Center for Innovation & Sustainability in Local Media
UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media
“You can’t move “to” if you don’t know where you’re starting “from,” and for most news organizations, their current reality, “from” is participation in community harm, neglect, or both.” — Cierra Hinton and Lizzy Hazeltine, from their Anti-Racist Table Stakes…
Inside the lobby of the UNC School of Journalism and Media, The News Reporter is a fixture, with a featured display celebrating the small newspaper’s work prominent upon entrance. The Whiteville, North Carolina paper, owned by the Thompson-High family, provided…
In a media climate where journalists, academics, civic leaders, students and more are quickly understanding and prioritizing a need for support in local news, rising junior Preston Fore may have a better understanding of the landscape than most college students.…
By Brianna Atkinson Last year, when the coronavirus pandemic arrived in central North Carolina’s Chatham County, it hit the county’s Hispanic population the hardest. This inspired the team at The Chatham News + Record to create La Voz, a section…
As a rising junior, Brianna Atkinson has considered what her dream job may look like. It isn’t a reporting gig at the Washington Post or The New York Times — it’s to become a local news reporter in her home…
By Preston Fore Over the past several months, several bills have been introduced to Congress with the goal of supporting local news. The Rebuild Local News coalition is one example of the collaboration between thousands of newsrooms and journalism organizations who are lobbying for…
Sarah Vassello has always loved local news. After working at The Daily Tar Heel as a UNC student, she was especially inspired while giving a voice to her community. Now, after serving in a variety of journalist roles, she is returning to Chapel Hill to join…
By Preston Fore The Local Journalism Sustainability Act, a bill that aims to help preserve local journalism through tax credits to readers, publications, and small businesses, was re-introduced to the House of Representatives this week with bipartisan support. Also known…
By Andrea Lorenz Nenque There seems to be little groundswell of general public support for the government to help ailing local news outlets or news deserts, despite the important role local news has played in the past year during the…
A recent Better News episode of the It’s all Journalism podcast features Erica Perel, new director of the UNC Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media (UNC CISLM), in a segment examining a UNC Table Stakes-inspired fundraising challenge Perel…