About Us

The Assembly publishes deep reporting on power and place in North Carolina.

The Assembly launched February 2021 with the audacious idea that we could tell ambitious, challenging stories about North Carolina, and build a sustainable business plan to support that work. We tell compelling and nuanced stories about our state, without fear or favor to any party or power structure. Key areas of coverage include politics, courts, higher education, culture, and accountability.

Over the last four years, we have hired a team of journalists across the state and given them the space to be ambitious and thoughtful. We’ve also hired editors with a wealth of experience and knowledge when it comes to the big issues of today. We seek to produce journalism that will alternately surprise, inform, outrage, and delight you. The common thread uniting our work is that it leaves you with a better understanding of the place you call home.

Mailing address: P.O. Box 96, Durham, NC 27702

Business or customer service needs: info@theassemblync.com

Tips, comments, and correction requests: scoops@theassemblync.com

Our Business Model

We launched with financial backing from investors who believe in our mission, and are working to transition to a self-sustaining, reader-funded model in the near future. We are governed by a board of directors.

Everyone can read a small number of articles a month without a subscription. Our regional publications are also free, as is our flagship newsletter. A basic subscription gives you full access to all our latest stories, while a premium subscription includes our industry newsletters, access to events, and a discount at our store.

Our Philanthropic Partners

While The Assembly is a for-profit company, philanthropic support has been essential to helping us raise funds to support growth and expansion.

To date, philanthropic support has come from the Knight Growth Challenge Fund, Journalism Funding Partners, Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, the Carolina Beacon, the Greensboro Community Journalism Fund, and Report for America.

If you are interested in becoming a philanthropic partner, please contact Emily Dresslar at emily.dresslar@theassemblync.com.

The Assembly Network

Since its founding as a statewide news outlet, The Assembly Network has grown to encompass local teams across the state:

Our Greensboro bureau produces its own original reporting and 3x weekly newsletter, The Thread, with support from the Greensboro Community Journalism Fund and Report for America.

In the Triangle, we have partnered with INDY, an alt-weekly with a 40+ year history of producing hard-hitting local news.

In Fayetteville, we have teamed up with CityView, a monthly magazine and daily news outlet covering the city and county.

And in the southeast, we have partnered with the Border Belt Independent, which covers Bladen, Columbus, Robeson, and Scotland counties.

Our growing network allows us to funnel important regional stories to a statewide audience, translate statewide stories to the level where it matters most, and support a healthy news ecosystem in North Carolina. It’s a model we are looking to replicate in other parts of the state.

In 2025, we joined ProPublica‘s Local Reporting Network. We also work with The Food Section, a James Beard Award-winning independent outlet covering food and drink across the American South, published by Hanna Raskin. For coverage of our delegation in Washington and federal policy, we have partnered with News of the United States, or NOTUS. And we work with WUNC’s The Broadside to produce audio stories on what’s happening in the heart of the American South.