Rural weekly in western North Carolina wins ethics award for taking on local corruption

The Yancey County News of Burnsville, N.C., a rural weekly newspaper that is not even a year and a half old, will receive an Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism next week at the University of Oregon for its battles against local government corruption. Another Payne Award will go to freelance journalists Matthew LaPlante and Rick Egan for ritual killing of children in Ethiopia.

Jonathan and Susan Austin started the News in January 2011 after he had spent almost 30 years at daily newspapers in the Southeast and at CNN.com. They challenged an established weekly in the county in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Shortly after it began publication, the News revealed a criminal investigation into election fraud involving the sheriff’s department. Later that year, it reported that the county's chief deputy, who evinced a tough-on-crime attitude, was pawning county-owned firearms for personal gain. The work also won this year's E.W. Scripps Award for outstanding service to the First Amendment.

The Payne Award judges called the work “classic public interest journalism at great personal and economic risk.” They said, “To take on the powers that be in a rural community where citizens are afraid to speak out against local law enforcement is very brave.To stake your livelihood and personal safety on it is above and beyond. This is an extraordinary example of serving the public good.” For the release on the award, click here.