Marathon To Raise $20,412 In 3 Days To Be Matched For InDepthNH.org

By Nancy West

I started the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism three years ago to launch InDepthNH.org because I was very concerned about the loss of experienced reporters in New Hampshire and non-profit news outlets across the country were filling similar gaps.

Talented journalists like Bob Charest, Chris Jensen, Garry Rayno, Roger Wood, Meghan Pierce, Michael McCord and Nancy West have reported hundreds of important stories since, many of which would have been overlooked by mainstream media simply because there are too few reporters left in the state. Our reporters all work for much less than they are worth and some have contributed their time for free because they believe in our mission.  Our great columnists all work for free and we want 2018 to be the year we can pay them – talented folks like Mark Okrant, Susan Dromey Heeter, John Harrigan, Wayne D. King, D. Maurice Kreis and Michael Davidow. Two state reps, a Republican and a Democrat – give us the inside view of the legislature – Rep. Dan Itse and Rep. Marjorie Porter.

There were about 70 adjudicative hearings in Concord on the proposed Northern Pass transmission line, a controversial project that was time-consuming and complicated to cover. InDepthNH.org reported on 68 of the hearings, plus other stories that needed reporting outside of the hearings. We missed two hearings because I broke my arm and dislocated my shoulder on Oct. 30. (still healing) Garry Rayno, besides writing his Distant Dome column, has done an excellent job keeping the public informed about Northern Pass and other New Hampshire issues. I will share more about our other stories in emails to come.

Over the last 15 years, 56 percent of all news jobs in New Hampshire have disappeared. We give our stories away and many news outlets republish them including the Concord Monitor, Colebrook Chronicle, Colebrook News and Sentinel, Nashua Telegraph, New Hampshire Business Review, Laconia Daily Sun, Conway Daily Sun, Berlin Daily Sun, Littleton Courier, NH1, Manchester Ink Link, Seacoastonline and others.

We were able to do so much in 2017 because of the generosity of readers like you and the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. The Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund awarded us a $50,000 grant last year and we hope the fund will help us this year as well. We apply for a lot of grants, but they are very competitive and we hope you readers will help as much as you can so we can expand our reporting and your gift will be matched until Dec. 31.

FOR three more days, your donation will be doubled by NewsMatch 2017. InDepthNH.org qualified for the matching dollars from the Knight and MacArthur foundations and the Democracy Fund. I am pulling out all the stops to raise $20,412 in three days so watch for this email and Facebook videos. I also want to take this time to tell you our plans.

Through the end of the year, whatever you give will be matched dollar for dollar, and we’re hoping to reach our goal of $56,000.

Nancy West, executive editor of InDepthNH.org