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Outlet profile

Border Belt Independent

U.S. local nonprofit news, no strong partisan lean (rural community and accountability focus)

Owned byOperated by the nonprofit Border Belt Reporting Center, Inc., a 501(c)(3). Founder Les High, a longtime editor and publisher of The News Reporter in Whiteville, N.C., is its interim editor.
FundingPhilanthropic grants and reader donations. These include a three-year, $495,000 grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust (later renewed), support from the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund through the North Carolina Community Foundation, and a $50,000 grant to add a reporter. It also runs donation drives with matching gifts. Local newspapers republish its stories.
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

The Border Belt Independent launched in April 2021 as an online newsroom for the North Carolina Border Belt, which is Robeson, Columbus, Scotland and Bladen counties. Les High, the longtime editor and publisher of The News Reporter in Whiteville, founded the Border Belt Reporting Center, the 501(c)(3) that oversees it. The launch was financed mainly by a three-year, $495,000 grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, which the trust later renewed. It has also won money from the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund and a separate $50,000 grant to add a reporter. The outlet does in-depth reporting on local issues such as poverty, health, and local government, and many partner newspapers in the region republish its work. Its reliance on foundation funding is common among nonprofit newsrooms, and that funding can shape which topics get covered. Its coverage is regional rather than national, so it rarely engages directly with the Trump administration. When it does, as with federal policy effects on local residents, it reports on the local impact. I did not review its recent coverage in depth, so the 'mostly neutral' stance rests on its local mission and not on a full analysis of recent stories.

Sources

  1. Border Belt Independent (Wikipedia)
  2. New nonprofit reporting center will examine issues in four rural counties
  3. Reynolds Trust renews three-year grant for Border Belt Independent
  4. Border Belt Independent wins $50,000 grant to add reporter
  5. Q&A: Publisher Les High on the new online nonprofit news site
  6. Border Belt Independent serves readers and newspapers in North Carolina's poorest counties (Editor & Publisher)

Profile compiled 2026-11-07; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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