Second Newspaper Joins Helium’s Social Publishing Platform to Provide Hyper-Local Content and Promote Civil Discourse

ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Helium (www.Helium.com), the world’s largest writing community, has partnered with the Massachusetts-based Eagle-Tribune newspaper to provide hyper-local content and promote civil discourse for its readership. The Eagle-Tribune which is a subsidiary of Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc (CNHI), is the second newspaper to take advantage of Helium’s recently launched Media Solutions offering—GateHouse Media subsidiary State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL) went live with the program in September and more partners are expected to be announced soon.

“We believe our greatest value to readers lies in our ability to provide unique, hyper-local content that cannot be found anywhere else,” said Al Getler, publisher at The Eagle-Tribune. “Helium’s social publishing platform is a revolutionary solution that will allow us to better engage our readers while still maintaining our longstanding reputation for editorial excellence.”

Utilizing Helium’s freelance Marketplace, The Eagle-Tribune will be able to identify a stable of community stringers, who are compensated for contributing articles on a variety of topics ranging from wedding planning tips to great day trips with your kids, to seasonal gardening advice and concert reviews.

By engaging their audience in this way, The Eagle-Tribune aims to give “a greater voice to the people” that live in the paper’s market and can provide information that complements the paper’s editorial staff, said Getler.

William B. Ketter, vice president of news for CNHI, described the partnership as “another important step into the digital world.” He said readers today want to help their local newspaper provide even more basic community information than in the past, including reports about public meetings, volunteer programs and other local events.

“We expect Helium’s social publishing platform will make it much easier for The Eagle-Tribune to interact with its readers, and to benefit from their varied interests in community affairs,” said Ketter.

“We are providing an unprecedented way for newspapers to easily and cost-effectively produce quality, custom, local and lifestyle content,” says Peter Newton, a former advertising executive of The Boston Globe now vice president of business development for Helium. “Our model offers editors a choice when it comes to the content selection process.”

The Eagle Tribune will also leverage Helium’s community engagement feature to facilitate reader comments around a new debate topic each week. The feature encourages readers to submit short articles in favor or against the topic at hand.

The Eagle-Tribune, based in North Andover, Mass., is a daily newspaper covering the Merrimack Valley and Essex County in Massachusetts, and southern New Hampshire. It has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for local news coverage.

CNHI, The Eagle-Tribune’s corporate parent, is a leading publisher of local news and information in the United States. Based in Birmingham, Ala., it serves more than 150 communities with newspapers, television stations, websites and niche publications.

About Helium

Helium is the world’s largest community of writers. Since its inception in 2006, Helium members have published over 1.25 million articles on 125,000 unique topics. Each month more than 3 million people visit Helium.com to read and rate articles, secure writing assignments with publishers through Helium’s freelance Marketplace, compete in writing contests, and engage in civilized debate around the issues and causes that are most important to them. Top earning members have made more than $5,000 from writing on Helium. Helium is a privately held, privately funded company headquartered in Andover, MA. For more information please visit www.Helium.com.