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Conservancy saves 900 acres for hunting, hiking, mountain biking

Henderson County News

Ask Matt ... if journalism is dying

Q. Given the recent negativity about the news business and with millennials getting their news elsewhere, are fewer people entering the journalism profession? Yes, but it’s not all bad news. According to the Pew Research Center in 2017 the audience for almost every major sector of the news media fell (except radio). Newspaper circulation dropped by 11 percent. (The newspaper you are reading, we should note, has experienced week over week, month over month paid circulation growth for 6½ years.) The news market is moving to Twitter and Facebook. Pew reports that in 2017, two-thirds of U.S. adults are getting news from social media. Low readership means fewer jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for news reporters will decline by 9 percent from 2014 through the year 2024. I asked two local teachers about the national trend. Tanya Ledford, who teaches journalism at North Henderson High, noticed a decline in writing among today’s students. “They do everything in bite-sized pieces,” she said. “It’s disconcerting.” Ledford said that in the schools today there is less emphasis on grammar. She lamented that journalism is changing rapidly because of the digital age. “The art of telling a story in an intriguing way is being lost,” she said. “Writing is an art. It must be practiced.” Jason Livingston teaches three journalism courses at West Henderson, where he had 114 students last year. “Social media creates a culture where everyone thinks they are a journalist,” he said. “After I saw the movie ‘The Post,’ it brought home the difference. Back in those days there were solid deadlines and you were forced to work to get a quality product.” Livingston said that with the “fake news” stigma, it’s harder to seek the truth. “That’s the battle – get multiple sources. We teach that,” he said. West High’s student publication Wingspan has won numerous awards and Livingston credits his mentor, Brenda Gorsuch, for its continued success. Now you might think that fewer Henderson County high school students are taking journalism. Not so. County school officials project that 233 students are enrolled this fall, slightly more than two years ago. At our local high schools, student interest in reporting and writing remains high. Many students particularly enjoy working on yearbooks and school newspapers. At the university level some schools have combined journalism into a broader course of study called mass communications. Here students can take courses such as media ethics, speech, radio and television writing, photojournalism, advertising, and desktop publishing. UNCA’s 30-year old program remains strong. It has enjoyed a 15 percent increase in declared majors in the last five years but few of its graduates are getting jobs with newspapers or television. Michael Gouge, a former Times-News copy desk chief, is a senior lecturer at the UNC Asheville School of Mass Communications, where he has taught for 20 years. “The job market has changed,” Gouge said. “The demand now is for content — much more content — because people are getting their information in other ways.” Examples are radio podcasting and video production, college courses which are popular with his students. Gouge was quick to point out that UNC-Asheville students are taught the value of “trustworthy journalism.” He said that employers with social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook want to avoid public relations disasters or legal challenges. Gouge agreed that the journalism landscape has changed for the worse since he got in the business. “There is a lot of stuff out there that looks like journalism but isn’t,” said Gouge who ended his remarks with a bit of optimism. “Not all our students will be journalists but they will all be media consumers.” * * * * * Send questions to askmattm@gmail.com.       Read Story »

Henderson County News

Barber, in a digital appearance, rallies crowd at BRCC

The Rev. William Barber urged voters to organize and vote for health care, equal rights and racism, drawing enthusiastic applause. But he did not deliver the remarks in person. A traffic jam on I-40 prevented Barber from making the 6 p.m. “Moral Revival for Voting Rights” at Blue Ridge Community College. Around 600 people turned out to hear Barber, founder of the Moral Mondays protest against actions of the Republican-controlled North Carolina Legislature and one of the most prominent civil rights leaders in the South. They got to see him in digital form only, his image projected on a large screen, at Thomas Auditorium at BRCC.“There are more people that want to do right than want to do wrong and we have to believe that,” he said. In the past, when activists stood up for poor people’s rights, “they kept pushing,” he said. “They did not stand down. They stood up.”He criticized the Legislature for failing to expand Medicaid coverage in the state, a policy decision that would have covered tens of thousands of North Carolinians.“In Henderson County alone the uninsured rate would have dropped from 13 percent to 9 percent — 4,000 people in Henderson County,” he said. He said there was a large gap between average wages and the cost of living in Henderson County, where housing prices in particular are high.“You have to work 91 hours in a week in order to earn the pay” to afford the cost of living in the county, he said. He urged the crowd to vote no on all six of the state constitutional amendments on the ballot. "They're all bad," he said.Barber spoke for about 18 minutes before saying good-bye and flicking off the screen. Norm Bossert, a Democratic candidate for Senate, said he hoped the rally would help turn out votes for his party’s candidates.“I hope he energizes people,” Bossert said. “If they haven’t voted I hope he gets people out to vote. If they have voted, I hope they volunteer to get people out to vote.”     Read Story »

Henderson County News

Hot dog fundraiser aids fellow court clerks hit by Florence

When Henderson County Clerk of Superior Court Kim Gasperson Justice heard about the troubles for a fellow clerk and his staff in Eastern North Carolina, she decided to hold one of the office's specialties — a hot dog lunch.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Warmth of Home features live bands, reception and raffle

Interfaith Assistance Ministry is presenting its ninth Annual Warmth of Home Concert at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5, at the Flat Rock Playhouse Downtown to raise money for heating assistance for needy families.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

HHS inducts five into Hall of Fame

The mayor of Laurel Park, a golf course turf and landscape specialist, two longtime teacher-coaches and a longtime city School Board member who raised two Bearcat star athletes were inducted into the Hendersonville High School Alumni Association Hall of Fame on Oct. 12 before the Bearcats homecoming game versus Smoky Mountain.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Both parties endorse in nonpartisan School Board race

Less publicly than it did in 2016, the Republican Party is again endorsing candidates in the nonpartisan School Board election. And this time, Democrats are pulling an arrow from the Republican quiver from 2012, when the GOP urged partisans to cast a “single-shot” vote for Republican Josh Houston.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

Although Sunday voting tilts left, turnout is light

Henderson County’s first-ever Sunday voting attracted a Democratic-leaning turnout of 672 voters, a total that was less than the daily average for one-stop voting so far this election.   Read Story »

Mills River News

BRCC, school system recognized as jobs recruiting 'Partners of the Year'

The Partnership for Economic Development on Thursday night recognized Blue Ridge Community College and Henderson County Public Schools as the 2017-18 Partners of The Year for their innovative collaboration to support workforce development.   Read Story »

Henderson County News

N.C. historic panel clears way for Highland Lake Road work

FLAT ROCK — The state Historic Preservation Office has ruled that an NCDOT project can encroach on the corner of Greenville Highway and North Highland Lake Road, removing one of the last hurdles before the work can start.   Read Story »

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