North Carolina Local News Workshop

We’re excited about this special service available at the 3/12 NC News & Information Summit in Durham, which we're co-hosting with North Carolina Open Government Coalition. Please note, you need to sign up in advance! ⚖️ Legal Checkup Clinic for NC newsrooms ProJourn is organizing a series of Legal Checkup Clinics for Summit attendees who sign up in advance. During these clinics, attorneys will assess news organizations’ legal health by reviewing a checklist developed with the support of the firm Davis Wright Tremaine. This checklist includes a review of business models, governance, fundraising guidelines, media liability, intellectual property, and privacy. For more information and to sign up visit bit.ly/SummitLegalCheckup. Facilitated by Christina Piaia Christina Piaia and Karla Burgos-Morón, ProJourn, a pro bono program operated by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Not registered yet for the Summit? Find all the details here: https://lnkd.in/eaWRucM6 🎨 Graphic by @sarahdayowen

Happy Wednesday news & info friends! Our weekly newsletter is scheduled for Thursday/tomorrow this week and you don't want to miss it, as we'll be sharing some exciting news! In the meantime, here are a few opportunities we're highlighting: 📝 Looking for a tool to help you stay on top of all the federal policy impacts on North Carolina? Use our handy tracker (and share links to new stories in the comments): https://lnkd.in/eKUQe877 📆 The NC Women in Journalism group is meeting virtually tomorrow at 6 pm. The topic for this month is self-care and journalism. Sign up here to attend: https://lnkd.in/eQaXzt7s 🫶 We're launching three Circles of Practice, focusing on newsroom culture, community engagement and one for Spanish-speaking journalists. Interested? Get in touch at nclocal at elon dot edu. ⏰ Stay tuned for much more tomorrow morning!

Are you registered yet for the 3/12 NC News & Information Summit at NC Central in Durham? We are just 15 days away from the annual gathering co-hosted with the North Carolina Open Government Coalition. Join journalists, publishers, open government advocates, educators, funders and others supporting the local news ecosystem here in the Tar Heel state. We have 20+ sessions, meet-ups and roundtables including: 🚀 How AI can boost our human-powered journalism Go beyond the Al hype to learn how Al tools can actually benefit newsrooms and help journalists spend more time in their communities. Learn case studies, get hands-on practical solutions and discuss ethical challenges. Facilitated by Tyler Dukes McClatchy Media. Did you know college students get complimentary registration? Summit details and registration here: https://lnkd.in/eaWRucM6 🎨 Graphic by @sarahdayowen 

The countdown begins! We are just 16 days away from the 2025 NC News & Information Summit! Co-hosted with the North Carolina Open Government Coalition, this year’s gathering takes place March 12 at NC Central in Durham. The Summit features the annual Sunshine Awards, a keynote spotlighting WNC news and information in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and more than 20 sessions, meet-ups and roundtables. Today’s featured session: 📊 Data secrets of political scientists 📊 How liberal is Jeff Jackson? How conservative is Richard Hudson? How many people of color voted in the 2024 election in North Carolina? Who had their ballots rejected because of North Carolina's voter ID Law? Bring your questions and a laptop for an interactive session to find the answers. Facilitated by Chris Cooper, Western Carolina University. Register for the Summit here: https://lnkd.in/eaWRucM6

We're excited to highlight some of the talented journalists participating in the NC Report for America Cohort. This week's featured reporter is Morgan Casey, who's covering health for CityView Media. Morgan graduated from Arizona State University with a master’s in investigative journalism, conducting team investigations into American lithium mining and Catholic health systems. One of her favorite stories she's done in NC looks at Fayetteville's reputation as "America’s least walkable city" and the efforts of advocates to improve pedestrian safety. Find our Q&A with Morgan here. She shares some tips for your next trip to Fayetteville: https://lnkd.in/erFCyQX2 The Workshop's NC RFA Cohort is a special initiative. Led by program manager Sarah Day Owen Wiskirchen, corp members receive skills training, workshops on NC-specific issues, professional development coaching and opportunities to plug into the local news ecosystem. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/e5tADW-Z

The people who reported on Hurricane Helene in Western NC are still serving their communities and living the realities of a hard, uneven recovery. “It’s still the same little feral squad who went through that experience,” said Laura Lee, news director of Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR). Thank you for sharing your work and keeping the mountains on people’s minds, Enlace Latino NC, Blue Ridge Public Radio (BPR), Appalachian Relief, and North Carolina Local News Workshop.

Lots of news, resources and opportunities in this week's NC Local newsletter! 📝 The pace of radical changes from the Trump administration is dizzying. Use our local impact tracker to see how it affects counties, cities, towns and neighborhoods across NC. H/T Melanie Sill for the idea & getting us started. 🎙️ WNC's Laura Lee, Patricia Serrano & Micah Spain are at the Knight Foundation Media Forum in Miami this week, sharing insights into community information needs during Helene in a panel moderated by our own Shannan Bowen. 📅 Want to connect more regularly with your peers across the state? We're launching several Circles of Practice, including one for Spanish language news outlets & journalists. 🫶 The next NC Women in Journalism meet-up is next week 2/27 Alexandra S. facilitates a conversation with Martha Quillin & members about self-care and journalism. (Lexi also made the fabulous flyer below!) Plus, see who's featured in the "Well Done" section, who's hiring in the local news ecosystem & the latest stories available for republication. Find the latest edition here: https://lnkd.in/eX5Q2FDD Not signed up yet? Join 1,000-plus others who are building and shaping the future of local news and information from Murphy to Manteo: https://lnkd.in/e4YYhH7z

The disaster left by Hurricane Helene in Western NC isn't over. It won't be for a long time. Just ask anyone living in our mountain region. So we'll keep talking about it. We'll keep talking about the communication lessons learned when there's unreliable cell, power and broadband infrastructure. We'll talk about the experiences of the journalists who had to balance covering the aftermath and dealing with it personally. We'll talk about the need for journalists, funders and tech partners to join forces to prepare now for information needs in future disasters—because local news is literally a lifeline when disasters happen. Two opportunities to join our conversations: 1) Next week I'll be at the Knight Media Forum to lead a session with news leaders from the region, plus someone who led a grassroots crowdsourced platform to get critical information out. 2) Our statewide news conference is March 12 in Durham. Our keynote features journalists from across the region who will share the stories they're still covering, the challenges of misinformation, and their own personal experiences—from cleaning toilets for their team members when there was no water to joining water rescue efforts when they felt a call to help. These are stories of real impact of local news that will certainly inspire you but also make you more aware of the need to support local news and information in times like these. Laura Lee Patricia Serrano Paola Jaramillo Micah Spain Charles Thomas Marisa Kwiatkowski Casey Pallenik Laura Grantham Scott Klein Melody Kramer Catherine Komp

When Triad City Beat announced late last month that the time had come to shut down, readers weighed in on the role this scrappy news outlet played in the community over the last decade: This is very sad news especially at this political moment. I have appreciated y'all's integrity and willingness to hear feedback. A huge loss to local news reporting. Your presence made a difference. You guys definitely made an impact. Damnit  Damn “I’m really proud that we were able to just do it at all,” said Co-Founder Brian Clarey. “That we were able to stake our territory, that we were able to speak truth to power for the time that we did and train up so many folks to go on and do things in this industry.” For Managing Editor Sayaka Matsuoka, it’s bittersweet but she also has no regrets. She says TCB’s ethos of not adhering to the myth of objectivity, of calling out racism and bigotry, comes from a long tradition of movement journalists and organizers before them. “Anywhere you look in your community, there are going to be people who are pushing back against the atrocities of the world, injustices big and small. So I’m heartened by that. That’s actually the thing that allows me to do this work. If I didn’t feel like there was some semblance of hope and resistance at all times, it would be impossible to do this job,” said Matsuoka. As TCB prepares to sunset at the end of the month, we had the opportunity to chat with Brian and Sayaka about the role TCB has played in the local news ecosystem, lessons learned from a decade of publishing, what’s kept them going all these years and details on their "Last Anniversary" party happening February 28, from 6-9 pm, at Scuppernong Books. Find a link to our Q&A in the comments.

I love the opening of this case study on EducationNC for its 10th anniversary, produced by Blue Engine Collaborative. It's how every local news initiative should begin—with a focus on the problem to solve. "It was 2012, and in conversations over country breakfasts at the iconic Big Ed’s restaurant in Raleigh, two of EdNC’s founders – Gerry Hancock and Ferrel Guillory – focused not on what their organization should look like or how much money they would need. They focused on the problem they wanted to solve: North Carolina lacks a source of truth for all things public schools. Simple, clear, and begging for a solution. In the 10 years since those conversations led to the creation of EdNC, the startup news organization’s leadership has done a lot of other things right." Congrats on your 10 years of important work for North Carolina, Mebane Rash, Nation Hahn & so many more. 👏 The case study is a great, inspiring read: https://lnkd.in/eHaEPJdV