TCB at Ten: 10 reader reflections

A newspaper doesn’t exist without its readers. Here’s what many of them had to say about their relationship with City Beat over the last decade.

Andrew Young

Ten years is a long time for any business to stay afloat, let alone thrive. TCB isn’t a luxury. As the Triad grows, so do the stories and the need for increased, in-depth reportage, especially about unpopular topics. With so many alternate facts floating around, it’s easy to go along with stories that please our prejudices. I like puppies and children, but I don’t think I’ve ever run across a TCB fluff story. For those with extra dollars in their pockets, please don’t wait for a Trump presidency or Robinson governorship before you decide to contribute to supporting TCB.

Casey Thomas

Democracy isn’t real without the kind of local investigative journalism Triad City Beat does, because if you don’t know what your local government is doing with your money, in your name — you can’t let them know to do more or do better. They also report on things that only people in the Triad care about, like Black homeowners in a local housing development fighting the city to hold Habitat for Humanity accountable for the mold and deterioration in their homes, or a local business’ staff walking out due to poor treatment — or neat new places you might want to eat.

April Parker

Congratulations to TCB for a decade of truth telling! As a community organizer I give great thanks for telling the stories of younger Black leadership in the Triad. In your absence our collective social justice work and its lineage would not be archived. TCB has marked movement milestones and even when making mistakes, TCB’s dedication to reflection, evolution and accountability is exemplary. We deserve an imperfect revolution.

Mackenzie Cates Allen

I have read Triad City Beat since the very beginning. At first it was because it was widely available, and always had something interesting in it to read. It wasn’t until later that I noticed the true quality of the journalism, and all the painstaking work that went into the publication. I have never stopped reading TCB, and, indeed, have watched over the last decade as it has grown stronger, and more in tune with the community.

I really love the accessibility of the online articles, and I love the Triad City Beat reporting position, in particular. I’ve also been privileged to get to know the folks who run TCB, and pour their passion into it every week. The care that they take with this mission is and always has been evident. We are blessed to have this beacon of journalism in our area, especially with the demise of traditional newspapers. I’m honored to be a longtime fan, and will continue to enjoy and support TCB through the years. Congratulations on your decade of achievement, Triad City Beat! We greatly appreciate you. 

Vikki Vassar

I have been a reader and a fan of Triad City Beat since 2015, when I happened to be in an art show at Delurk Gallery and Sayaka covered the show. I guess, at the time, Sayaka was fairly new to TCB, but her coverage was great and having my name printed up in TCB gave me the warm fuzzy feeling that only a hyper-local publication can accomplish. I have followed TCB since, occasionally popping in the publications to write something, advertise, and try to support TCB the best I can as a small business owner in the Triad. In a world where the term “journalism” is increasingly more flexible, Triad City Beat sticks to the old school meaning, with well researched articles and relevant community information.

Lewis Pitts and Spoma Jovanovic

We turn to TCB for their coverage of critical, community issues. From their stellar reporting, we learn about local matters of social justice new to us and appreciate the coverage of our work as activists in the community. TCB’s in-depth, balanced articles are bold enough to reveal the underbelly of government and power in the Triad. We shudder at how journalism has been devoured by the corporate business model, leaving most newspapers today mere scribes of government and wealth propaganda. But not TCB! Congratulations on these 10 years. We’re proud to be members of the First Amendment Society and hope others will join to support TCB’s independent, cutting-edge journalism that we all need.

Gwen Frisbie-Fulton

When I was a teenager, I imagined I’d become a journalist. I thought I’d end up a fast-talking career gal in New York City, riding the subway and, inexplicably, living in a penthouse with a rooftop garden. I was 17 and didn’t know much about wages — nor did I know what would happen to local news.

I never became a journalist, but I did become an organizer. I work in towns all over North Carolina trying to expand democracy to include all of us, a hard task made harder by the near-absence of local press due to corporate consolidation. I’m grateful that my hometown has Triad City Beat to report local news and bring the democratizing impact that journalism was made for.

Jason Heyman

The first time I picked up a Triad City Beat newspaper, it was by mistake. It looked similar to another weekly that I was used to looking at to check out the local music scene to see if a friend’s band was playing. When I began to turn the pages, I realized it was much more than a weekend calendar of events.

In those pages, I discovered intelligent writing by authors who seemed unlike what I was used to reading in the local papers. In those pages I found reporting on local politics, crime and culture, three of my favorite things. Since that first edition, I knew I had found something valuable and for free, which let me know there was a higher purpose for the paper. I’ve really enjoyed reading (most of) the articles over the years.

They all can’t be Pulitzer Prize winners, but many of them are extremely relevant, informative and come from a place of genuine concern for the community, which in my opinion is desperately needed in today’s media. It’s been fun and interesting to watch what TCB is becoming. Congratulations on 10 years and here’s hoping for 10 more.

Dan Rose

When my family and I moved to Winston-Salem in 2017, we wanted to become a part of this community. Triad City Beat has played a huge part in that. From Brian Clarey’s 2016 explainer of the 1918 Winston-Salem Lynch Mob to Sayaka Matsuoka highlighting Tré Shawn Legette’s vegan cookbook, I love the way TCB uncovers what makes Winston-Salem the place it is, for better or for worse. I’m truly inspired by TCB and recently had the honor of co-authoring an in-depth look at the financial backers of Mayor Allen Joines with reporter Gale Melcher.

Terry Austin

I have been an avid fan and supporter of Triad City Beat ever since it was founded by intrepid journalists Brian Clarey, Jordan Green, and Eric Ginsburg. As the Greensboro News & Record was hollowed out by a corporate buyout, TCB stepped up to cover local news, culture, and investigative reporting. Brian’s determination in a time of great financial difficulty for newspapers and his management of TCB has been outstanding. I am particularly impressed that the inevitable staff turnover has resulted in more great reporters, and female to boot: Sayaka Matsuoka and Gale Melcher. Providing essential information and holding local and state representatives accountable is vital if we are to have a functioning democracy. TCB does it well!