How The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer cover North Carolina politics

Editor’s note: Another legislative session has begun for North Carolina’s General Assembly, and The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer are planning their coverage. To match the transparency we demand of politicians, we’re sharing details of our process and what journalistic policies define our approach to politics.

In 1969, Claude Sitton, The News & Observer’s nationally acclaimed editor and eventual Pulitzer Prize winner, wrote a column identifying the paper’s central conviction:

While some news sources “shaped their accounts of events to the mold of partisan and economic self-interest,” Sitton wrote, “... no respectable newspaper permits the practice.”

Our commitment to impartial journalism has not swayed since leaders like Sitton helped turn The N&O from a bastion of the South’s Democratic Party into one of the state’s leading independent news sources.

But what does that mean for our day-to-day activity? In the mission statement of our parent company, McClatchy, our newspapers pledge “every day … to report the truth fully while remaining independent and free from political, social, financial or other special interests.”

Every reporter, photographer and editor is required to uphold the paper’s impartiality. We don’t wear campaign merchandise, or donate to or advocate for political candidates. Our social media activity can’t suggest political allegiances. Reporters are free to vote, in keeping with their rights as citizens, but that’s as far as they go in support of political players.

The only exception — and one that often confuses readers — is the opinion team. Opinion writers report to different bosses and their decisions have no bearing on our news coverage.

Reporters, like all people, have personal opinions. But as journalists we strive to identify internal biases and expunge them from our coverage. That’s why reporters collaborate on complicated issues and why a network of editors works behind the scenes to ensure The N&O and Observer’s news content adheres to their strict code of neutrality.

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, a politics reporter and current president of the North Carolina Capitol Press Corps, said like with sports reporting, “there should be no cheering in the press box for a team to win or lose. There should be no being easy on people just to get access. The team we’re on is the team that holds those in power accountable, asks questions people may not want to answer, tells readers not just the final score but how it happened and what it means for you.”

“It matters zero what you personally think,” Vaughan said, “and anyone reading your story shouldn’t be able to tell what you think. What matters is doing your best to tell readers what they need to know, call out wrongdoing no matter who’s doing it, hold everyone to account, find the truth and shine a light in the darkness.”

Vaughan is part of a seven-member team that covers North Carolina politics and government full-time. Its coverage is featured in complementary products: The News & Observer, The Charlotte Observer and NC Insider, a state government news service that reports finer details of daily legislative goings-on.

Many of our other journalists, covering a variety of beats, also make forays into political reporting. And during the legislature’s most active months, a freelance roster further fortifies The N&O and Observer’s breadth, helping us with comprehensive coverage of committee meetings and floor sessions.

In writing about state politics, our objective is twofold: Keep people informed of what their government is doing, and hold powerful people accountable.

We’re not infallible in the pursuit of those goals. Reporters make mistakes. But we analyze and improve.

“Newspapers today do a far more comprehensive and penetrating job of reporting the news than was true even a decade ago,” Sitton wrote in the column quoted above. “Further, they make an attempt, whether altogether successful or not, to tell their readers what that news means.”

Five decades later, we’re still refining and widening our coverage, driven by a constant commitment to independent journalism our community can trust.

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan’s beats on the politics team include the governor, the General Assembly, how the legislature and governor interact, the state budget, state employees and Council of State. She is also the main host of The N&O’s Under the Dome politics podcast. She previously covered Durham, where she became a Duke and NCCU fan. However, as a Virginia Tech grad, she’s forever Hokie Nation. Dawn also loves parades more than you do, history, holidays and Raleigh stuff.

Danielle Battaglia

Danielle Battaglia is located in Washington, D.C., covering North Carolina’s congressional delegation — and sometimes the White House. She grew up in Northern Virginia but, until recently, spent her entire adult life in North Carolina, having first moved there, at 18, to attend Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory.

She began her career in 2011, covering everything from local government to school board to the judicial system in Rockingham County. She was promoted to The News & Record in Greensboro in 2014 where she spent the majority of her time covering crime, courts and as a digital content editor.

She joined The News & Observer in December 2019 to cover state government.

Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi

Luciana, a 25-year-old from Lima, Peru, joined the state politics team in July. She covers health care, including mental health and Medicaid expansion; higher education; hurricane recovery efforts and lobbying.

Luciana previously worked as a Roy W. Howard Fellow at Searchlight New Mexico, an investigative news organization. She was awarded the opportunity by the Scripps Howard Foundation and Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland College Park, where Luciana obtained her master’s degree.

In her free time, Luciana enjoys hiking with her dog, painting and trying new food with friends.

Avi Bajpai

Avi covers social and cultural issues shaping North Carolina politics, including abortion, guns, immigration, LGBTQ rights, religion and the state’s changing demographics. He also covers criminal justice issues, the state prison system and North Carolina’s response to the opioid epidemic. Avi loves meeting new people and understanding what issues and experiences inform their politics and determine how they vote.

A native New Yorker, Avi joined The News & Observer in August 2021.

Jordan Schrader

Jordan Schrader is the politics editor. He has covered state government for 16 years, most of that time in North Carolina.

A native of Michigan, he reported on politics for the Asheville Citizen-Times and The News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington, before moving back to North Carolina with his family in 2016 and joining the state politics team. He is a fan of the Michigan Wolverines, national parks and eastern-style barbecue.

Lars Dolder

Lars is The News & Observer’s NC Insider editor. He writes and coordinates General Assembly coverage and oversees a freelance team at the legislature. Before joining The N&O’s state government desk, Lars was a business reporter covering retail, technology and innovation. He is a Connecticut native who graduated from N.C. State with a math degree he rarely uses.

For more North Carolina government and politics news, subscribe to the Under the Dome politics newsletter from The News & Observer and the NC Insider and follow our weekly Under the Dome podcast at campsite.bio/underthedome or wherever you get your podcasts.

This story was originally published January 21, 2023 at 5:00 AM with the headline "How The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer cover North Carolina politics."

Lars Dolder

The News & Observer

Lars Dolder is editor of The News & Observer’s Insider, a state government news service. He oversees the product’s exclusive content and works with The N&O’s politics desk on investigative projects. He previously worked on The N&O’s business desk covering retail, technology and innovation.