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 five 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.

Our Business Model and Philanthropic Partners

We launched with financial backing from investors who believe in our mission, and are working to become a self-sustaining, reader-funded network.

Philanthropic support has been essential in helping us grow our impact and reach. In 2024, we received a catalytic grant from the Knight Foundation that jumpstarted our growth across the state. Since then, we’ve raised funds from individuals and foundations across the state.

In the event a donor is relevant to or mentioned in a story we publish, our editors will add a disclosure in the story itself. For disclosure purposes, we keep track of any donor or organization who has given us $10,000 or more over the last twelve months. We do not solicit anonymous contributions.

Please see more about becoming a member here.

Contact Us

Mailing address: P.O. Box 96, Durham, N.C. 27702

Business or customer service needs: support@theassemblync.com

Story pitches: Read our guidelines here.

Tips and comments: scoops@theassemblync.com

General inquiries: info@theassemblync.com

Correction requests: corrections@theassemblync.com

Our editors review every correction request to determine whether changes should be made to a story. If a correction or clarification is merited, it will be noted in the published story. Where appropriate, we will consider requests to take down or update older published work.

The Assembly Network

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

Our Greensboro bureau produces The Thread.

Our Western Wake bureau produces The Line for Cary, Apex, and beyond.

Our Durham team produces The INDY.

Our Fayetteville team produces CityView.

And in the southeast, our team at Border Belt Independent 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.

In 2025, we joined ProPublica‘s Local Reporting Network. We also work with NOTUS to provide coverage of the N.C. delegation and federal policy and with Inside Climate News on environmental reporting. We regularly work with WUNC’s The Broadside to produce audio versions of our stories.