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 […]
Journalism
Posted inChapel Hill, Chapel Hill Town Council, Election 2023, Journalism
Seven things we learned from the News & Observer’s follow up on our scoop on the $120K PAC
Earlier today the News & Observer published a piece on the plans by twelve wealthy couples to inject $120,000 into the Chapel Hill elections in a bid to overturn the Chapel Hill Town Council’s June vote to legalize duplexes townwide. Here are seven things we learned: The News & Observer confirms that Adam Searing met […]
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. […]
Posted inJournalism
The Local Reporter is looking for their 7th editor
Carl Blankenship, who served as The Local Reporter’s 6th editor for approximately four months, is no longer listed on the paper’s masthead, and the paper has once again posted a job announcement for the top editorial position on JournalismJobs.com. Blankenship’s LinkedIn profile shows that he is no longer employed by the paper. This switch comes […]
Posted inCarrboro, Greenway, Journalism
“Both Sides” Journalism Plagues Indy Week’s Story on the Bolin Creek Greenway
In recent months, Indy Week, our region’s alternative newspaper, has published some terrific investigative pieces, from Lena Gellar’s investigative work uncovering Durham’s city attorney asking Wikipedia to reveal who was editing “unflattering” information about the mayor and two council members, to Thomasi McDonald’s deep-dive looking at Durham Council Member DeDreana Freeman’s alleged physical assault of […]
Posted inChapel Hill, Chapel Hill Town Council, Journalism
The Local Reporter’s problematic political coverage
If you were to search The Local Reporter for Carrboro Town Council member Eliazar Posada, you would find a brief mention that he ran for town council in the May 17, 2022 special election to replace Damon Seils. Posada won that election to serve out Seils’ term, as well as the November 2022 regular election. […]