By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director When Leslie Garvin considers the findings of the NC Civic Health Index, she acknowledges that we don’t rank high compared to other states. But Garvin, a lead author of the 2024 Index, sees a lot…
By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director Over 45 years, Rob Christensen covered local and state politics for the News & Observer. When he started, the newsroom was smoky, “cut and paste” was done with glue and scissors, and veterans who’d been…
By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director When’s the last time you read through your media liability insurance? Have you dusted off your bylaws lately? Reviewed your fundraising guidelines and independent journalist contracts? As the Trump Administration continues targeting news organizations with…
By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director 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: This is very sad news…
By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director In the early days of Helene, when we spent our nights in the dark and our days clearing debris, one of the only places to get news and information was BPR. With no cell or…
By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director Pate McMichael, the new director of the NC Open Government Coalition, isn’t daunted by the erosion of government transparency in North Carolina. He sees the rollback as a call to action that motivates him everyday.…
By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director In the wake of hurricanes and floods, devastation often paves the way for remarkable acts of resilience and innovation within communities. That was the case following Hurricane Florence in 2018, when Shoresides was developed to…
By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director For decades, Bill Adair’s days and nights have been filled with a quest to promote truth and squash lies. The longtime journalist founded PolitiFact in 2007 as a solution to a news and information gap:…
By Catherine Komp, Engagement Director In the acknowledgements of “Anatomy of a Purple State: a North Carolina Politics Primer,” Political Scientist and WCU Professor Christopher Cooper writes “answers are easy to come by, the thought is in the question.” “I…
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…