John Boyle is a columnist and reporter for Asheville Watchdog, where he began contributing in 2022. He previously worked at the Asheville Citizen-Times for 27 years, covering a wide range of beats and topics.

Karen Chavez is executive editor for the Asheville Citizen-Times and the Hendersonville Times-News, with more than 27 years of experience in journalism. She has worked at the Citizen-Times since 2000, serving in roles including outdoors and environment reporter, assistant sports editor, and investigations editor. She is also the author of Best Hikes with Dogs: North Carolina.

Eduardo Medina is a reporter for The New York Times based in Durham, North Carolina, covering the South.

Jessica Wakeman is a journalist and editor based in Asheville, North Carolina, with more than 20 years of experience covering politics, culture, and health. She previously served as a staff reporter for Mountain Xpress and now contributes to publications such as Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Assembly, Glamour, CNN Travel, NBC News, and MarketWatch.

Cory Vaillancourt is Politics Editor for The Smoky Mountain News in North Carolina. His reporting has also appeared on NPR, WUNC, and Blue Ridge Public Radio, as well as in The Washington Post.

WLOS (News 13) is the ABC-affiliated television station serving Asheville and the surrounding region, providing local news, weather, and community coverage.

Dr. Sonya DiPalma, Professor and Chair of the Department of Mass Communication at UNC Asheville, teaches courses in public relations, environmental communication, media and ethics in society, personal branding, and crisis communication. Accredited by the Public Relations Society of America, she integrates experiential learning in her classes through partnerships with regional nonprofit organizations. She served as Book Review Editor (2021–2024) for Journalism History, the oldest academic journal in the discipline. Her honors include the 2019 UNC Asheville Bulldogs ACE Award for collaboration with the Bulldog Challenge and the 2015 Ginger Rudeseal Carter Miller Teacher of the Year Award from the Association for Educators of Journalism and Mass Communication. Specializing in framing theory, she has presented research internationally, including at the 2019 Media in America, America in the Media conference in Lublin, Poland, with a current focus on the framing of the modern refugee. Her fellowships include multimedia storytelling with ieiMedia in Urbino, Italy; social media with the American Red Cross through The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations; and community-engaged learning with UNC Asheville’s Key Center. Her publications include The Greening of Nuclear Energy: A Content Analysis of Nuclear Energy Frames from 1991 to 2008 (Edwin Mellen Press), as well as articles in College Media Review and Teaching Journalism and Mass Communication. Before academia, she worked in public relations for the West Virginia Department of Education and a Fortune 500 energy company. She lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, Frank.

Michael E. Gouge teaches journalism courses and advises the student newspaper, The Blue Banner. He has an extensive background writing and editing for three daily newspapers and two regional travel magazines. His courses include Basic Journalism, History of American Media, Literary Journalism and Enterprise Reporting. An avid motorcyclist, Gouge also works as a travel writer and editor-in-chief of Blue Ridge Motorcycling Magazine, a glossy print travel/leisure quarterly celebrating the Southern Appalachian Mountains. He is a graduate of UNC Asheville’s Mass Communication department and holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Alabama.