https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/border-belt-reporting-center.php

Article published June 30, 2021. By Lauren Harris

The article that I chose was from Columbia Journalism Review and it was concerning an investigative center helping a local news print in rural North Carolina. The article talks about a man named Les High who is the publisher of a newspaper, and he is worried about the shape of journalism in the area he lives in. In rural North Carolina in this particular part, there is a high level of poverty and most of the people are struggling severely. To help bridge the gap for these people that do not get the right level of information and in-depth reporting, he started the Border Belt reporting center. This is supposed to help finance the companies and get them more in-depth investigative reporting.

I believe that this effort to try to help these areas where they might not be able to get the type of reporting people deserve, is a great idea. It helps out all the local companies and it is a great idea that could possibly be shared with other parts of the country that struggle with the same issues. The only concern or argument that I have against this is, how much money can the Border Belt reporting center get to really make a big impact on the area? If they do help and make better investigative reports for the rural areas and counties, will it make that big of an impact? I think the idea is very ethically good and it is a great thing that they are helping, but financially and realistically I do not think this will be a successful business. I’m all for supporting areas and cities that have lower income, but I truly believe that this is not sustainable.