How Civic Documenters empower communities and strengthen local news coverage

The Granite Beat

On this episode of “The Granite Beat,” Julie Hart and Adam Drapcho talk with a group who came together to bolster local news coverage in New Hampshire. Justin Silverman of the New England First Amendment Coalition, Melanie Plenda of the Granite State News Collaborative and Laura Simoes of the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications are partners in the Civic Documenters program, helping train community members to participate in reporting on local government. CivDoc, as the program is called, was first piloted in the Monadnock Region, and is currently expanding in the Lakes Region.

The Granite Beat, is a project of The Laconia Daily Sun in partnership with The Granite State News Collaborative, of which Laconia is a partner, and The Marlin Fitzwater Center for Communications. Each week hosts Adam Drapcho and Julie Hart explore with local reporters how they got some of the most impactful stories in our state and why they matter.