2023: A Busy Year For News, Information In New Hampshire

CONCORD, NH — It has been another busy year at Patch in New Hampshire, and the numbers in 2023 bear that out.

While compiling a list of the most-read stories and posts of the year and some of my favorite things I worked on this last year, I was struck by the sheer volume of the work produced on our 14 sites.

For 2023, Patch had more than 14.2 million page views on our Granite State sites. That is down from last year (thank you, Facebook algorithm changes). However, it is still a lot more page views than one would expect from essentially one person, news partners, and the occasional coverage from other staffers in the company (thank you, Cailin and others).

According to Patch’s CMS data, I produced nearly 3,100 pieces of content in 2023.

Despite what some online trolls may think, only a handful of those posts were aggregated content from other news outlets. More than most of the other stories were ones readers would not see anywhere else or saw on Patch first.

Example: The most-read story of the year, the shooting at New Hampshire Hospital, which was first reported by me a few minutes after it occurred and police gave the all-clear that the shooter was down. Another? The second most-read story of the year, New England’s most popular radio talk show host, Howie Carr, having a medical episode live on the air.

Patch was also the first outlet to report on the state’s first mass shooting, as well as many, many other stories and posts.

Our readers also saw hundreds of stories from our news partners — Jeffrey Hastings, InDepthNH, NH Journal, NH Bulletin, and News 603. I’m grateful to them for filling in the gaps in coverage, especially Hasting’s work in the southern part of the state and News 603 getting out to late night and early morning crashes and fires in and around the capital region when I am sometimes asleep or busy doing other things.

Top 10 Stories Of 2023

1. NH Hospital 'Active Shooter' Incident Under Investigation In Concord: Watch: NH AG's Office IDs security officer who was killed as former Franklin Police Chief Bradley Haas; shooter not identified; more.
2. Radio Talk Show Host Howie Carr Has Medical Episode While Live On Air: The New England talk host, author, and journalist said he felt under the weather after a procedure Monday; hospitalized after fainting.
3. 3 NH Towns Among The Top 100 Small Towns In America: Report: The travel media company Far and Wide recently ranked the 100 best towns with fewer than 10,000 residents.
4. Merrimack Teacher, Coach, A Suspect In A Fatal Hit-And-Run, Found Dead: Shawn Croteau of Newbury, a Merrimack educator, was a suspect in the death of Michael Vigneault during a crash on Jan. 15 in the Queen City.
5. New Hampshire LEGO Store Celebrates Official Grand Opening: The Nashua store, located at the Pheasant Lane Mall, will host activities, including a master builder constructing an 8-foot-tall Baby Yoda.
6. Accused NH Rioters Arraigned, 2 Given $20K Bail Due To Prior Arrests: Bridget Shergalis, Calla Walsh, and Sophie Ross face sabotage, burglary, and other charges after an incident at Elbit Systems in Merrimack.
7. Hooded Man Shoots 4 People At Graduation Party In Manchester: Update: Saturday's incident, at a housing project in New Hampshire's largest city, is the first mass shooting in the state in about 25 years.
8. Harmony Montgomery's Body Moved Several Times After Her Beating Death: Her body was moved from a car to a shelter, restaurant freezer, and Union Street apartment. Dad Adam Montgomery is accused of killing her.
9. Mall At Fox Run In Newington Sold: Torrington Properties purchased the property, which has more than 60 stores and restaurants, from Morgan Stanley for $17.5 million.
10. Rite Aid To Close This New Hampshire Store After Bankruptcy Filing: A single store in New Hampshire is set to close — but the company did not say when the store would close.

Some Of My Fave Stories & Posts

It is always challenging, whether thinking about the stories produced across a year or during press association award entry season, to analyze or even find or remember the best things you’ve done.

Here, though, are a few things worth bragging about — including some stories I was grateful to see resolved.

I’m particularly proud my 2023 municipal election coverage for Concord — including an astounding 12-city election debates hosted by me and Concord TV (with promotional help from the New England Take podcast), the most I’ve ever done in a single election season (and I’ve hosted a lot of debates over the years in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts).

Only one of the 13 contested races in the city was not featured in our forum series (our new Zone B school board member chose not to participate and her opponent declined to debate an empty chair, even if we did offer). I believe we were also the first media outlet to publish 2023 election results, like normal, a few minutes after 7 p.m. when the polls closed.

Getting to the end of the Stephen and Djeswende Reid murder case, after writing dozens of stories, covering many angles, and still having lingering questions about the investigation, including Logan LaVar Clegg’s motive, was a good thing for the community. It was also good to witness the end of the Prima “Howie” Leung teacher-student rape case, a three-plus-year stain on Concord’s school system and community.

Being able to write about all the important work going on in the state, whether it is tragic, like hunting for missing people, or heartwarming, like this story about Guys Who Give A $hit raising money for nonprofits or women reforming their basketball team to raise scholarship money, is always gratifying.

In 2023, I also won five New Hampshire Press Association awards, while Hastings earned four from content he published on Patch. Any year when a tiny outlet like ours wins nine awards must have been a pretty good year.

Sometimes, my coverage is explosive; other times, just plain strange.

It also has been fun attending the Concord High School wrestling matches. Since my son is on the team, I’m there anyway. So why not take pictures of the kids? When other towns participate, I’m able to update other communities, too, about how their bouts went. And the matches are a lot of fun to watch. It has been nice hearing from other parents and the kids, too, who seem to appreciate seeing all the action.

That’s it for me. Here is hoping you have a wonderful and safe New Year’s Eve and a prosperous New Year!

Have you got a news tip? Please send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube.com channel or Rumble.com channel. Check out the #FITN2024 NH Patch post channel and follow our politics Twitter account @NHPatchPolitics for all our campaign coverage.