ELIZABETHTOWN — The local Rotary Club heard about a relatively new, regional media service based in Columbus County on Wednesday.
Les High, a 40-year newspaper journalist whose family owned the Whiteville New Reporter since 1938 before it was sold not long ago, spent a number of years following in his father’s footsteps as publisher of the Whiteville newspaper. When the newspaper was sold, High began looking for something to do.
“I wanted to do something different,” he told the club membership. “And the Border Belt Independent was it.”
Border Belt Independent was born in the summer of 2021 and covers Columbus, Bladen, Robeson and Scotland counties. It is a non-profit being funded by the Kay B. Reynolds Foundation.
“We don’t cover all the town meetings and athletic events that the local newspapers do,” High said. “What we do are more in-depth stories that the local newspapers don;t have the time to do — and we share those stories with those newspapers.”
Over the months, Border Belt Independent has had stories about opioid addiction, the Lumber River, Bladen County EMS during COVID-19, the Paul R. Brown Leadership Academy, teacher need in Bladen County and more.
“We care about things like children and mental health and poverty,” High explained. “We want to write the stories people really need to know about.”
Many of those stories are being written by Sarah Nagem, editor of the BBI.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the people and issues throughout the region,” she said. “And I hope people will give me story ideas in the future.
“I’m a fan of the Bladen Journal and what it does,” she added. “It does a good job with the local news and we hope to partner with the newspaper on some projects in the future.”
High said the BBI is an important link in the news chain, specifically for one reason.
“With social media being such an untrustworthy source, we wanted to produce stories that tell the truth,” he said. “With the loss of something like 2,000 newspapers across the country, there’s been a vacuum created that’s getting filled by bloggers and others who spew untrue information.
“How can we have a democracy without the truth being shared?” he added. “(The news media) has to reinvent themselves … try to effect change and have an honest impact.”
High said he hopes the BBI has had that kind of effect on the area.
“Our goal, and we hope it’s been evident, is to help tie the region together more closely,” he said. “Even though there might be a story from Columbus or Scotland or Robeson, people here in Bladen might realize that the issue is also happening here.”
High added that BBI hopes to have a reporter for each of the four counties in the near future.
“This may be a national model for where newspapers are headed,” he said. “We need to return legitimacy and trustworthiness to our news media.”
The Border Belt Independent can be found online at www.borderbelt.org, where anyone can signn up to receive a regular weekly newsletter. The BBI plans to put together a comprehensive voters guide prior to the upcoming election.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-862-4163 or cvincent@www.bladenjournal.com.