CONCORD, NH — After nearly a quarter of a century of analyzing online news data, it is no surprise that breaking news is popular with readers, including at Patch in New Hampshire.
For 13.5 years, starting first in Concord and expanding to other cities and towns, Patch has worked to provide as much information as possible to Granite Staters in our communities. During that time, things have been tweaked and changed based on profitability, access to information, and community engagement and interaction, not unlike every media outlet. Everyone in the news and journalism business is trying to find ways to make it all work.
One of the great things about Patch is that it is free. All we ask you for is a bit of your time — and you have given it to us: Patch sites in New Hampshire derived more than 12.5 million page views in 2024. The number is down from previous years a bit, primarily due to Facebook changing its algorithms. Unfortunately, Meta, for whatever reason, denies our readers the ability to see content in our feeds — links you have asked for because you have liked and followed our feeds! It is beyond infuriating.
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Top 5 Most-Read Stories Of 2024
Two of the stories in the Top 5 for this year were produced by Jeffrey Hastings, who has a photography business and a news site in Manchester. We are grateful for his contributions to Patch, covering breaking news in the central and southern part of New Hampshire so that I can focus most of my time on the Concord site (the sixth busiest site in the company, based on page view goals).
While I enjoy covering state political issues, we have three news partners — InDepthNH, NH Journal, and New Hampshire Bulletin, that perform much of that work, often overlapping each other. So, there is no sense in me putting together similar stories. Patch is grateful for their contributions to the news cycle this year and for filling holes in our state political and government coverage.
I’m also thankful, too, for the work of News 603. William ventures out to crashes and fires and is often out and about when I am often working on other things.
In 2024, Patch earned more press association awards (I’m close to 50 now in my time in the media, in multiple formats and mediums, in two states, which is great). It is always good to be honored by others in the business (journalists in other states judge the awards). Our news partners, too, continue to win awards for their coverage.
Other Stories In 2024
Surprisingly, or maybe not, considering the changes to our content management system, I only published around 2,900 posts this year on Patch.
Not all those posts and stories were breaking news or crime coverage.
One of the most-read posts that didn’t make it into the Top 5 was the analysis by U.S. News on the ranking of public high schools in New Hampshire, which more than 30,000 people read. Unfortunately, much of our discussion in New Hampshire is all about the Benjamins and not the quality of what the Benjamins are buying and delivering to our children, which is unfortunate.
Another popular story was about the state finally cleaning up a massive homeless camp in Concord, which was way overdue. It’s funny how trying to sell a parcel for $1.1 million will get the state bureaucrats to act.
Speaking of bureaucrats, we need to thank them for all their fecal and cyanobacteria updates during the spring and summer so we can keep our pets and children safe while wading and swimming in our wonderful ponds, lakes, and the Atlantic. Those were consistently popular posts on Patch last year.
Another “Thank you!” to government employees? New Hampshire Fish & Game. They are constantly rescuing people around the state (Note to self: Renew my hike safe card, even though I didn’t use it this year, and make sure I use it in 2025).
There were shocking stories, too, including a shooting in Rollins Park, the death of a New Hampshire man who threatened presidential candidates, the hiring of an elementary school principal who was being sued and was accused of spying on employees, the recovery of the body of Anthony Meunier, who was buried in an Airport Road yard after an apparent overdose, and a motorcycle crash that took the life of Joe Kasper, an active and beloved member of the Concord business community. I also lost my father and was able to tell his story in this obituary. And Adam Montgomery and Danielle Dauphinais were sent to prison for killing their children.
Happy New Year
There will be many challenges in 2025. But, like everything in life, we can all take them on. Live every day to the fullest — every single one. I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year. See you on the other side of 2024.
Do you have a news tip? Please email it to [email protected]. View videos on Tony Schinella’s YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel. Follow the NH politics Twitter account @NHPatchPolitics for all our campaign coverage.
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