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Much journalism and reporting depends on the interview as the primary unit of discovery; a good story, a quote that sticks with you, an opinion that helps you see an issue from a different perspective, providing important facts and information or offering a counterargument, a lived experience that adds credibility, insight and, sometimes, wisdom.
While journalists hear these voices, the reader often does not. For this reason, the Carolina Public Press newsroom has begun adding more audio to our stories, whether that means reading the story aloud and recording it, including the narrator’s taped interview, or both. People’s voices matter, as do the stories they share and the lives they live.
As part of our year-end roundup and our editorial staff’s reflection on the year of storytelling, we’re sharing our top ten interviews of 2022. These interviews were selected based on timeliness, uniqueness, relevance, human interest, impact and inclusion. For all interviews, sources were re-approached and consented to publication of part or all of the interview. The journalists have made edits only where necessary for brevity and to protect any personal or privacy concerns shared by the interviewee.
Katherine Allen
In November, CPP covered the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law’s celebration of its first female graduate, Sylvia Allen. Sylvia Allen died in 2012, but CPP spoke to her daughter Katherine Allen of her mother’s achievements as a lawyer and as a person. To read the story.
Joe and Linda Brittan
When Joe and Linda Brittan took over the Farm Market in 2009, it was a small operation. Under their leadership, the market has doubled its vendors, provided educational programs, and established itself as a popular community event that draws hundreds of visitors every Saturday from May through October.
In January, the market received $17,000 through the Mills River allocation of funds to the American Rescue Plan Act to expand the benefits of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. In this June 29 interview, the Brits share their experiences as farmers in Western North Carolina, how to run a farmers market, and why it’s important for all people to have access to fresh food. To read the story.
Cathy Greggs
In the second half of 2022, CPP covered the controversy surrounding the use of ShotSpotter in Fayetteville. ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection system that uses artificial intelligence to determine the location of a shot.
Cities that contract with ShotSpotter use the location data to respond more quickly to shootings. Cathy Greggs, co-founder of the Fayetteville Police Accountability Community Task Force, spoke with CPP about the need to use technology like ShotSpotter to address gun crime in Fayetteville. She also spoke of the greater need to address socio-economic inequality as a way to reduce crime. To read the story.
Alicia Heacock and Megan Lyon Leimena
Alicia Heacock bounces her baby on one steady leg during a Zoom call while talking about government subsidies for diapers.
There is one: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, which helps families with financial assistance for bills, clothing and other basic needs.
But with the average cost of diapers at $80 a month, according to the National Diaper Bank Network, and the maximum TANF benefit for a family of three at $272, there likely isn’t much of a diaper budget for families receiving the aid to help with a range of the needs.
That’s why Heacock and her co-director Megan Lyon Leimena launched Western North Carolina’s only diaper bank, Babies Need Bottoms, in 2018. Last year, the organization provided nearly 307,000 diapers to more than 15,000 children in seven WNC counties.
Buncombe County awarded Babies Need Bottoms $50,000 of its American Rescue Plan Act funds to provide more than 86,000 diapers to child care centers over the next two years. Heacock, Lyon-Limena and Heacock’s 5-month-old daughter, Immi, sat down with Carolina Public Press to discuss the need for diapers and how the government can help. To read the story.
Leo Kelly Jr
To Leo Kelly Jr ancestors were among the first residents of Vance County after the North Carolina General Assembly created the small, new county from parts of neighboring Franklin, Granville and Warren counties in 1881. Historians say the formation of Vance County was an obvious and early example of gerymandering, or manipulating lines in favor of one political party, as the Democratic-majority legislature redrew district lines to consolidate party control in Franklin, Granville and Warren counties.
The parts of those counties that made up Vance County had large black populations in the late 1800s, census data show. At the time, black North Carolinians overwhelmingly voted Republican.
In 1890, the first time the U.S. Census Bureau collected data for Vance County, 63% of the county’s residents were black. Nationwide, black North Carolinians made up only 31% of the population at the time
Kelly has heard the story of the formation of his home county all his life. In this interview, Kelly shares family history passed down through generations, discusses how the formation of Vance County influences its current culture, and what his goals are as a Vance County Commissioner. To read the story.
Daniel Lawrence
To complement its ShotSpotter coverage, CPP spoke with Daniel Lawrence, a researcher at CNA’s Center for Justice Research and Innovation, who studied ShotSpotter. He talks about his research into the gunshot detection system, as well as the broader implications of the technology, such as privacy concerns, effectiveness and impact on black and brown neighborhoods. To read the story.
Roberto Quercia
In December, Carolina Public Press reported anti-camping ordinances in Fayetteville and Cumberland County that allowed those local governments to remove camps from publicly owned land. Camps are places outside where the unhoused live and sleep. As part of this coverage, CPP interviewed Roberto Quercia. Quercia studies low-income housing at UNC-Chapel Hill. During the discussion, he spoke about the need for more emergency shelters if there is an ordinance that allows governments to remove the camps. Quercia also spoke to the larger problem of homelessness in human societies. To read the story.
Sally Weldon
Sally WeldonThe Buncombe County home does not have reliable internet access. It’s a problem she and many others in rural Western North Carolina struggle with due to the lack of fiber optic broadband infrastructure. Fewer than one in four WNC residents have access to fiber, according to a map by the NC Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) from the US Census Bureau and the US Federal Communications Commission.
The NC General Assembly, as well as several other local governments, have allocated portions of their American Rescue Plan Act funds to connect rural communities to high-speed Internet. In this March interview, Weldon talks about what it’s like to not have constant access to the Internet and how the government’s investment in ARPA will help. To read the story.
Veterans
In the days leading up to the 2022 midterm elections, CPP spoke with a group of veterans in Fayetteville to hear their thoughts on the political issues of the day. Their names were Kenneth Joy, Thomas Person, LaFaith Artis, Charles Mack and Claude Bright. They spoke of their common disillusionment with party politics. To read the story.
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