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Bulletin Board: NCPA and national journalism awards; grants for Florence coverage and more

  • The Pilot newspaper of Southern Pines has purchased SouthPark magazine from McClatchy's Charlotte Observer, adding to a portfolio that includes Business North Carolina and the lifestyle and culture magazines PineStraw in the Sandhills, O. Henry and Seasons in Greensboro and Salt in Wilmington. According to The Pilot's story and press release, which didn't disclose the purchase price, SouthPark magazine has a monthly distribution of 30,000 copies in Charlotte neighborhoods SouthPark, Myers Park, Eastover, Dilworth, Cotswold and Elizabeth.
  • The NC News Lab Fund will award up to $150,000 in grants for news and information projects serving communities recovering from Hurricane Florence. The grantmaking will focus on nonprofit organizations and partners in Eastern North Carolina and will give preference to initiatives that involve community engagement, capacity-building and other factors and that serve traditionally underrepresented communities; learn more via the NC Community Foundation or via the call for proposals. Deadline is April 15. (Disclosure: I'm a consultant for the NC News Lab Fund, but am not part of funding decisions)
  • Print and online newsrooms across the state took home a slew of awards for journalism and community service in the NC Press Association's 2019 awards judging. Awards were presented at a banquet Thursday during the NCPA annual conference in Raleigh. The State Port Pilot was first for community service; in public service, winners were the Hickory Daily Record and The Charlotte Observer. Full list.
  • WSOC-TV and reporter Joe Bruno won a Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism from the University of Southern California's Norman Lear Center. The awards were announced March 19; Bruno and the station were recognized for "Special Achievement for National Impact" for their coverage of irregularities in the NC 09 congressional election.
  • Wilson Times Editor Corey Friedman is a finalist for the national Burl Osborne Award for Editorial Leadership from the News Leaders Association (the merged ASNE and APME organization). This is the first year for awards from the newly combined organization: See the full list of finalists. Friedman was recognized in the small publications category for his editorial taking on a Wilson County school board policy limiting speech at board meetings. Winners will be announced April 2.
  • The Charlotte Observer won a national Best in Business award, presented by the Society for the Advancement of Business Editing and Writing (SABEW). The Observer took top honors in the banking and finance category for medium-sized publications, for work covering ongoing Wells Fargo controversies. Winners will receive their awards May 17 during SABEW's annual conference in Phoenix.
  • Make sure your news organization is counted in the 2019 ASNE Diversity Survey; ASNE asks that you contact dkahn@asne.org to provide a contact for your organization. See the 2018 results here.

Worth reading: Google steps in

McClatchy first up in experiment to launch local news sites


Google rolled out its $300-million Google News Initiative a year ago with an announced aim of helping journalism and news publishers. An Axios report from Tuesday outlines the next step, Google's "Local Experiments Project," described as "an effort to fund dozens of new local news websites around the country and eventually around the world." Some nuggets:
  • McClatchy, owner of The Charlotte Observer and News & Observer, will launch the first three such sites, according to the report and a post from CEO Craig Forman, focused on cities of 500,000 or under.
  • According to the Axios story, Google will have no editorial control and will work with partners who know local news. Details were sparse on key questions: editorial investment, business model for the new sites and more.
  • As with Facebook's recent moves outlined in last week's NC Local, the Axios report was greeted enthusiastically by some and skeptically by many others in journalism and media; again, Google is a powerful platform, and whether or not  this latest project helps local journalism depends not just on the idea but on how it is executed. Read some discussion via CJR's new Galley forum.

Ask: Help me dig into Pew's new local news study


A rich new trove of insights about how Americans get local news and how they view topics such as paying for news and community connection landed this week from the Pew Research Center on Journalism and Media.

Based on surveys of nearly 35,000 Americans last fall, the report goes beyond preferences to ask how people view quality of local news (pretty favorably), whether local media cover their area or others (mixed) and whether they think community connection is important for journalists (yes, they do).

You can use this interactive to drill into some metro areas: Raleigh, Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia and Greensboro-High Point

I've just begun digging into the study: Find overviews here from Pew, Poynter and Nieman Lab. I'd welcome your insights and questions: What surprises you, and what needs our attention here in North Carolina?

In terms of preferences, the report showed that TV remains the top choice for local news, with online close behind (online and social media, of course, often draw from newspaper and broadcast sites). 

One result that jumped out at me: Being in touch with your readers/viewers matters for credibility, per the chart below Again, find the full report here and share your takeaways via melanie@localnewslab.org.
 

Storylines: Higher ed news, "People's Session," and digging deeper on sexual assault

  • Carolina Journal associate editor Kari Travis broke the news March 17 that ECU Chancellor Cecil Staton would step down in May; Staton announced his departure plans the next day. Travis, who has reported extensively on Staton and ECU, had posted a story in early November quoting unnamed sources saying the chancellor would resign Jan. 1, a report that the principals denied at the time.
  • Higher education is always a big beat in North Carolina, especially now amid partisan and political disputes surrounding the UNC Board of Governors, the Silent Sam Confederate memorial debate,  university trustee appointments and legislative decisions about funding. Yet in recent years the beat has lost most of its dedicated reporters statewide. John Newsom covers higher education for The News & Record in Greensboro and writes a blog called The Syllabus. Meanwhile, The News & Observer has posted a higher education reporter job to replace respected beat veteran Jane Stancill, who was among McClatchy staffers who took an early retirement offer recently. 
  • EducationNC's "People's Session" digital outreach effort drew more than 1,000 responses for a guided, curated approach to identifying audience members' education priorities in the current legislative session. Their summary of initial results is worth reading, as the survey approach went deep — it wasn't the usual quick-and-dirty online poll — to identify issues where consensus emerged and where disagreement existed. EdNC's Analisa Sorrells and Bryan Noreen wrote the summary, which explained how it all worked and linked back to earlier coverage amplifying topic areas.
  • EducationNC also has posted a series of stories and videos doing deep into the findings of  "NC's Education Pipeline," a report from UNC researchers for the John M. Belk Foundation, which also supports EdNC's work and a variety of education efforts.
  • Carolina Public Press' recent report on North Carolina's worst-in-nation rape kit backup, and other findings in its current 11-newsroom collaborative series on sexual assault prosecutions, came just a few months after WFAE's podcast series "She Says" explored sexual assault and the justice system through one survivor's story.

Use This: NC Open Government Guide

  • The new North Carolina Open Government Guide offers the first update in 11 years to a remarkable resource produced jointly by the state attorney general's office and the NC Press Association. Released Thursday by Attorney General Josh Stein's office as NCPA members convened in Raleigh, the guide outlines state public records and open meetings law basics and guidelines for requesting and providing records. Posted and endorsed by the AG, it also stands as explicit support for open government in North Carolina. 
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The Local View: Raleigh

Carolina Public Press forum at Wake Teach

 
Carolina Public Press executive director Angie Newsome greets the audience and an expert panel at a public forum in Raleigh March 20, focused on findings from a CPP news series with 10 other news organizations on sexual assault. (Photo courtesy of Carolina Public Press)
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