Interview of Matt Kanner

 Max Jasper and Mae Rines

1/3/11

Living Local History

Matt Kanner

Matt Kanner, editor for the Portsmouth based newspaper ‘The Wire’ has been working with the production for four years on a full-time basis, also having written free-lance articles for The Wire beforehand. He wrote for his high school newspaper at Exeter High School, but never really planned to pursue journalism as a career at the time. He was an English major in college but wasn't really sure what he wanted to do. He returned to the Seacoast (after five years out west) right around the time The Wire was starting up in the fall of 2003. They were looking for music writers and he started doing some freelance work. That was his first experience getting published. He later worked as a daily reporter for Foster's Daily Democrat for a couple of years, covering the police/court/fire beat in Rochester and then Portsmouth. When an opening came up at The Wire, he left Foster's and hopped aboard. ‘I've been here ever since.’ Kanner said.

He stated the most difficult part about his job was deciding who and who not to interview. There’s so much going on locally, in politics, culture, arts and entertainment. It's difficult to cover it all in a weekly 24-page publication with limited resources. Having to make decisions every week as to which pieces of news, events and trends are the most significant and of the most interest to The Wire’s readers is tough.

Although Mr. Kanner does have the difficult job of finding the best of the best out of the collection of stories, he did say that the flip side of the previous statement is that he gets to cover all kinds of interesting stuff. He gets to interview lots of cool, smart, creative people engaged in all kinds of neat projects. In addition to hundreds of local figures, He has talked to famous musicians like Les Claypool, George Clinton, John Scofield, Rufus Wainwright; authors like Augusten Burroughs, Chuck Palahniuk, Paul Harding; comedians like Cheech and Chong; and politicians like Barack Obama and Joe Biden (when they were both U.S. Senators). Every week he is immersed in fascinating new stories, and says he is always learning and it never gets dull.

He also told us some of the more interesting stories he has come across. One was a story he did story he did about the area's hardcore music scene. The author of the book "American Hardcore" was giving a presentation at Portsmouth Library. Kanner interviewed him and talked to a number of local musicians, including Dropkick Murphys front man Al Barr, who lives in Portsmouth. It was interesting to learn about what the scene was like back in the 1980s, when it was at its peak, and how it's evolved over the years to the present day.

Another that came to mind was a story he had written late in 2008 about the historic election results of that year. For the first time in the history of any state, New Hampshire had voted in a majority of women in the State Senate, and also elected a female U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative. The Speaker of the House and Senate President were both women, too. He had spoken with many of these elected officials about the significance of the election and what it meant for the state and nation.

In regards to those who seek to be journalists in the future, he said his best piece of advice would be to “put in the work with some hard news reporting. People often refer to Foster's as boot camp for journalists, because they demand a high volume of stories with strict deadlines. That experience really hammered me into shape as a reporter. It can be stressful to meet daily deadlines and answer to cranky editors, but if you can't handle that stress than you're just not going to hack it as a serious journalist. If you do, though, journalism can be immensely rewarding.”