newspapers

Newspapers in New Hampshire are in a strange position with COVID-19: lots of readers, but a steep decline in revenue as businesses close in the pandemic.

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Right now, in any other year, the Lakes Region would be gearing up for summer – hotels would be selling rooms, restaurants would be preparing to reopen.

Nationally, newspaper readership is way down, but we talk with four New Hampshire publishers about how they're adapting and thriving.  We also examine new research on the impact of when a local paper goes away: with no journalistic oversight, taxes often go up and incumbent politicians face less competition. 

The Valley News is getting a new top editor. Maggie Cassidy started there as a news assistant and most recently she served as the web editor for the newspaper. The Valley News is based in West Lebanon, New Hampshire and covers the Upper Valley.

Cassidy replaces Martin Frank who is retiring after more than three decades at the paper. She joined NHPR's Peter Biello on All Things Considered.

Listen to the interview:

Read an excerpt: 

The Telegraph of Nashua found itself in an awkward situation for a newspaper recently. Turmoil in the paper’s management was making the headlines.

The paper’s top editor was fired last week. Another senior editor quit. This comes less than a year after the Telegraph’s managing editor left in protest. Former employees say much of the unrest is due to the paper’s owners, an out-of-state chain that bought The Telegraph four years ago.

The tragic killing of Charlie Sennott's colleague, New Hampshire native James Foley, was the first exposure for most Americans to ISIS, and a turning point for news organizations who send journalists to the front lines.  We speak with Sennott about his latest initiative to train a new generation of international correspondents in the digital age.

This program was originally broadcast on 4/27/16.

You can't confront the horror that was the Holocaust without facing inescapable questions of America's role. What did the United States know about the Holocaust and how did it respond? Today, the United States Holocaust Museum is asking the public to help uncover how the American press covered the genocide of millions of Jews - and whether or not anyone was listening.

Then, recent public health crises like Ebola and Zika show how fear grabs public and media's attention. But there's another virus potentially be more harmful on a mass scale that's crept under the radar. Today, we'll hear about a virus that's killing off Tilapia by the millions - and what that could mean for our global food supply.

Way back to the times when corrupt party bosses like William Tweed of New York's Tammany Hall, American politicians have known to beware of cartoonists lampooning their greed and missteps. And while nowadays, constituents are more literate and able to read probing newspaper articles than they were in the nineteenth century, the power of editorial cartoons remains: as proved by routine imprisonment of cartoonists in some places of the world, as well as the grim killings at the French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris last January.  And since then, there's been greater global attention and awareness to the role political cartoons still play and the controversy they spark.  And this week in the Granite State, New Hampshire Humanities is taking up the topic this week at an event called "Can't Take a Joke?" that explores editorial cartoons, and the subjects of artistic freedom, first amendment rights, and censorship.

The news media is often seen as a troubled industry, with newspaper circulation and local reporting on the decline, and a continued rocky transition to a digital and mobile world.  We'll re-examine how this trend is playing out nationally and in New Hampshire, especially in the midst of a tumultuous primary election.

Reporter Dan Balz and columnist E.J. Dionne are in the state for an award ceremony at UNH Law.  We’ll get their thoughts on how political coverage has changed, especially of events such as the New Hampshire primary, but also what they hope won’t change in terms of ethics and standards.

GUEST:

Abraham Lincoln is most often remembered for preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, and his untimely death. But—a less- documented aspect of Honest Abe’s legacy, according to scholar Harold Holzer, was the extent of his involvement with the press, which, at the time, was coming into its own as a strong, partisan force in shaping public opinion.

This program was originally broadcast on 11/12/14.

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With an ever-changing media landscape, it can be increasingly difficult to parse out from the news who’s right, who’s wrong, and why it matters. We’ll get Gladstone’s perspective, from the role of social media in news consumption, to the blurred lines between reporting and advertising.

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Started as the Manchester Daily Union, the Union Leader grew to be the state’s largest newspaper. Over the past century and a half it has had its challenges- from criticism by some for its conservative slant, to facing the financial struggles of many mid-sized papers.  We’re taking a look at the legacy of the Union Leader.

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Newsrooms are shrinking across the country – including in the Granite State, which has seen several of its own daily papers struggling. The Internet continues to challenge traditional methods for gathering and delivering news, and many wonder if the daily paper can survive. However, some organizations are coming up with new approaches and finding ways to thrive.

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While most newspapers are downsizing, outsourcing, assimilating or outright folding, there’s a newspaper in the North Country that’s flourishing. Two weeks ago the Colebrook Chronicle opened a new business office in downtown Colebrook. As Sean Hurley reports, business at the Chronicle has never been better.