and shape its future.
Here in New Hampshire, that work happens close to home. It happens when a reporter stays late at a school board meeting, follows up on a resident’s concern or presses for an explanation of how public money is being spent.
It also depends on trust. As journalists, we have to earn that trust through careful reporting, clear explanations, a willingness to correct mistakes and an ongoing conversation with the people we serve.
That’s why we’re hopeful. Across New Hampshire, local news organizations are working together, sharing reporting and finding ways to reach more people. Residents are telling us what would help. Together, we have something to build on.
Our year-end NewsMatch collective fundraising campaign is an opportunity to be part of that work. Through Dec. 31, eligible gifts will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $1,000 per gift, helping us unlock up to $15,000 in matching funds.
You can support the news you use by directing your gift to a participating local outlet or dividing it among several. You can also support the future of local news through the NH Community News Fund.
Your generosity helps make the reporting, collaboration, listening and new ideas possible.
We want to keep getting out into communities. We want to hear from more of you. And we want to keep building local news that reflects what New Hampshire needs.
We believe there’s a promising future for local journalism here. We hope you’ll help us build it.
Donate at https://bit.ly/NHCNFForm.
Through the year-end NewsMatch collective fundraising campaign, donations to the Granite State News Collaborative will be matched dollar for dollar — up to $1,000 per gift — to unlock up to $15,000 in matching funds.
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