By Sally Kestin, co-founder of Asheville Watchdog, a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. This is a contributor-submitted Voices piece. Want to join the conversation? We invite you to write for us. Learn how to share your voice here.

There’s a new news organization in town. Asheville, meet Asheville Watchdog, a nonprofit created and staffed by volunteer, highly experienced journalists and media executives who live here and believe that we need more coverage of local institutions and issues.

At our outset, Asheville Watchdog will concentrate on the issues we hear you, our neighbors, most concerned about. We’ll provide stories with context that promote conversation and awareness. Our content, which will appear on our web site and be offered free to all local media outlets, will be produced by freelance reporters under the direction of our veteran journalists (among us we have two Pulitzer Prizes and decades of experience in newspapers).

Why are we doing this? You probably know local news coverage across the country is in serious trouble. Newspapers have closed or shrunk, often leaving a handful of reporters in newsrooms that once employed dozens or even hundreds. And that was before coronavirus caused advertising revenue to shrivel. In the past month, newspapers have eliminated more positions, put reporters on unpaid furloughs and reduced print editions.

By locals for locals: We’ll be free of corporate influence and outside owners. And with no pressure to fill a daily newspaper or newscast, our reporters will bring you comprehensive stories on the issues and developments most important to Asheville and Buncombe County.

We have no political or private agenda but simply believe that journalism is a public service essential to democracy. Local news matters, and a healthy, strong Asheville depends on well-informed citizens.

Asheville Watchdog launches today with a piece exploring the question on everyone’s minds: What will post-pandemic Asheville look like? Hint: not the same. Look for more in the coming days and weeks, including an in-depth interview with Chef Katie Button on the stark realities facing the restaurant industry. Asheville, this is for you, so check us out and show us some love.

For more on Asheville Watchdog:

Check out our website, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter @AvlWatchdog. And if you’ve got an idea for a story, or you’re a journalist, photographer, marketer or graphic designer who wants to join the cause, drop us a line.