When journalism matters most

Last week was gut-wrenching as images and stories emerged from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.

Landmarks of my childhood, totally decimated by unthinkable floodwaters. Communities across the Blue Ridge that I know so well, maybe gone forever. 

My family in Asheville is safe, thank goodness, but many have lost everything. Hundreds remain missing as search and rescue crews are still working to reach the most isolated coves and hollers of the mountains. Tens of thousands have no running water or power, maybe for weeks or months to come. 

The rising death toll makes me sick, and I fear the worst is yet to come. 

BEFORE MOVING to Montana 27 years ago, the southern Appalachian Mountains were home. My family bounced around the rural communities that speckle the high country along the Tennessee and North Carolina border. 

Spruce Pine, N.C., population 2,000, was home for third and fourth grade. The North Toe River runs along its historic downtown area that locals simply call “upper” and “lower” streets. 

My grandparents operated a bookstore ­— Baldwin and Sons Books — on upper street for a few years. Lower street is where my friends and I would run along the railroad tracks and skip rocks across the river. 

On Thursday, Raleigh’s newspaper, the News and Observer, sent reporter Josh Shaffer to that same street a week after it was swamped by Helene's floodwaters. He accompanied a shop owner to her music store to assess the damage, where they found ankle-deep mud and water stains as high as the ceiling. The shop and all its items — her livelihood — gone. 

“My life is in there,” she told Shaffer. “It’s hard. Very hard.” 

A few days earlier Shaffer had visited neighboring Avery County where I attended high school. He described seeing “pulverized houses and cars floating upside-down” as his convoy made its way along the winding roads that connect the tiny towns that make up this rural area. 

In the outpost of Minneapolis, N.C., population 300, he met up with the fire chief who was searching for a missing person who they believed lived in a house that was hit by a landslide and was crushed against two trees. 

With roads washed away, and no cell service or internet, they were cut off from the outside world. Shaffer’s reporting offered the first look at what the community was facing. 

“It’s just devastating,” the chief said. “We have people who can’t get their insulin. We have people who can’t get their inhalers.” 

I’ve never met Shaffer, but last week I sent him a note thanking him for his outstanding reporting. His coverage, along with the reporters at the Asheville Citizen-Times where I once interned, has connected the catastrophe in western North Carolina with the nation. These stories need to be told, and their journalism is making a difference. 

FOLLOWING THE coverage of Hurricane Helene has reminded me why I chose a career in journalism. 

It was 19 years ago that reporter Jennifer Mayerle interviewed Hardy Jackson in Biloxi, Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina’s deadly storm surge. 

The transcript is recounted on CBS News: 

“How are you doing, sir?” Mayerle asked Jackson as he wandered the flooded streets with his two young grandsons. 

“I’m not doing good ... we got up in the roof, all the way to the roof, and water came in the house, just opened up, divided,” he told her. 

“Who was at your house with you?” Mayerle asked. 

“My wife,” Jackson said. 

“Where is she now?” Mayerle replied. 

“Can’t find her body. She gone,” Jackson wailed. 

“You can’t find your wife?” Mayerle asked, her voice shaking. 

“No … she told me, ‘You can’t hold me.’ She said, ‘Take care of the kids and the grandkids.’” 

You may recall watching that heartbreaking interview. It’s forever engrained in my memory. 

The next day I went to the local Red Cross affiliate and asked how I could help. They put me on a flight to the Gulf Coast the following morning where I volunteered for a week. 

Mayerle’s reporting had literally moved me into action — the epitome of journalism that matters. 

I had already embarked on a career in newspapers when that interview aired, but it’s what sealed the deal. I wanted to be a part of powerful storytelling that makes a difference. 

As we celebrate National Newspaper Week this week, I’m reminded of the critical role journalism plays in our daily lives. It doesn’t just keep us informed on issues, it connects us to people and places. And at its best, journalism provides an avenue for action and change.  

If you’re moved to help the victims of Hurricane Helene, I offer these vetted resources with boots on the ground, where your contributions will be of so much help. 

Samaritan’s Purse: samaritanspurse.org.

Feeding Avery Families: feedingaveryfamilies.org.

Regional Editor Matt Baldwin can be reached at 758-4447 or mbaldwin@dailyinterlake.com.