Newsroom diversity has long been recognized as critical to the mission of local news. However, gathering an accurate understanding of diversity in newsrooms has proven a difficult undertaking due to low response rates.

A survey of North Carolina newsrooms and journalists, by the UNC Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media in partnership with the NC Local News Workshop at Elon University, found that newsrooms remained largely white, consistent with prior research across the country. This study, one of few to ask respondents about disability, found that 30% of survey respondents who worked in a newsroom had some kind of disability though very few asked for Americans With Disabilities Act accommodations. Compared to previous research, women in this study had greater representation — both in staff and leadership positions.

Journalists at The Pilot were finalizing coverage Saturday night of a drag show targeted by protesters, when they spotted social media chatter about a power outage. John Nagy, the editor of the 102-year-old Moore County, N.C., newspaper, asked a reporter to make some calls. He thought maybe a car accident had temporarily taken out a transformer.

Then the newsroom went dark.

The editorial staff of about a dozen people leaped into action. Reporters soon confirmed that authorities believed the power at some 45,000 southeastern North Carolina addresses had been knocked out intentionally. Nagy drove to a substation that authorities say was attacked by gunfire and snapped a photograph of a toppled gate that would be republished by news outlets across the country.