Leeanne Griffin
Broad Brook,CT
Summary
Skilled and versatile Connecticut journalist and writer, with 15+ years' experience in breaking news, digital journalism and features writing. Longtime specialist in food and dining.
Overview
18
18
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Food Reporter
Hearst Connecticut Media Group
01.2021 - 11.2024
- Reported on restaurant openings and closings, trends, events and general news about Connecticut food and beverage businesses.
- Maintained a mix of daily news items and longer, fully researched and reported features and guides.
- Created original social media content, including Instagram reels and other video projects, to supplement written stories.
- Exceeded deadlines consistently, producing accurate and well-written news stories under tight time constraints.
Food and Dining Reporter
Hartford Courant
07.2014 - 12.2020
- Reporting role focused on food and dining, covering restaurant openings and closings, events, trends and general news from Connecticut's food scene
- Responsible for daily breaking news, weekly in-depth features, interviews with local and nationally-known chefs, event listings and advance event coverage
- Wrote, edited and produced stories for multiple platforms, including print layout, online publication, social media channels and video
Online Producer
MassLive.com
04.2012 - 07.2014
- Worked with a team of online producers and editors to determine the daily editorial presentation of masslive.com, the online partner of the Springfield Republican newspaper
- Assisted in the launch of an initiative to incorporate more local food and restaurant content into the site's entertainment section, augmenting the coverage with weekly multimedia features
- Served as homepage editor, producing the news site with content from the print edition, breaking news items and national shared content from the Advance Publications media network
- Duties included packaging stories for web with photo galleries, audio, video and interactive content
Freelance Writer/Blogger
Various Publications
10.2009 - 07.2014
- Author of A La Carte, Hartford Courant /CTNow.com’s dining blog
- Responsible for daily posts on local and national dining news, deals, tips, trends and reviews
- Handled mobile text alerts and social media outreach for the blog
- Contributing food and dining writer for The Hartford Courant and general-assignment writer for various Patch.com sites
Adjunct Professor
Quinnipiac University
05.2010 - 05.2011
- Taught graduate-level Reporting for the Web and Communications, Media and Society courses to journalism students in the McMahon School of Communications
Online Producer
Hartford Courant
07.2006 - 10.2009
- Worked with a team of online producers and editors to determine the editorial direction of courant.com
- Updated the site with content from the print edition, breaking news items and national shared content from the Tribune media network
- Duties included producing stories for web with photo galleries, audio, video and other interactive multimedia
- Served as daily editor of courant.com’s features and entertainment site section fronts
- Worked as a print-to-web liaison with feature editors and reporters to fully enhance stories and packages with multimedia content
- Assisted in a newsroom-wide integration initiative to train selected print copy editors in website content-management systems
- Supervised several interns from Connecticut journalism programs
Education
Master of Science - Journalism
Quinnipiac University
Hamden, CT07-2006
Bachelor of Arts - Business Communications, Writing
Assumption College
Worcester, MA05-2003
Skills
- HTML
- Photoshop
- Web content management systems
- Social networking applications
- SEO
- WordPress
- Google Analytics
- Video editing software
- Audio editing software
- Adobe
- Microsoft Office
Affiliations
- Northeast Regional Panelist for the annual James Beard Foundation Restaurant & Chef Awards
- Member, Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists
Awards
- Recipient of Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists feature writing awards in 2017, 2018 and 2019
- 2018 arts/entertainment award winner in the New England Better Newspaper Competition
Timeline
Senior Food Reporter
Hearst Connecticut Media Group
01.2021 - 11.2024
Food and Dining Reporter
Hartford Courant
07.2014 - 12.2020
Online Producer
MassLive.com
04.2012 - 07.2014
Adjunct Professor
Quinnipiac University
05.2010 - 05.2011
Freelance Writer/Blogger
Various Publications
10.2009 - 07.2014
Online Producer
Hartford Courant
07.2006 - 10.2009
Master of Science - Journalism
Quinnipiac University
Bachelor of Arts - Business Communications, Writing
Assumption College
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