“Hello Asheville!” our first news story began. “Welcome to AVL Watchdog – a free, local and nonprofit news service.”

Today, five years and nearly a thousand stories later, Asheville Watchdog celebrates its fifth anniversary with immense gratitude to the community for supporting this continuing experiment in local public-service journalism. 

On April 17, 2020 — in the early weeks of the pandemic, when we couldn’t properly introduce ourselves in person — we wrote:

“We’re here because of you, our friends and neighbors, who told us that you want thoughtful and explanatory journalism to stay abreast of the issues and challenges facing Asheville and Buncombe County. We are dedicated to providing news and analysis that promotes civic understanding and participation.”

So much has changed in five years. Our initial core team of retired, volunteer journalists and news executives has grown — thanks to your generous donations — to include a paid staff of full-time professional journalists, an executive director, a marketing director, and technical helpers. And we’re lucky to continue to attract talented volunteers.

We now rarely go a weekday without publishing a new story, and our readership growth continues to accelerate. So far this year we’ve welcomed more than 630,000 visitors to our website, and they’ve logged more than 1 million page views. That puts us on track to top 3 million page views and 2 million visitors in 2025.

Watchdog reporting has impact as well as reach. In the past year our investigations have resulted in or contributed to criminal charges, hospital sanctions, lawsuits, and changes to city and county policies. We’re especially proud of documenting the lives lost to Tropical Storm Helene, putting a human face on what otherwise might be glossed over in statistics.

And, thanks to the irrepressible John Boyle, we’re provided a few chuckles as well. 

But while much has changed since our “Hello Asheville!”  story, our mission remains the same: “to produce stories covering local government, institutions, issues and people that are fair, factual and reliable.” 

“Asheville is confronting unprecedented challenges and choices that will change the way we live and work,” we wrote five years ago, unsure of the pandemic’s outcome and oblivious to the possibility of natural disasters to come. 

The challenges and choices today are certainly more visible than they were then, as Asheville and surrounding communities begin the long rebuilding process after Helene. And as we promised in the beginning, Asheville Watchdog will be here to provide the kind of thoughtful, in-depth, fact-based reporting needed to make informed decisions about our future.

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

So, happy birthday to us. And thank YOU for making it possible.

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