- Details
- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Our Company
Kat Roedell
Kat went to school at Daniel Webster College, majoring in the Information Technology Management program. She’s top-notch with her business and IT skills.
Kat was an Enterprise Architect for the U.S. Navy for several years and is the owner of Ignite Business Planning Services, which helps small business owners plan out their operations and solve business-related problems. She does outreach to the business community for Barrington Town News, which has really helped us grow.
If you have any questions about how to advertise on our website, please contact her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. She has full authority to make deals with you that will benefit and grow your business.
Virginia Schonwald
Ginna has lived in Barrington for 34 years. She got her master’s degree in English from the University of New Hampshire (UNH), and a Master’s in Library Science from the University of Rhode Island.
Ginna worked as a school librarian in Deerfield for 14 years, retiring in June 2019. Before that, she was a Children’s/Youth Librarian at the Barrington Public Library. She has also worked for UNH as a writer/editor in their Publications office, and as a freelance writer for local magazines.
Ginna loves the people and the sense of community in Barrington. There are so many wonderful people, like Ginna, who volunteer their time to make Barrington a great place to live.
Ginna covers the following topics:
- Stonehouse Forest, managed by SELT
- The Barrington Public Library
- The Barrington Library Foundation
You can reach Ginna Schonwald at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Laurie Donaldson Todd
Laurie has been a Barrington resident for 16 years. She’s been married for 19 years and has two teenagers. Her daughter, who attends Barrington Middle School, dances with the Joy of Dance group in Lee, NH. Her son is the captain of the lacrosse team at Oyster River High School and is in the JROTC program at Dover High School.
Laurie graduated from Southern New Hampshire University with a Bachelor’s in Business Marketing. Her career has been primarily in Human Resource Management, focusing on benefits and healthcare.
Laurie covers the following topics for Barrington Town News:
- The Barrington Historical Society
- The Barrington Conservation Committee
- Oyster River High School
- Barrington Middle School
You can reach Laurie Donaldson Todd at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Patrick R. McElhiney
Patrick founded Barrington Town News for a specific reason that he still hasn’t shared with everyone. He’s waiting for the right time to share that reason, which could perhaps be years into the future. Patrick can be rather secretive about certain issues, and there’s more to Barrington Town News than meets the eye.
Patrick really likes the community in Barrington, NH and has lived here since 2007. He’s usually very successful with everything he does professionally, but very cautious when it comes to matters of the heart. He has political ambitions beyond your wildest dreams, however, he decided that working in the private industry would be best to start out, due to how much money is required to be successful in national politics. He didn’t start the newspaper to win votes or to make tons of money – the reason was personally motivated. Patrick is very passionate about the news he would like to share, and the Town of Barrington is a common demographic to the topic he would like to author.
Patrick’s grandfather was a newspaper delivery boy for the Boston Globe and the Foster’s Daily Democrat in Dover in 1920. One year, at Christmas time, he made more in tips from delivering his newspapers than his father made that week working at the family plumbing company. His mother broke out into tears as he gave the money to her to support the family. He had made so much in tips, because he always listened to every customer, and put the paper exactly where each customer wanted it. Patrick grew up without ever meeting grandpa Robert Labrie, who died from a rare blood disease at an early age. In a way, he’s living proof of the stories he’s been told since he was a baby.
This business would not have been possible without the love and support of Patrick’s immediate family, who taught him to be kind and to care about other people. Patrick is currently a Ph.D. student studying Computer Science at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. He achieved his Master’s in Information Technology at UNH Manchester, and his Bachelor’s in Marketing Management at Daniel Webster College. When Patrick wants to share more news, you’ll be the first to know about it at www.barringtontownnews.com.
- Details
- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Our Company
How To Request Media Coverage
- Submit a Press Release to Barrington Town News – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Submit the article directly to the Barrington Town News Website for review by our staff, which will publish the article if it complies with our requirements and content standards.
- Contact one of Barrington Town News’ writers and request an article be written.
- Obtain permission to Blog on the Barrington Town News website, and post the article yourself.
- Pay for Advertising on Barrington Town News - Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Who Can Submit Articles to Barrington Town News?
- Anyone in Barrington, NH
Who Can Ask for Permission to Blog on Barrington Town News?
- Town of Barrington Officials
- Barrington Police Department
- Barrington Fire Department
- Political Officials
- Chamber of Commerce
- Local Doctors
- Local Lawyers
- Local Scientists, including Environmentalists
- Local Public Health Officials
- Other Government Employees
- Other Individuals, as determined by Barrington Town News
How To Request A Blog
- Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Details
- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Our Company
This article will teach you the basics of how to write an informative newspaper article that is worthy of being published by Barrington Town News.
Most newspaper articles break down into two categories:
- News Articles – which cover the basics of current events by answering the Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? Questions about the event. These types of articles usually have one angle, which is a single viewpoint, such as what the perspective reader in the community would want to know about the current event. You want to make sure that these types of articles are not biased or based on opinion, as the reader just wants to know the facts of the current event.
- Feature Articles – which are longer and more in-depth than regular news articles. They cover one subject from multiple angles, such as the Business, Environmental, and Political Implications of the article. These types of articles can optionally be written in a more creative and entertaining perspective, but still very professional and centered on what the reader needs to know about the topic or current event.
Both News Articles and Feature Articles require the same level of diligence in the amount of research that is done into the topic or current event.
The Outline of Your Story
The best way to structure your article is to first write an outline, conduct your research and notes based on the outline, and then fill in the outline with the facts and quotes that you’ve obtained from your sources. Every single fact in a newspaper article must come from either an external source or public knowledge that you or a colleague have about the topic. It is not necessary to have a background in the topic you are researching; however, it helps to add context to the article.
i) The Headline – this is what readers will look at first to decide if they want to read your article. It’s important to make it concise – no greater than 60 characters, and it must also summarize the article. Newspapers can have a lot of fun with their headlines to grab the attention of an audience.
ii) The Opening Sentence – this sentence summarizes even more what is contained in the article, with a little more information than the headline. It should be no longer than 120 characters. This sentence will be shown underneath the headline before the reader clicks on the article link.
iii) Introduction – this section of the article is the first part of the body of the article, which is displayed at the top of the article after the user has clicked on the headline. Usually, this section will start out with the location that the story pertains to in all caps, such as BARRINGTON, N.H. – it then summarizes the entire article’s main points in one paragraph, which contains 3-4 compound sentences.
iv) Opening Quotation – if your article contains quotes that people have said, either in an email or in person, you would include their initial response here.
v) Main Body – This is where the heart of your story goes, including well-organized logic of how your facts are laid out.
vi) Closing Quotation – if your article contains quotes from people, this is where you should refer to the closing quote that concludes the source’s perspective of the story. Be careful not to bias the article based on your closing quote if you’re using more than one person’s quotes.
vii) Conclusion – This section is optional if you didn’t use quotes, or if your closing quote doesn’t successfully close out the story. This should be a memorable way to end your story. You can also a sentence such as, “For more information, visit www.organization.com.”
Not all these elements are necessary to be represented in your story. For example, if you don’t feel comfortable taking quotes from people, you don’t have to. You can just write what they say, and you can optionally reference the person you spoke to that you obtained the information from. It really depends on if you’re writing a story about an organization or subject matter, or if you’re writing a story about a person’s point of view.
Using Quotes
It’s not always necessary to have a lead source for a story – for an example, you may be writing a story based on a Press release, which is a news story already drafted by an organization. In this case, you may want to reach out to the contact on the Press release and ask them additional questions that you feel their story left out. You should write out your questions prior to contacting your source of information.
Editing Is Required
Your first written version of a story is just your rough draft – you’ll need to edit the article to improve its contents and readability. You can always read the article back to yourself to see how the reader will think about the article. You can also have a friend or family member read your draft article, as many times as you need to until it reads perfectly and conveys the message of the story you’ve chosen. Be sure to remove all spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. You can also read your story out loud, which will help you catch awkward phrases.
Article Submission
Once you believe your article is finished, you’ll submit it to the newspaper’s editor, that is a professional writer who will use various software tools and their professional experience to make your article shine. Software that is used can include programs that correct all spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, programs that optimize the content for search engines, and programs that optimize the content for readability.
- Details
- Written by Patrick R. McElhiney
- Category: Our Company
General Article Requirements
- The article must be connected to Barrington, New Hampshire in some way.
- i.e. An article about the Barrington Public Library.
- i.e. An article about Market Basket at the Lee Traffic Circle, because Barrington residents shop there.
- The article must benefit the community of Barrington, NH.
- i.e. A story about a car crash just because it happened doesn’t qualify.
- i.e. The Barrington Police Log qualifies because it raises public awareness about local crime. There should be links to resources on how to prevent crime from affecting Barrington residents, also.
- If the article is about politics, it must cover both sides of the story.
- i.e. If the article is about a Democratic issue, it must also cover the Republican side of the issue, if there is one, and vice versa.
- If the article is about a political candidate, equal coverage must be provided to any other candidates running against them.
- i.e. If there are two candidates running for the same seat, both candidates must receive fair and equal coverage.
- If the article is about a business, it must be Press worthy – which means it must benefit the public’s knowledge in some significant way.
- i.e. A ribbon-cutting ceremony qualifies because the public would not have known about the business opening before.
- i.e. A company offering a new service may or may not qualify – depending upon what type of service, and whether there is another company that already provides it. If there's another company that already provides the service, it should be mentioned, if the context of the article is even Press worthy.
- i.e. A company that just wants to be promoted in the Press to obtain more business doesn’t qualify, but stories may be written about local companies in the Business section for various reasons.
- If the article is about a business, it must not be covered excessively, unless if it is about community-based involvement. Businesses that want constant coverage by the newspaper will need to pay for advertising.
- There is such a thing as a paid article for the newspaper, that would allow a business or person to make edits to the content to ensure it provides the right message that they want to provide to the community.
- For articles covering minors, the parents must sign a release form allowing Barrington Town News to publish any information about their child.
- Every article should be 1.5 to 2.5 pages of text, free of spelling and grammatical mistakes, and must be on the point of the article’s title. It should be optimized for SEO-friendliness, and readability, using a tool such as Textmetrics or Copywritely.
- The article must not contain hate speech, unnecessary criticism, or controversial information – it should be beneficial to the readers in Barrington all around.
- The article or any content must be approved for ages 13+, which means no adult content, i.e. nudity or partial nudity. The article or content doesn't need to be written at a 6th-grade reading level - it just needs to be age-appropriate.
- The article must not provide external hyperlinks to for-profit companies that the author or their associates are employed in any manner unless specifically authorized by Barrington Town News.
- Additional terms will be posted at a later date, so be sure to check back to make sure your article is compliant with our policies.
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