Last May, the New England Newspaper & Press Association (NENPA) unveiled plans for a First Amendment Collaborative. NENPA’s members were invited to join the Collaborative, which would produce editorials, op-eds and reporting on threats to press freedoms around the region. The Collaborative would also include a solutions journalism component, with training and advocacy tools for championing the rights the First Amendment provides to all Americans.
In October, during National Newspaper Week, E&P spoke with Linda Conway, NENPA’s executive director. She recounted the First Amendment Collaborative’s origin story, which began at the NENPA’s 2025 convention during a town hall.
“We were meeting during this politically charged environment. The White House had recently blocked the AP from attending meetings. So, we thought, let’s get together to see what’s worrying people and what’s happening in local newsrooms. … And the room was packed. It was charged with energy,” Conway recalled.
“Some of the concerns were things happening on the national level,” she said. “Was that emboldening local government officials to refuse to give access to public records? We see a lot of open meetings that aren’t really open meetings … where citizens aren’t allowed to talk or ask questions. They’re there to listen. So, we thought it was important to let our citizens know what their rights are.”
The conversation about First Amendment issues inspired a new committee. Melanie Plenda, executive director of the Granite State News Collaborative and vice president of NENPA’s board of directors, became chair.
“It’s an issue that’s very close to my heart — the First Amendment — as a journalist, obviously, but also generally. I feel very passionately about people having the right to get information and to speak,” Plenda said.
They convened a group of journalists from across New England, who produced an initial collection of 27 stories, which the collaborative members could republish.
“We also came up with the idea of doing what journalists do best, which are education campaigns,” Plenda said. “I mean, that’s what we’re there for. We’re there to inform and to educate. It is not always obvious to everyday people that press freedoms are their freedoms. We are proxies for the public, and that doesn’t always translate.”
Fittingly, the initiative launched on Constitution Day in September. Gene Policinski, senior fellow for the First Amendment at the Freedom Forum, penned the first editorial — “Defending Democracy Starts at Home: Protecting Local News and Press Freedom.”
The group also collaborates on a “Know Your News” initiative, which seeks to welcome the public behind the scenes of local news and to demonstrate the critical role journalism plays in their communities and as part of a shared democracy.
To facilitate these collaborations, they established infrastructure for sharing and searching content.
“We’re using Plucky Wire, which is the Granite State News Collaborative platform. It acts as a news wire service,” Conway explained. Some of the content is templated, allowing the members to tailor it for local context and relevance.
E&P spoke with Conway and Plenda shortly after the initial launch, making it too soon to get a bead on impact and how audiences around New England were responding to the reporting and editorials. However, Plenda shared some anecdotal evidence that it’s resonating — for example, encouraging reader emails and metrics showing the #KnowYourNews hashtag has gotten traction on social media.
“This was not a fundraising campaign. We did not ask anyone for money,” Plenda said. “But [after the launch], we ended up getting two anonymous donations totaling $12,000, with notes that it was intended ‘to support local journalism.’ That was one of our main messages.”
Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here