DURHAM, N.H. -- Mashable real time editor Megan Specia '09 has been named the 2015 Donald M. Murray Visiting Journalist at the University of New Hampshire. She will discuss "Redefining Real Time Journalism in the Digital Age" Tuesday, April 7, 2015, at 5 p.m. in MUB Theater I. The talk is free and open to the public.

Specia is a journalist based in New York City, working as the assistant real time editor for Mashable, reporting on national and international breaking news. She joined the Mashable team in September 2014 and has covered major stories such as the ongoing Ferguson protests, Islamic State incursion in Iraq and Syria, and the Charlie Hebdo attacks. 

"Mashable is a growing media company that is developing new and innovative ways to tell news stories across several digital platforms," said Specia. "For me, it was an opportunity to join a team that is still relatively small, and work to build out the news gathering processes around breaking international news and really define the way we tell stories."

Prior to joining Mashable, Specia lived in Ireland for four years. She worked for the Dublin-based news organization Storyful for over three years, discovering and verifying user generated content coming from all corners of the globe, and was a part of the start-up prior to its acquisition by NewsCorp. While there, she worked in the newsrooms of Yahoo, ABC, and VICE to optimize the use of socially sourced content and information. 

"We are always trying to find new angles and less traditional approaches to covering major events," says Specia of her work at Mashable. "Social media allows newfound access to international news from those closest to the story, so much of my work centers around harnessing and verifying that information, and pulling it together in a way that is compelling for our audience. We also like to have a little bit of fun and bring a fresh take on the traditional forms of storytelling."

The University of New Hampshire, founded in 1866, is a world-class public research university with the feel of a New England liberal arts college. A land, sea, and space-grant university, UNH is the state's flagship public institution, enrolling 12,300 undergraduate and 2,200 graduate students

Image to be downloaded: /unhtoday/news/releases/2015/04/images/specia-4760.jpg
Caption: Mashable real time editor Megan Specia '09 has been named the 2015 Donald M. Murray Visiting Journalist at the University of New Hampshire.