Many rural counties across North Carolina have suffered a loss in the quantity and quality of community news. In Caswell County, Shannon Moretz is working to change that.
Seventeen years have passed since I served as Managing Editor of The Caswell Messenger, the only weekly newspaper in my home of Caswell County. When I left, its staff included an editor, a staff writer, an office manager, an advertising manager, and a couple folks to help with distribution.
Today, it has one part-time editorial staff member. The building in downtown Yanceyville was recently sold, and the new office is tucked away in obscurity, the familiar green awning now missing from Main Street, like so many other towns. It would appear as though the corporate owners have no plans for future investment in our little local paper.
Many communities across North Carolina have seen the same trend.
I like the current editor. She’s a good person with good intentions. She’s also responsible for three newspapers in three different communities. She doesn’t have a lot of time to spend in Caswell, but she makes the extra effort to be present for big community celebrations. She clearly understands the importance of being present in the community. But one person can only do so much.
County residents are left without access to reliable, accurate local news coverage. There is no consistent coverage of local government, school sports, or other key topics.
This lack of coverage has led community members to seek their information elsewhere, mostly combing through emotionally charged social media posts in hopes of finding at least a kernel of truth.
Such an environment allows misinformation to take root. Local decision-making has become more heavily influenced by fear, rumor, and propaganda instead of facts, experience, and reliable first-hand accounts that allow leaders and residents to make better decisions about our collective future.
Obituaries that announce someone’s death and honor their life can cost several hundred dollars. Locals have also largely been priced out of the advertising market, so business owners and community-based organizations work overtime to reach customers, clients, community members, and volunteers via social media and other means.
I learned a lot both in my time at the newspaper and since as a community advocate working to make this county and this region a better place for all. True community journalism is about much more than press releases and scanner traffic. It’s not about expressions of outrage or partisan talking points — or at least it shouldn’t be.
Community journalism is about bearing witness, sharing information, and helping residents become neighbors.
Community newspapers once marked the lives, events, and decisions that shaped the places we called home. They covered local government but considered 100th birthdays and school field days just as newsworthy. They connected us through event calendars and storytelling. They kept us grounded to home by tuning out some of the national noise, allowing us to focus on our own corner of the world and how to be better neighbors.
We can trace the decline of our democratic norms and loss of civility to the loss of news and information truly rooted in our communities. I’ve loved the work I’ve done in healthcare, compliance, and community-building over the last seventeen years. But as I think about the needs of my community and how I want to spend the rest of my career, I find myself asking, “what work is mine to do?”
In my heart, I will forever be Caswell’s newspaper lady.
I’m ready to take on the role again, in a new way.
I am stepping out on faith and devoting myself to providing Caswell County with a traditional, reliable online community news source.
Caswell News & Notes has launched online at Caswell.News. I will be doing this work full-time, walking away from a full-time job with benefits to devote myself to this endeavor completely.
I’ve felt a lot like Santa Claus as I’ve started sharing this news with members of my community this winter. It thrills me when their faces light up with excitement. It makes me feel like walking away from the security of a full-time job is 100% worth the risk. I know my community is grateful, and I trust them to support the effort.
Regardless of where you live in North Carolina, if you believe in the power of community journalism and/or care about the people of Caswell County, I hope you’ll support the effort by subscribing and/or offering a gift to the Sustainability Fund.
Local news is a risky business. Many of the old business models are no longer sustainable and the work requires a significant investment of time and labor. For me, this work is very much a labor of love — love for my community and love for journalism as a craft. It is my hope that, with your support, Caswell News & Notes will provide Caswell County residents with the timely, accurate information they need to make good decisions and lead healthy, full lives.
Shannon Moretz is the founder and editor of Caswell News & Notes. This column is syndicated by Beacon Media and is available to republish for free on all platforms under Beacon Media’s guidelines. Questions and comments, please email info@beaconmedianc.org.
