EDITORIAL: Big things for TCB in 2023

We’re writing this on Monday, before the dust settles from what we can only assume was a bizarre and exciting election. We’ve got plenty of reporting on the results in this week’s edition, so we’re using this space not to opine on the results but to talk about some exciting developments at Triad City Beat, and give a glimpse into what the next year will bring.

First off, we announced last week our grant from the NC Local News Fund, which will enable us to hire another reporter for a new beat we’ve created to help us fulfill our mission.

The new City Beat reporter will cover every city council meeting in Greensboro and Winston-Salem, reporting on the decisions that get made there and the people who are affected by them. Because it’s funded by nonprofit dollars, all of these stories will be available free of charge to any other news outlet who wants to publish them (with attribution, natch).

We’ve already begun interviewing for this position, and we’re hoping to have someone installed before the end of the year.

If you’re thinking about applying for the job, do it now.

There’s more.

TCB has been accepted in the sixth cohort of the Knight Foundation Table Stakes Local News Transformation Program. This is a yearlong program of performance-based change, by the end of which we should be considerably closer to our goal.

That goal remains the same: Free, fair and honest reporting; relevant and inclusive cultural coverage; hard-hitting opinion — as much of it as we can afford to produce.

This nonprofit revenue stream is a new thing for us. Until very recently, all of our income came from print display advertising. But we’re learning how nonprofit dollars can help fund our news operation, and how readers can play a role in our success.

Know that you’re helping us out just by reading our stories, talking about them and sharing online. If you like what we do, consider signing up for our free newsletters — three a week, plus a couple sponsored ones that help us pay the bills, along with our own promotions — through the pop-up window on our site or at this direct link: pico.link/triadcitybeat.

We’ve also created the First Amendment Society for readers who want to contribute in a more direct way to our operations: $7, $17 or $27 a month gets you a members-only newsletter, free ticket giveaways, free entry to all our events and whatever else we can think of to reward our donors with. Fair warning: We’ve got a membership drive coming up. Look for it in your email boxes soon.

In short: Big things are afoot at TCB. We appreciate you coming along for the ride.