Who Tells the Story of a Community? Inside Charlotte’s Historic West End, Trust Still Leads the Way

In a city growing as fast as Charlotte, one question remains constant: who controls the flow of information, and who do people trust enough to believe it?

That question sat at the center of this week’s Sarah Stevenson Tuesday Forum discussion, where local leaders, researchers, and community advocates gathered to unpack a new study on how residents of Charlotte’s Historic West End access local news and information.

The panel featured Charles Thomas of Knight Foundation, Angelique Gaines and Asha Ellison of UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, alongside Trilby Meeks of the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Association.

Together, they examined a truth many communities already know: local news is not just about headlines—it is about trust, proximity, and whether people feel seen in the stories being told.

The West End as a Case Study for Local News

For more than a decade, Knight Foundation has invested heavily in Charlotte’s Historic West End, funding projects that support both infrastructure and cultural preservation.

From spaces like Archive CLT to developments surrounding Johnson C. Smith University, those investments have focused on strengthening the community beyond aesthetics—supporting the people, businesses, and institutions that shape daily life.

But according to Thomas, there was still a deeper question worth asking: how are residents actually receiving their information?

As local journalism continues to struggle through the transition to the digital age, understanding how neighborhoods like the West End stay informed has become critical—not just for media outlets, but for organizers, policymakers, and residents themselves.

Family, Faith, and Facebook: Where People Really Get Their News

The research, launched in 2025, explored how residents and business owners in the West End access local information and what sources they trust most.

The findings were clear: people trust people first.

According to the report, 81% of residents said they regularly receive local news and information from family, friends, and neighbors. Television followed closely behind at 79%, while 46% said local churches were a key source of information.

When it came to digital platforms, the top three were YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

But access alone was not the deciding factor—trust was.

Sixty-one percent of respondents said that information coming from a trusted person or organization was one of the most important factors in whether they paid attention to it.

That trust often came down to one thing: proximity.

People trusted sources closest to the issues they cared about—neighbors who lived it, churches that served them, and local leaders who showed up consistently.

The Missing Piece: A Central Hub for the Historic West End

One practical challenge raised during the discussion was the lack of a single centralized website dedicated solely to Historic West End happenings.

While residents rely heavily on neighborhood association emails, newsletters, and community organizations, Thomas noted there is no one digital hub where people can easily find everything happening across the district.

That gap presents both a challenge and an opportunity.

A unified platform for neighborhood news, events, updates, and civic engagement could strengthen both access and trust—especially when paired with local voices leading the storytelling.

Community Journalism, Not Just Community Coverage

One example of this work already in motion is the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative’s Documenters program, supported through Knight funding.

The initiative trains residents to attend city council meetings, government sessions, and public forums, take notes, and help distribute that information back into the community through journalism outlets.

In some cases, residents are even paid for the work.

It is a model built on the understanding that trusted messengers often live inside the community—not outside of it.

It also reframes journalism as participation, not just observation.

Fighting Misinformation Starts With Slowing Down

For Asha Ellison, a journalist and former clinical therapist, the conversation around local news also means confronting misinformation and disinformation.

She made an important distinction: misinformation is false information shared without harmful intent. Disinformation is intentionally deceptive.

Her advice for navigating both was simple: slow down.

She encouraged residents to practice lateral reading—checking multiple sources instead of trusting one—and introduced the SIFT method:

Stop before sharing

Investigate the source

Find better coverage

Trace claims back to their original context

Building Change From the Inside

For Trilby Meeks, who was born and raised in Historic West End and now advocates through the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Association, the study reflected work she was already trying to do.

Her focus has been improving quality of life by increasing participation and engagement in neighborhood programming—creating incentives, building trust, and helping residents feel invested in their own community.

Because information alone is not enough.

People have to believe they belong in the process.

That kind of work takes time. Meeks described nearly a year of planning, strategy, and execution to create stronger community involvement.

And that may be the larger lesson of the entire study: access is important, but belonging is what creates movement.

Who Gets to Tell the Story?

The final recommendation of the study was perhaps the most important: elevate local voices.

Not just as interview subjects, but as the people shaping the message.

If communities are going to trust information, they need to see themselves reflected in it.

That means collaboration with local residents, churches, organizations, and neighborhood leaders—not parachuting stories in from the outside.

Because the future of local news may not be built on bigger platforms.

It may be built on smaller circles—neighbors, newsletters, church announcements, trusted messengers, and communities deciding to tell their own stories first.