How news outlets in North Carolina are serving their communities 

In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastation in North Carolina, news outlets are finding a variety of ways to reach those most affected by the storm. Brian Stelter writes for CNN that local radio stations have been a lifeline for residents, sharing updates on road closures, providing verified information on relief efforts and opening up the phone lines to answer questions and help connect people.

In Black Mountain, a small town outside of Asheville, town leaders gathered in person in the Town Square to share information about the status of the utilities and other necessities. Jeremy Markovich of North Carolina Rabbit Hole writes that residents learned about the meeting from posters around town. 

And the Asheville Citizen Times has launched a text message service to help to answer questions directly about news and local services. (This is part of a larger trend towards text messaging as an audience tool, Charlotte Tobitt wrote in Press Gazette, noting that SubText will send roughly five billion text messages this year.)  

News In Focus
Headlines, resources and events aligned with API’s four areas of focus.

Civic Discourse & Democracy

>> Oklahoma student newspaper adds DC correspondent (The Nutgraf)

The University of Oklahoma’s student newspaper, OU Daily, has sent a student to DC as the paper’s Washington correspondent. Reporter Kevin Eagleson says he finds ways to cover Washington from an OU or Norman, Oklahoma-perspective. 

>> Musk’s X blocks Vance dossier, drawing parallels to Hunter Biden flap (The Washington Post) 

X, formerly Twitter, has blocked reporter Ken Klippenstein after he shared a 271-page dossier on Senator JD Vance which contained personal information. The dossier appears to have been stolen from the Trump campaign by Iranian state actors; several news outlets had been offered the dossier but declined to print it. 

—

Culture & Inclusion

>> California governor vetoes bill expanding media access to prisons (The Desk)

California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required state prisons to allow media outlets more access to facilities and inmates, arguing that it posed a security risk and could turn prisoners into celebrities. 

>> The Pivot Fund assembles the ultimate inclusive style guide using AI (LinkedIn, The Pivot Fund)

Journalists can access The Pivot Fund’s Style Guide for Covering Communities of Color on ChatGPT to ensure that they are using culturally sensitive language. The guide draws on style guides from a number of journalistic organizations. 

>> Australian Broadcasting Company apologizes to staff who experienced racism after review reveals ‘disturbing’ treatment (The Guardian)

A review of the Australian broadcaster interviewed 120 current and former ABC staffers and found that all but one had personally experienced racism during their time there. Managing director David Anderson apologized, adding, “We all need to do better.” 

—

Community Engagement & Trust

>> New from API: How WITF is using democracy reporting to build trust and tamp down political rhetoric (Better News)

Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: Instead of focusing on negative horse-race campaign coverage, offer the audience possible solutions and paths forward with democracy reporting.

—

Revenue & Resilience

>> NPR updates newsmag strategy to address audience declines (Current)

In an effort to combat falling audience numbers, NPR’s flagship programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered are moving to shorter, “livelier” stories and eliminating all stories more than five minutes. 

>> How German-language newsletter start-up Morningcrunch built an audience of 50,000 young professionals in just 12 months

Morningcrunch publishes every weekday at 6 a.m., and provides young German professionals with brief, Axios-style news about a range of industries. It’s disproved the idea that young people don’t read email; the newsletter has 50,000 subscribers and a 50% open rate.

>> Reuters, CNN become latest outlets to make you pay for digital news (The Wall Street Journal)

Thomson Reuters will start charging $1 per week to readers in Canada this month, with subscription fees rolling out in the U.S. later in the year. And on Tuesday, CNN began charging $3.99 per month for digital access. 

—

What else you need to know

🎥 CNN wades back into the documentary business (The New York Times)

🗳️ Amazon in talks with Brian Williams to host election-night special (Variety)

📺 Scripps will cut 200 jobs after shrinking national news ambitions (Variety) 

⛪ Fox Nation to debut faith-based shows under “Fox Faith” brand (The Desk) 

📧 Taylor Lorenz exits Washington post to launch ‘User Mag’ on Substack (The Hollywood Reporter)