Posted inCHALT, Journalism

The Local Reporter: A very unusual local non-profit newsroom

The Local Reporter has once again removed a piece from its website without explanation. Here’s what happened: Yesterday afternoon, they published a piece by Adam Powell, the public information officer for the North Carolina Cyber Academy, about President Biden’s recommendation to include $138.3 million in the federal budget for Chapel Hill’s planned North-South Bus Rapid […]

Posted inCarrboro, Journalism

The Local Reporter substantially reworked a piece without any notice. That’s unethical.

We have written a number of times about ethical lapses of The Local Reporter, the non-profit newspaper whose board is composed solely of founders and leaders within CHALT and/or its affiliated PAC, Chapel Hill Leadership PAC. In the past, they have omitted bylines, a masthead, relationships between quoted sources and editors, reprinted material directly from […]

Posted inAmerican Legion, CHALT, Election 2023, Journalism

Fact checking The Local Reporter’s candidate questionnaire

It’s Chapel Hill tradition for nearly a dozen local organizations to distribute questionnaires to candidates before local elections. And, typically, it’s the answers that need fact-checking. But The Local Reporter’s candidate questionnaire turns that on its head. Here, it’s the questions that need fact-checking. We have written before about The Local Reporter’s close relationship with […]

Posted inCHALT, Chapel Hill, Journalism

The Local Reporter’s strange pond coverage

Last month, we reported that The Local Reporter was looking for an editor after their 6th editor abruptly left the paper days after our deep dive into the paper’s problematic political coverage. They’ve since hired Julia Runk Jones, previously the paper’s dog columnist, to temporarily lead the organization. But issues with the paper’s coverage persist. […]