By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director
Moving to a new city and state is always a whirlwind, and for journalists, there are unique challenges. Where do you begin with getting to know your new community? What history and context do you need? Who are the people and groups you need to connect with to build trust?
North Carolina can be particularly difficult to get to know. A few months in, I was still getting tripped up on the Triad versus the Triangle versus the Tri-Cities (not in NC!). There are distinct people, issues and cultures (including 15+ languages spoken) spanning the mountains, piedmont and coast— which is also a hefty drive if you want to cross all three in a day. And politically, North Carolina is also a tough nut to crack, from split ticket voting and the rise of the unaffiliated voter, to “Dillon Rule-esque” limits on local government and our state’s abysmal public records laws.
How can we help new journalists navigate all these issues? What can we do to introduce them, not only to North Carolina’s cultural, civic and political landscape, but also our diverse news and information ecosystem? What steps could we be taking from their first few months on the job to set them up for success in the years to come?
A new nine month-long initiative from the NC Local News Workshop is testing these ideas through a pilot program supporting Report for America (RFA) journalists based in news organizations across the state. Five new and seven existing RFA corps members are participating in the new NC RFA Cohort.
“Many of our newsrooms are facing capacity constraints and it’s often time-consuming for editors to step in and provide training. That’s where we come in and provide that support,” said the Workshop’s Executive Director Shannan Bowen. “I’m hopeful this leads to the RFA corps members feeling like they have the support that they need to cover their communities effectively and receive the coaching and insights they need to prepare for their next step in their career paths.”
Since launching in 2017, RFA has placed more than 650 reporters in about 370 newsrooms across the country in an effort to support emerging journalists and fill reporting gaps, including 30+ in North Carolina. RFA pays for half of the reporter’s salary in the first year and provides host newsrooms with fundraising support to make up the remainder. They also offer a smaller amount of funding if a newsroom wants to renew for a second or third year.
While RFA hosts a national onboarding for corps members, this is the first state-specific training and professional development program, said Maria Elena Fernandez, Southeast regional manager for RFA.
“For the North Carolina journalists to have an opportunity to be trained together, to constantly be in contact, to attend events together, to learn how to do community listening sessions, all of that is so rewarding and enriching and I wish all young journalists that are starting their careers could have opportunities like that because it’s going to be very specialized,” said Fernandez.
Convening and connecting
The NC RFA cohort initiative is free for all reporters and newsrooms to participate in and includes several in-person gatherings, virtual trainings, support with community listening, mentorship opportunities, and a Slack community. The Workshop has enlisted Minerva Media Co.’s Sarah Day Owen Wiskirchen as the program lead, who many know from her former news org, Raleigh Convergence and her new Raleigh and Cary-focused newsletter, Just Bring Yourself.
For the first in-person gathering at Elon University earlier this month, Wiskirchen assembled a dynamic day of connections and lessons about the Tar Heel state. The Workshop’s Shannan Bowen broke down the state of local news, including data gathered from the 2022 Diversity Audit for NC Newsrooms and what newsrooms are learning from community listening. You Can Vote’s Caitlin Metzguer provided a crash course in elections and voting, including an overview of their voter education tools. WUNC’s Colin Campbell gave insider tips on navigating the murky legislative process here, while Border Belt Independent’s Sarah Nagem shared insights on covering indigenous and rural communities, and the connections between the two.
“With our first convening, our goal was to help the RFA Corps Members get to know each other better and give an overview of some of the issues shaping North Carolina. It was also an opportunity to get connected with the people who have expertise around those issues through presentations, panels and discussions,” said Wiskirchen.
P.R. Lockhart is one of the new RFA reporters, relocating here to cover Greensboro for The Assembly after reporting for Mountain State Spotlight in West Virginia. She said the presentations by Carolina Demography’s Nathan Dollar and Enlace Latino NC’s Paola Jaramillo gave her a better understanding of the state’s changing population.
“For me, that raises questions of who isn’t being served by journalism in the state currently, and what can I do as a local reporter to produce coverage that will help include the voices and needs of more people,” said Lockhart.
RFA Reporter Morgan Casey joined the team at CityView after getting a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University. She says she’s already using some of the Carolina Demography data in her reporting on health and wellness in Cumberland County, and feels more well-versed about North Carolina in general.
“I’m working on ways to learn the history of Fayetteville and Cumberland County, both the history readily presented in museums like the Fayetteville History Museum and those more hidden that might be pulled from conversations with local researchers and historians. That history will hopefully better inform my reporting and will prompt more questions and stories,” said Casey.
Lockhart was also inspired by the midday conversation with engagement specialist Michael S. Williams: “Understand Your Standard of Reference.” For Lockhart, the session helped her think through how to move from writing “for” Black and brown communities, to writing “with” them.
“It was a reminder that journalism has historically let certain voices dominate narratives, that there are some communities that have not been fully reflected or centered in news coverage, and that ultimately, the best stories don’t just share the news, they add context and history to really help someone understand what is happening now, what led to that moment, and then what can potentially come next if not changed,” said Lockhart. “And for me, the takeaway was that for my journalism to really work, it has to not only include the voices of the people being affected, it has to give them space to describe their histories and their ideas for change.”
What’s ahead for the NC RFA cohort
Feedback gathered from RFA corps members at the September gathering and a post-event survey will inform future trainings and convenings, said Wiskirchen. Some will focus on leadership development and career pathways as well as more ways to “evaluate our role as journalists in service to our communities.”
“I’m excited for the cohort building to continue,” said Wiskirchen. “There was some natural collaboration that I noticed between sessions and downtime, and I hope there’s more to come there. Networking and mutual support is such an important component for early career journalists.”
In addition to training and support for the current RFA corps members in North Carolina, both RFA’s Maria Elena Fernandez and the Workshop’s Shannan Bowen see potential for this pilot program to expand to other newsrooms and other states, serving as a model for collaboration, capacity building and investing in future newsroom innovators and leaders.
“My hope is that we support journalists who fall in love with our state and want to develop careers here, whether for the organizations that they are currently working for or for other organizations,” said Bowen. “We have a vision in North Carolina that everyone in every community can access news and information they trust by sources that reflect their communities and represent them and their needs. And I’m hopeful that this program is one way to help people get to know the reporters that are covering them, who live in their communities and who are representing their needs.”
Participants in the NC RFA cohort program include five new placements for 2024/2025 at WHQR, Cityview, The Assembly, INDY Week, and BPR, as well as returning newsrooms Enlace Latino NC, WFAE, WFDD and NC Health News.
Look for an upcoming social media series from the Workshop spotlighting each of the 12 RFA corps reporters.
🙏 Thanks to all those who contributed their time and expertise at the first NC RFA Cohort convening, including: Caitlin Metzguer, Colin Campbell, Sarah Nagem, Nathan Dollar, Paola Jaramillo, Joe Killian, Laura Lee, Kaitlyn Dang, Andrés Otero, Tony Mecia, Kelly Kenoyer and Michael S. Williams.
🙏 And a special thanks to Cierra Brown Hinton and Carolina Beacon for making this program possible.
🫶 Want to help mentor or share your skills and expertise with the NC RFA Cohort? Get in touch with Shannan Bowen at sbowen5@elon.edu to learn more about the program.
📸 Looking to host a visual journalist in your newsroom? RFA and Catchlight are accepting applications for photojournalist placements in 2025. Application deadline is October 25th.
