{"id":14813,"date":"2016-02-26T09:23:46","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T14:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=12994"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:28:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:28:00","slug":"bit-grain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=14813","title":{"rendered":"Bit & Grain: Melding longform journalism, multimedia to tell N.C. stories"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bit<\/a>
Bit & Grain co-founders and Carolina alumni, from left, Baxter Miller, Ryan Stancil and Sandra Davidson. (photo courtesy of Bit & Grain).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carolina alumni Sandra Davidson, Baxter Miller and Ryan Stancil have put so many miles on their Yukon SUV\u2019s odometer that they\u2019ve driven it \u201cout of commission\u201d on their travels across the Old North State.<\/p>\n

As they chronicle North Carolina stories for their digital publication, Bit & Grain<\/em><\/a>, their car trips are filled with music, thoughtful conversation, two dogs and \u2014 more often than not \u2014 barbecue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWherever we are, we will find a local barbecue restaurant,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

Their ambitious endeavor \u2014 to publish one multimedia story a week about North Carolina\u2019s people, places, issues and culture \u2014 is already garnering rave reviews. The narrative stories are interspersed with large photos, video and audio interviews in a clean, modern design.<\/p>\n

The Columbia Journalism Review<\/em><\/a> wrote: \u201cIt has engagement that would make more established local outlets salivate. \u2026 at a time when longform journalism is making a comeback thanks to thoughtful design and attention to audience engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Bit & Grain team traveled to Harkers Island to do a story on the unique boatbuilding tradition there. (photo courtesy of Bit & Grain).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The three co-founders, all natives of small North Carolina towns, bring to Bit & Grain<\/em> different perspectives. They graduated with undergraduate degrees in 2011 \u2014 Davidson (political science and folklore), Stancil (public policy and religious studies), and Miller (journalism and history). Davidson also went on to receive a master\u2019s in folklore in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all noticing how North Carolina felt fragmented,\u201d Davidson said recently over a cup of coffee at Sugarland on Franklin Street. She had just come from a photo shoot in Durham for a story about the state\u2019s hip-hop culture. \u201cWe wanted to invite people into a conversation that wasn\u2019t divisive and wasn\u2019t just reinforcing one side or viewpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n

They launched Bit & Grain<\/em> in the heart of March Madness in 2015 with the inaugural story \u201cThe People of Tobacco Road<\/a>,\u201d which featured audio interviews and personal narratives centered around college basketball fans who follow Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest and Duke.<\/p>\n

The inspiration for the publication\u2019s name comes from Davidson\u2019s great-great uncle, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and beloved UNC faculty member Paul Green. As they were flipping through his Wordbook: An Alphabet of Reminiscence,<\/em> the trio came across the phrase, \u201cevery bit and grain,\u201d defined as \u201can inclusive statement of every item, every consideration or point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought, \u2018ah-ha, that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to be,\u2019\u201d Davidson recalled.<\/p>\n

\"They<\/a>
They visited the old home place of North Carolina Poet Laureate Shelby Stephenson for one of their weekly features. (photo courtesy of Bit & Grain).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stancil said the broad and deep liberal arts education he received at UNC influences how he approaches a story.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarolina encouraged me to think about issues facing our state in innovative, interdisciplinary, multi-faceted ways,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since that first story on basketball mania, the three have published stories on everything from North Carolina\u2019s poet laureate to marriage equality to a four-part coastal anthology.<\/p>\n

Paying homage to her American studies and folklore education, Davidson added that they employ \u201can ethnographic approach\u201d to storytelling.<\/p>\n

Bit & Grain<\/em> has a strong presence on social media, particularly on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and Instagram.<\/a> The International Journalists\u2019 Network praised the publication\u2019s Instagram presence, in a story that also featured the social media engagement of the BBC,<\/em> The Guardian<\/em> and The Chicago Tribune.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want to build community, to talk with our readers about things that matter to them as North Carolinians,\u201d Miller said. \u201cWe also try to tailor our stories to the medium, from a small story with a recipe to a 4,000-word story on oysters.\u201d<\/p>\n

What would they say to critics who might argue that longform journalism is dead?<\/p>\n

Stancil acknowledges that journalism is at a crossroads, but he believes their idea of publishing one, in-depth story per week has merit. He said they are focusing not as much on Web traffic as \u201cquality, and how it changes people\u2019s thinking or engages them in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"After<\/a>
After their story on Harkers Island was published, one of the locals told Davidson that Bit & Grain got the story right and “you must have a little saltwater in your veins.” (photo courtesy of Bit & Grain).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bit & Grain <\/em>has been invited to become a part of the N.C. Newsroom Cooperative, a journalism incubator that will operate out of The Frontier co-working space in Research Triangle Park. Indy Week<\/em><\/a> wrote about the independent newsroom in December, saying the cooperative \u201cenvisions fostering things like hackathons, helping writers monetize their work in new ways and acting as a broker connecting writers with content that needs to be produced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s national support, but also a movement within our own state, for a different way of doing journalism,\u201d Davidson said.<\/p>\n

For her, the greatest reward in producing features for Bit & Grain<\/em> is in receiving honest praise from her story sources. After publishing a story on the boat-building tradition of Harkers Island<\/a>, Davidson said one of the locals wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people come down here and write stories about us, and they don\u2019t get it right. But you guys did. You must have a little saltwater in your veins.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Kim Weaver Spurr \u201888, College of Arts and Sciences<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carolina alumni Sandra Davidson, Baxter Miller and Ryan Stancil launched the digital publication, Bit & Grain to tell North Carolina’s stories from mountains to 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