Check out Carolina Public Press, a project founded by Angie Newsome, my former Asheville Citizen-Times colleague.
From my Citizen-Times column Tuesday about Carolina Public Press:
Newsome, the organization’s editor and fundraiser, is working with a $64,000 budget for the first year, some of which she’s still trying to raise. She’s working with assistant editor Kathleen O. Davis, another former Citizen-Times reporter and editor who most recently worked as executive director of the nonprofit Colburn Earth Science Museum. The site’s other contributors are freelancers.
The idea is to view local stories “through a regional lens,” Newsome said, by delving deeply into topics. She pointed to the first stories published on the organization’s website, which went live late last week, as examples. The stories center on the impact of state budget cuts being decided in Raleigh. One story examined the effects in Graham County, which had the state’s highest unemployment at last count. Another looked at how small, rural mountain school systems like Macon County’s will fare.