Inside one of Charlotte's busiest news days

On a Wednesday two weeks ago, at about 9 a.m., I took a call from a reliable source who passed along a sensational tidbit of information — that word was circulating that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill had been fired.

Although Hill had appeared to be clashing with the school board over the previous few weeks, at the time, nobody had reported that she was out.

I quickly called our assistant editor, Lindsey Banks, and we started calling and texting school board members and others in a position to know if that tip was accurate. At the same time, I had already started working on an article about another big story that we knew was coming — the City Council narrowing its search for a new Charlotte mayor down to five candidates.

And within a couple of hours, yet another major story would emerge, with the YMCA of Greater Charlotte announcing it was selling the Morrison YMCA in Ballantyne to a church.

Lindsey and I considered those to be three huge stories that are important to large swaths of Charlotte.

In my seven years of running The Ledger, there have been bigger individual stories. But I can’t recall three stories so consequential that occurred on the same day.

Sometimes, how the media operates can seem like a mystery, so I’m going to tell you more about that day — June 17 — to shed light on how we make decisions about what you read from us. At The Ledger (and in other newsrooms), reporters and editors make snap decisions every day on what to report, how big of a deal to make a story, what information to include. There is thought behind it. You might be interested in what that looks like from the inside on a busy day.

Maybe you have an image of what newsrooms are like from TV or movies, like “All the President’s Men” or “The Paper”: reporters racing through city streets to covertly meet sources, while editors bark orders across rows of desks. Modern newsrooms — especially local newsrooms — aren’t like that at all.

Media companies in Charlotte are far smaller than you see in the movies. The Ledger employs three full-time journalists plus a handful of regular contributors, and we don’t have an office. We spend our days talking to sources the way you talk to people — on the phone, via email or text or in-person for coffee. We research articles online, write, take photos and videos, collaborate on ideas, plan and so on.

We also sift through a lot of information — tips, press releases, other media. When it comes to where to invest our time and resources, we typically look for topics and information that are new, original, interesting or important. And at The Ledger, we tend to focus more on certain subjects, such as stories that touch on Charlotte’s growth and development, than on covering the opening of a deli or a deadly car wreck.

On that busy Wednesday, there were actually just two of us on the reporting side working — assistant editor Lindsey Banks and I. Our managing editor, Ashley Fahey, was out on vacation for the week. (She had expertly navigated a similarly hectic day six weeks earlier, when I was on vacation and the news came out that Mayor Vi Lyles was stepping down. Lindsey joked that Ashley and I are not allowed to take vacations from now on.)

Lindsey and I were in close touch throughout the day, processing the information and dividing up the work. And we looped in The Ledger’s director of business development, Ava Mikeal, who helped coordinate social media posts.

“Good lord, what a Wednesday,” Lindsey wrote to me at about 11:30 a.m., as she was gathering information on CMS while I finished a comprehensive look at the five mayoral finalists and we were discussing how to handle the news about the Y.

Journalists have a reputation for being a little obsessive about landing “scoops.” There is cachet in our profession about being “first” to report a news story. But most regular people don’t care as much as journalists do, and the skill of rewriting a press release three minutes faster than a competitor isn’t what most readers value. And many supposed “scoops” are actually engineered by public relations firms.

At The Ledger, we’d prefer to be known for our original work — information that our reporters glean from talking to sources — and for providing context and background that helps readers understand a topic beyond a big headline. We do that many times over the course of a week, and readers tell us they appreciate the variety and depth of our articles. Other media take different approaches. (There’s no right answer.)

But when big local news breaks, we feel a responsibility to let our audience know about it, because many of our readers tell us we’re their only source of local news. We try not to overload inboxes with trivial information, and we want to save breaking news emails for stories of broad significance or those that can’t wait until our next regular newsletter. In a typical month, we’ll send maybe two or three breaking news alerts.

So on that Wednesday, after we published our regular newsletter at 8 a.m. (with a lead story about the struggles of local nonprofits), here’s what that looked like: 

◼️ Mayor list. At 11:46 a.m., we published a breaking news alert: “Mayor finalists narrowed to 5.” It was succinct and linked to more complete biographies of the five contenders. (The following week, after the council chose lawyer Rob Harrington as mayor, we wrote a quick but thorough profile of him — the kind of original work I’m really more proud of than a breaking news alert.)

◼️ YMCA sale. At 1:30 p.m., we published the news of the Morrison YMCA’s plans to close inside our regularly scheduled Real Estate Whispers newsletter. It was less than ideal because Whispers has a smaller distribution than our full Ledger list, but we lacked the bandwidth to immediately report and write the context we wanted, and we balked at sending yet another separate email, which would have been the fourth of the day and the potential for another one later on CMS. Instead, we mentioned the Y news in Whispers, which was mostly written on Tuesday, and then came back with a much more thorough look on Friday that included interviews with the YMCA’s leadership, perspectives from people in the community and angles that had not been previously explored.

◼️ CMS intrigue. Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Lindsey and I worked to glean information about what was happening with CMS. Word was definitely spreading on the grapevine, and other media started reporting variations of what we were hearing. One wrote that Hill “will no longer be CMS superintendent, sources confirm.” Another, citing “community sources,” said that Hill “has departed from the district.”

The Ledger’s standard for reporting on a story like this is that a source, especially an anonymous one, has to be in a position to know that the information they are sharing is true. As a reporter, you have to ask how the source knows the information.

School board members either didn’t reply to our inquiries or deflected them. Lindsey and I were never satisfied that the folks we were talking with had direct access to information about Hill. It seemed more second-, third- or fourth-hand. Generally, in my experience, people don’t make stuff up, but like in a game of telephone, the details can get muddled. It seemed clear something was going on, but we chose to publish nothing until we were more sure of the specifics.

A little before 6 p.m., CMS released a statement saying Hill had been placed on temporary paid leave pending an investigation for unspecified operational and administrative issues. Lindsey had written some background, which we call “B-matter” in journalism lingo, and we sent out her piece at 6:04 p.m. The CMS statement was different from the original tip we received that morning — that Hill had been fired — and also a little different from some of the reporting that afternoon, which said that she was out. (She might very well be done at CMS, so that could eventually be proven true, though board members say they have made no decisions about her future.)

Oh, I almost forgot: To round out the busy day, a regional planning board was considering undoing its vote in May to halt the I-77 toll lanes. I watched that online for a bit, but that effort lacked the votes. I posted that on social media.

Then I went out solo for a burger and a well-deserved beer.

Most days aren't that hectic. But every day involves a similar balancing act: deciding what's important, what's true and what's worth your time.

There has been a crush of local news lately. Traditionally, things slow down around the 4th of July.

Next week, The Ledger is running a special series we think you’ll enjoy.

It’s called “Hidden Gems.” Over the course of the week, arts critic Lawrence Toppman will show you five under-the-radar Mecklenburg County destinations that deserve a spot in your summer plans.

Of course, Toppman himself is a gem. He writes our Toppman on the Arts newsletter, featuring arts reviews.

Last summer, Toppman wrote a series for us called “Walking Through Charlotte’s History,” in which he explored Charlotte’s past by walking through a series of public places.

We think you’ll enjoy this one!

If there’s big breaking news, we’ll let you know. Our regular newsletters will resume on July 13.

The Ledger held a two-day in-town retreat this week.

We brought together our four full-time staff and our three summer interns to discuss how to better serve our readers, from the stories we cover and the newsletters we produce to improvements to our website and subscriber experience. We came away with a long list of ideas that we'll be rolling out over the coming months, all aimed at making The Charlotte Ledger more useful, more engaging and more valuable to our members.

We also learned from a couple of guest speakers, hit Shake Shack for lunch and finished one of the days with bowling.

Who won staff bowling bragging rights? It’s not polite to brag, so I won’t tell you. (But click here if you want the scores.)

We recently recorded our 200th episode, and they tend to be timeless — so you can find a topic that interests you! All are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms. Just search for “The Charlotte Ledger Podcast.”

Recent episodes include:

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