Dwayne Yancey has a new direction for his career. (This is Yancey at an
Overnight Sensations production where he was one of the playwrights.)

A New Gig for Journalist Dwayne Yancey 

Former Roanoke Times editorial page editor Dwayne Yancey, who announced he was leaving the daily newspaper after serving it for 39 years a few days ago, will resume his storied career as executive director/editor of Cardinal Press. That is a new online-only publication covering Southwest Virginia. 

Luanne Rife

This from Luanne Rife, a former Roanoke Times reporter who took retirement recently, on Facebook a few minutes ago:

Soon after Luanne Rife took an early retirement buyout from The Roanoke Times, Chris Turnbull reached out to offer congratulations and to ask about her plans. She mentioned that The Secular Society, which was concerned about what would happen to the region as more and more journalists lost their jobs, had just asked her to look into the feasibility of creating a regional online news service focused on enterprise stories.

Chris replied he had been talking with several business people in Southwestern and Southside Virginia who shared similar concerns and were trying to find a way to support regional journalism.

Chris had been working with Dwayne Yancey to establish a business fellowship, funded by several businesses, that would be similar to The Secular Society’s investigative fellowship. The newspaper turned down their proposal.

Luanne reached out to Dwayne to ask what he thought of an online venture. He expressed interest if certain conditions were met.

The idea was to build a donor-supported nonprofit news agency that would focus on politics, the economy and culture.

Former Times Publisher Debbie Meade

Who better to help with that than former Roanoke Times publisher Debbie Meade?

Debbie has an incredible knowledge of publishing, business, nonprofits and donor development. She joined Chris and Luanne as founding board members, and Cardinal Productions was incorporated in late June.

In August, we made an offer to Dwayne to become our inaugural editor. He’s recruiting a staff of veteran full-time and freelance journalists, and we plan in late September to launch our website.

[NOTE: Meade was publisher of The Roanoke Times for several years and was replaced when the paper was sold.]

There is, of course, much more to this story, and we can’t wait to tell it as it unfolds.

The following is from Cardinal's press release:

Won’t this hurt local newspapers?

We're not competing with newspapers. We're not selling advertising or subscriptions, the two fundamental sources of newspaper revenue. Nor are we covering the same things. We're not a substitute for newspapers. Our goal is to cover some of the stories that aren't being covered by other news media. Our morning newsletter will, in addition to touting our own stories, link to key stories others have reported in the region, so we might drive some traffic to existing newspaper websites.

How can I be assured the coverage will be editorially independent?

We've written this into our by-laws. .We're led by and hired respected journalists. Ultimately, the proof is in our work.

Why are you doing this now, when newspapers are really one the ropes?

Yancey, a little dressier.

Because there are gaps in coverage that newspapers aren't covering, can't cover and, in some cases, have never covered. Also, newspapers, by definition, cover their immediate communities. We're looking for stories of broad regional interest across Southwest and Southside. We're not here to cover individual city councils or school boards; we're here to look for regional trends.

How is this different from the declining industry of newspapers?

We are not a newspaper. We are solely online. That means we don't have the expense of printing and distribution. We're also not trying to cover everything; we are focused on a handful of topics. Further, we're doing in-depth coverage; we're not trying to provide newspaper-of-record coverage of government meetings, fire, wrecks and crime. We are also a non-profit, which creates a different relationship with readers.

Are my contributions tax-deductible?

We have filed for 501c3 status and expect to obtain non-profit status by year's end.

Will there be a paywall?

No. We want our content to reach the broadest possible audience. We rely entirely on donations and grants. Has this model worked anywhere else, in a region the size of ours? Y

es, in places both bigger and small. In Virginia, there are non-profit news sites in Charlottesville (Charlottesville Tomorrow, founded 2005) and even Rappahannock County (Foothills Forum, founded 2014). In North Carolina, the Carolina Public Press (founded 2011) began as a news site covering western North Carolina. And then there are sites such as the Texas Tribune that cover an entire state (and a big one, at that).

What will you cover now, versus six months from now?

That depends entirely on how successful fund-raising is. Our budget calls for an editor, three reporters and a development officer – plus a corps of experienced freelancers. We won't start at full funding so will not have three reporters on staff – probably two, a business writer and, ideally, a political writer, plus some of those experienced freelancers. As we approach full funding for our initial budget ($600,000 a year), we'll hire that third reporter – a general assignment writer to help fulfill the “culture” part of our coverage. We can't put a timeline on that. Before we expand beyond that, we will need to grow our funding beyond that projected $600,000 and make sure that funding is committed for multiple years. Before we hire anyone, we need to make sure we can pay them, not just now but in future years. We will be cautious about expanding too quickly. We prefer to do a few things well than try to take on too much.