The Assembly publishes deep reporting on power and place in North Carolina.
The Assembly launched February 2021 with the audacious idea that we could tell ambitious, challenging stories about North Carolina, and build a sustainable business plan to support that work. We tell compelling and nuanced stories about our state, without fear or favor to any party or power structure. Key areas of coverage include politics, courts, higher education, culture, and accountability.
Over the last four years, we have hired a team of journalists across the state and given them the space to be ambitious and thoughtful. We’ve also hired editors with a wealth of experience and knowledge when it comes to the big issues of today. We seek to produce journalism that will alternately surprise, inform, outrage, and delight you. The common thread uniting our work is that it leaves you with a better understanding of the place you call home.
We also value the time, attention, and intellect of our readers. Our work would not be possible without the support of our subscribers and financial supporters. Like you, we believe North Carolina deserves big-swing reporting, right here in our own backyard. We’re grateful to have you onboard.
In This Section
Our Business Model
We launched with financial backing from investors who believe in our mission, and are working to transition to a self-sustaining model in the near future that is largely funded by our readers. We are governed by a board of directors.
Everyone can read one article a month without a subscription, because we believe that good reporting should be accessible. Our regional publications are also free, as is our flagship newsletter. A basic subscription gives you full access to all our latest stories and our full archives–and at $6 a month or $60 a year, we believe it’s a real steal.
We also offer a premium subscription that includes our industry newsletters, access to both in-person and virtual events, and a 20 percent discount at our store.
Our model only works with your support. Our subscribers help us pay good money to great writers to spend weeks, even months, on big stories—all with the independence and intensity that revelatory journalism requires.
Our Philanthropic Partners
While The Assembly is a for-profit company, philanthropic support has been essential to helping us raise funds to support growth and expansion.
To date, philanthropic support has come from the Knight Growth Challenge Fund, Journalism Funding Partners, Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, the Carolina Beacon, the Greensboro Community Journalism Fund, and Report for America.
If you are interested in becoming a philanthropic partner, please contact COO Emily Dresslar at emily.dresslar@theassembly.com.
Our Editorial Partners
As part of our effort to expand and sustain journalism around North Carolina, we have built two regional bureaus and added three local newsrooms to our statewide network. These partnerships allow us to deepen our regional reporting, magnify the great work journalists are already doing on the ground, and strengthen the connection between newsrooms.
- In Wilmington, our bureau produces a weekly newsletter, The Dive, in collaboration with public radio station WHQR.
- Our Greensboro bureau produces its own weekly newsletter, The Thread, with support from the Greensboro Community Journalism Fund and Report for America.
- In the Triangle, we have partnered with INDY Week, an alt-weekly with a 40+ year history of producing hard-hitting local news.
- In Fayetteville, we have teamed up with CityView, a monthly magazine and daily news outlet covering the city and county.
- And in the southeast, we have partnered with the Border Belt Independent, which covers Bladen, Columbus, Robeson, and Scotland counties.
Our growing network allows us to funnel important regional stories to a statewide audience, translate statewide Assembly stories to the level where it matters most, and support a healthy news ecosystem in North Carolina. It’s a model we are looking to replicate in other parts of the state.
We also work with The Food Section, a James Beard Award-winning independent outlet covering food and drink across the American South, published by Hanna Raskin. And we collaborate with the nonprofit Spotlight on Poverty & Opportunity to cover economic issues around the region.
Award winning reporting from The Assembly
Winner, 2024 Sunshine Award from the N.C. Open Government Coalition and the 2024 Media and the Law Award of Excellence from the N.C. Bar Association
Winner, 2023 and 2024 Duke University/Green-Rossiter Award for Distinguished Newspaper Work in Higher Education Reporting from the North Carolina Press Association
Winner, 2024 Henry Lee Weathers Freedom of Information Award
