Capital B Expands Local News Network to Augusta, Georgia

Capital B is headed to Augusta, Georgia! 

Capital B’s local reporting has helped communities secure resources, demand accountability, and exert the civic power that has helped them shape their own futures. We can’t wait to bring Capital B’s unique brand of community-rooted local journalism, honed in Atlanta and in our Gary, Indiana, newsrooms, to Augusta.

This will be our third local market, expanding our Georgia presence and starting off a multiyear growth initiative to provide more local news to Black communities in the state and across the country. 

In 2022, we opened our first local newsroom in Atlanta with a goal to give Black communities the kind of accountability journalism they’ve long been denied, and to build deep trust with the audiences we serve. Since then, our reporting has helped push forward housing reforms, driven new investment in public health, and told stories that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. Our model proves that more quality information for the communities that need it the most brings about tangible change in people’s lives.

In Augusta, there’s a rich landscape for reporting on downtown revitalization, housing, health equity, infrastructure, criminal justice reform, economic opportunity, and the relationship that Augusta’s signature sporting event, the Masters, has with the people who live there year-round. 

But before we bring Capital B to a new town, we listen. We’ve spent the first half of the year working with Augusta-native journalists and trusted messengers to gain a deep understanding of the community’s news needs.

We learned that there’s a clear gap in consistent, community-centered local news, particularly coverage that reflects the needs and concerns of Black residents. Augusta’s communities deserve a stronger information infrastructure. After dozens of interviews, some themes emerged:

1. People want one trusted source to cut through the noise. Residents are tired of piecing together what’s happening from a dozen meetings, feeds, and phone calls. They want a single place they can go to make sense of it all.
2. There’s a desire for the straight truth that reflects the communities they see every day. No one wants to be handed only good news or only bad news; they want reality, context, and solutions. 
3. Effort earns trust. Residents notice when a story clearly took real reporting work in the community, and people value journalism that surfaces something they couldn’t have found on their own. 
4. The city runs on relationships. Augusta is a relationship-driven city. People look to trusted messengers, neighbors, and community memes for information before they look at headlines.
5. There are too many untapped resources. Residents yearn for a deeper understanding of the services and opportunities available to help them and their neighbors. 
6. Augusta wants more government accountability. They want an institution that will cover civic news with consistent presence, rigor, and transparency.

Quality local journalism has been proven to deliver civic empowerment and meaningful change to communities, and Capital B wants to bring more of that to Augusta. We’ll use these learnings to shape coverage that will help residents understand what is happening and why it matters, hold powerful institutions accountable, and connect people to information, resources, and opportunities.

To do this, we’re now hiring Capital B Augusta’s founding editor! The ideal candidate is a journalist with roots in Augusta who sees the enormous opportunity to bring the news Black Augustans want and need to the city. If that’s you, or someone you know, we’d love an introduction. You can find the listing here.

If you want to keep up with Capital B Augusta’s progress, sign up for email updates and follow us on Instagram. And if you want to support our nonprofit journalism work in the city and beyond, please donate. 

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