Newsroom policies and guidelines
The Concord Monitor covers the capital city of Concord, the New Hampshire State House, and dozens of communities in the central part of the state. We cover everything from annual town meetings in our smallest communities to the largest issues facing the state. The Monitor is consistently recognized as among the best publications in New England. We have sister publications that serve readers in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont. The Monitor is the flagship publication for the local, family-owned company Newspapers of New England (NNE).
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The aim of the Opinion section, both in print and at concordmonitor.com, is to elevate the conversation in our communities by giving space to thoughtful, reasoned perspective. The section features a range of perspectives and ideas and offers a platform for people to share their voices directly with readers in the form of a My Turn or Letter to the Editor.
The Monitor sees the Opinion section as an opportunity to
practice engagement journalism, which combines community
engagement with traditional news reporting, resulting in
journalism that aims to serve the community and reflect their
interests and needs.
Opinion-based content in the Concord Monitor falls into three categories: My Turn, Letter to the Editor, and Commentary. These are separate from the news reporting done on local topics by Monitor staff.
Sections labeled 'My Turn' and 'Letters to the Editor' are submitted to the Monitor by readers and members of the community. They appear both in print and online. Sections labeled 'Commentary' come from one of three national news services: Associated Press, Washington Post or Tribune News Service. They are selected by a Monitor editor and only appear in the print edition.
Those wishing to submit a My Turn or Letter to the Editor must
be in New Hampshire or have a clearly stated direct connection to
the state. The Opinion section features content submitted by
readers and members of the community, selected by an editor to be
published. Those submitting a My Turn or Letter to the Editor are
not paid and are not Monitor staff members. Content in the
Opinion section stands completely separate from the Monitor's
news coverage.
In an effort to make the distinction between opinion essays
submitted by members of the community and news articles written
by reporters more clear, all My Turns posted online will include
this tagline:
My Turns are opinion-based essays submitted by Monitor readers
and members of the community. Writers are neither solicited nor
paid for their submissions. The views expressed in My Turns are
those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the Concord Monitor and its staff. Learn more about the Monitor's
opinion policy here.
Submissions that have blatantly false information will be
rejected. Submissions that praise or criticize private
businesses, unless they address a larger issue, will not be
accepted.
Writers are encouraged to challenge ideas, but personal attacks or attacks based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, among others, are not allowed. The editors reserve the right to refuse content they feel does not meet our values of civil debate.
Every submission will be read and reviewed by an editor, however we do not have the capacity to respond to every submission. Likewise, while we try to inform a writer when a selected piece will appear in the paper, we cannot guarantee advance notice. All My Turns and Letters chosen for publication will also appear at concordmonitor.com.
We work to allow the writer to maintain their voice. We do edit for spelling, grammar, style and clarity and we also fact-check when we feel a statistic, quote or assertion is suspect. We do not and cannot check every fact in every submission. Letters that include intentionally false information, or letters based in conspiracy theories, will be flagged, and the writer will be contacted regarding the error. We reserve the right to permanently exclude any writer we feel is purposely submitting false information.
Letters and My Turns should be in the writer's own words. Writers can, of course, use properly attributed quotations. Letters or My Turns that include suspected plagiarism will be flagged, and the writer will be contacted regarding the suspected plagiarism. We reserve the right to exclude any writer we feel is purposely plagiarizing content.
We do not under any circumstance pass along contact information received during the submission process to others outside Newspapers of New England, the Monitor's publishing company.
Letters to the Editor are 250 word submissions that pertain to local, community or state topics or issues. Letters can also be a response to other articles or columns. Candidate endorsements are permitted, and candidates for local office may submit a letter informing readers of their candidacy. All letters are subject to editing.
If you have an affiliation that is relevant to the topic of
your letter, please include that in the body of your letter. For
example, "As a town official, I believe"
Due to the format of the Letters section, only one name and town
can be listed in the signature. Those who would like a letter to
be on behalf of more than one person may write the name(s) into
the body of the letter. For example, "As residents of Concord,
Jane Smith and I believe"
To submit a Letter, use the online form at https://www.concordmonitor.com/Opinion/Submit-a-Letter.
Priority will be given to letter writers based in the Monitor's coverage area and on topics that more directly impact the region. However, you don't have to be a subscriber to submit a letter.
Letters must include a real name and town of residence in New
Hampshire. Anonymous letters are not accepted. You will see a
confirmation message on the submission screen once your letter
has made it to our system.
'News in Haiku' submissions may be sent to letters@cmonitor.com.
Please include a full name and town of residence. The deadline
for the Sunday paper is the Thursday before at 1 p.m.
My Turns are submissions that go deeper on an issue, written by someone who has a personal connection or an expertise in the subject matter, that the editors feel brings a valuable perspective. They are well reasoned, coherent, based in fact and drawn from a writer's expertise or experience. For example:
My Turns typically run from 400-800 words, although submissions that are shorter or longer may also be considered.
We do not accept My Turns that promote an individual's political campaign or organization. However, candidate endorsements and announcements are permitted in Letters to the Editor.
To submit a My Turn, send an email to
letters@cmonitor.com with the submission in the body of the
email. Make sure to include your full name, your credentials (if
relevant to the subject), and the town you live in. Anonymous
submissions are not accepted.
Professions, titles and academic degrees may be included in the
author's attribution when relevant to the topic being written
about. If you have taken a photo that coincides with the
submission that you would like considered as well, please send as
an attachment to your email.
_____________
Questions? Contact Allie Ginwala, audience engagement editor, at letters@cmonitor.com
The following policies have been crafted from Monitor institutional knowledge, industry best practices, and successful examples cited by other news organizations.
The following policies are set up to help us provide accurate, consistent and transparent reporting and to help readers understand our goals and what we stand for as a newsroom. We view these policies as guidelines that may be modified or updated based on feedback from our readers, a change in industry standards or our newsroom's perception of additional needs. At this time, the following policies apply only to stories written by Concord Monitor staff that appear in our print edition or at concordmonitor.com.
Our goal is to always provide accurate information. If we learn that information we published is factually inaccurate we will publicly correct the mistake as soon as possible. In print, corrections and clarifications run on either Page 2 or Page 3. They are also added as an Editor's Note either above or below a previously published online article. When our reporting is factually correct, but the language is unclear or requires more detail, a clarification may be published at the discretion of the editors To report inaccuracies, please email news@cmonitor.com to point out the error and if possible direct us to the correct information. Please use "Correction" in the subject line of the email.
The purpose of the Opinion section, both in print and at concordmonitor.com, is to elevate the conversation in our communities by giving space to thoughtful, reasoned commentary. The section features a range of perspectives and ideas, submitted by readers and community members, and offers a platform for people to share their voices. Those wishing to submit content to the opinion section must be in New Hampshire or have a clearly stated direct connection to the state. Full information and guidelines for the Monitor's community-submitted opinion content, including how to submit a Letter to the Editor or My Turn, can be found in our Opinion Policy.
The Concord Monitor publishes paid obituaries both in the paper and at concordmonitor.com. Obituaries are printed as submitted by families and funeral homes. Obituaries intended for the next day's paper must be submitted by 1:30 p.m. The Monitor does not charge for obituaries of those ages 17 and younger.
As of 2023, the Monitor will no longer offer free engagement, anniversary and wedding announcements. We encourage readers to submit their announcements through the advertising department's celebrations platform.
The Monitor seeks to be fair, accurate, and transparent in its reporting, and therefore will reserve anonymity for sources only on extremely rare occasions when anonymity is required to obtain vital information. To be granted anonymity, the source must be reliable and in a position to have direct knowledge of the information. When a story includes an anonymous source, we will provide context to why anonymity was granted.
Examples of instances where anonymity may be given include if a source is sharing information that has not yet been made public or cannot be obtained elsewhere or if a source would be at risk of imminent harm or retribution due to revealing their name. No opinion-related content will be permitted anonymously.
The Monitor and its readership value civility, and in order to maintain that we have established community guidelines for responding to articles. Due to the volume of comments and limitations of our small team, we are unable to moderate all comments posted on social media, but we will do our best to remove objectionable material and commenters that frequently do not meet our values of civil debate.
We encourage readers to respond to articles by submitting a Letter to the Editor using our online form here. Our Opinion section provides a platform for readers to respond to articles or comment on local, community or state topics, and is moderated by an editor.
Here's what we want in Letters to the Editor and public comments:
Here's what we don't want in Letters to the Editor and public comments:
The Monitor generally will not identify a victim or survivor of domestic or sexual violence or abuse, or those at risk of imminent harm unless the individual explicity expresses the desire to be named or publicly identifies themself. However, identification may be approved by an editor depending on specific circumstances.
The Monitor also generally does not identify minors, whether they are involved with, accused of, or witnesses to a crime. Identification may be approved by an editor depending on specific circumstances such as whether police have formally released the minor's name or if it involves a matter of public safety.
When reporting on a death by suicide, the Monitor will report the death as a suicide and keep information about the location, person and note (if applicable) general. If including the method of suicide is deemed directly relevant to the story, we will not dwell on the details, as that could become impactful for some readers. We will avoid using terms that may promote stigma, stereotypes or further harm and instead use language that is clear and in line with best practices such as those from The Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide. We will also include relevant information regarding local crisis assistance and treatment resources as well as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) and Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741) within the article.
The Monitor seeks to report the truth, minimize harm, and be responsive to the community. Requests to remove content from the online archives will be considered on an individual basis and take into account the person's interest in removing the content and the public's interest in the content remaining available. In general, we will not remove a published article in its entirety, but may make changes or updates if further editorial action is deemed necessary by an editor.
When a removal request is being considered, the individual may be asked to provide copies of related legal or other documents as proof. We will not accept requests from companies, government agencies, or lawyers on behalf of an individual. When an article is altered due to a content removal request, we will include an editor's note to the online article with an update that content has been removed.
We aim to include voices from multiple perspectives and provide well-rounded context in our stories. When we reach out to an individual for comment and they don't respond by the print deadline, we will provide the details surrounding our outreach within the article (i.e. the individual, group or organization we tried to reach and how we tried to reach them.) We aim to give sources time to respond, generally speaking, at least 24 hours. We do not mislead sources and when reaching out will identify ourselves as reporters for the Concord Monitor. We do not typically share a draft of an article with individuals outside of the newsroom prior to publication. Reporters and editors are able to provide clarity for those with questions about the article process.
We publish information from official, trusted sources or sources that we have verified, and will provide access to source material when available. We rely on information coming from readers, community stakeholders, local and regional government leaders and industry experts. We will clearly identify our sources so readers can understand the context around a quote, source or piece of information.
Our goal is to provide readers with stories that are accurate, valuable and relevant to their lives and communities. We aim to reflect what people are talking about in their communities with our coverage by publishing stories of high interest to readers and those we feel are important to bring to the community. We determine what to cover based on a number of factors, including local relevance, expressed interest and value, and online viewership. We hope our coverage encourages readers to get engaged within their communities.
Our reporters are dedicated to a beat or subject area, which allows them to focus deeply on a topic, area or community. The Monitor's reporter beats include education, sports, science and technology energy and the environment, policing, and specific cities, towns and regions.
Feedback from readers also helps us understand what is most useful and interesting. You can help guide our coverage by offering feedback in multiple ways, including:
We are a small, dedicated staff working to effectively and comprehensively cover our communities, towns and state, but we do not always have the bandwidth to dedicate a reporter to every story, issue or event. However, there are multiple ways to get involved with the Concord Monitor and highlight your team, group, club, school or town.
We encourage readers to look at all of the options available to share their share photos, events, information and updates on our To Our Readers page under "How (and where) to submit content to the Monitor."
The Concord Monitor accepts gifts, grants and sponsorships to help sustain local news coverage. In all cases, the Monitor maintains complete editorial control in all aspects of its reporting. Our funders agree to support us because they value the role of a free and independent press. They have no influence on what or how we report and have no advance knowledge of specific stories we are pursuing. Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their products, services or opinions.
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