John Harrigan on the Why of InDepthNH.org and Roger Wood on the Why Not

One year ago today, the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism launched our first online edition of InDepthNH.org, the nonprofit investigative news outlet for New Hampshire. John Harrigan and Roger Wood and I share our reasons why we came onboard (below) and special thanks to Mike Marland for our fantastic 1st anniversary cartoon (above). How did Mike know that green is my favorite kind of cake? We are truly grateful to our other awesome contributors Bob Charest, Chris Jensen, Montana West, Susan Dromey Heeter, Jen Hollidge, David Lovlien Jr., and Chris Schadler. Look for our major fundraising campaign starting today as we spend the next four months raising $100,000 to pay our people and to add a fundraiser and statehouse reporter to our merry band. Thanks for reading every day. — Nancy West, founder

By John Harrigan
InDepthNH.org

When I heard about the effort by Nancy West to set up a web sitedevoted to precisely the kind of news and investigative reporting that’s suffering major cutbacks in New Hampshire’s mainstream media, I was on it like the longtime news hound I am.

In my 49 years of newspapering, I’ve seen newspaper after newspaper abandon desks in the State House newsroom, turning to syndicated coverage of state government or offering no coverage at all. Neither are many local media any longer offering the kind of good, solid, gumshoe reporting that their readers have been accustomed to in the past.

After talking with Nancy about InDepthNH.org’s goals, I offered to sign on as more or less window-dressing—to write occasional columns, some serious and some not-so—to help flesh out the site’s steadily growing list of contributors. Since then, I’ve been proud to be part of the team effort to grow InDepthNH.org into a media presence New Hampshire simply shouldn’t be without.

With the help of grants, donations, subscriptions and sponsorships, InDepthNH.org promises to fulfill its mission to preserve a journalistic treasure—the well-researched, well-reported and well-edited written word.

And now for something different. Roger Wood and Nancy West interview each other.