Ever wonder how an idea becomes a published article? Check out this guide.

We love getting story ideas from you! Many of our articles start with community members reaching out to us. We receive hundreds of tips each month and read every tip and do our best to get back to you. Sometimes a reporter follows up for more information.

The hardest part of our job, though, is deciding what not to cover. If we don’t report on news that is important to you, it could be for a variety of reasons. We carefully consider factors like how the news fits into our reporting areas, what else our editors and reporters are already working on, and what’s already been covered by other local outlets.

The tips we are more likely to report on are about issues that directly affect you and that you are ready to speak about on the record. We prioritize reporting that is useful not just to the person who made the tip, but also to more of our central Virginia communities. We focus on specific subject areas, which you can see on our website.

“We’re a small newsroom, so we try to maximize our impact by focusing on voices and stories that are not getting much coverage elsewhere, and we try to avoid repeating stories covered by the many other talented local news organizations in central Virginia,” said Managing Editor Akash Sinha.

To share a story idea with Charlottesville Tomorrow, fill out this contact form.

Prefer to leave us a voice message or send a text?

Call (434) 218-3649 and give us as much information as you can in your message. You can also reach our newsroom on Signal at (434) 218-3649 or @cvilletomorrow.05. Signal is a chat and voice app for your smartphone that has end-to-end encryption and is run by a nonprofit organization.

Reporters might reach out to you for a variety of reasons. They could be exploring a new reporting idea. They might have a specific article with a deadline that’s coming up, or be working on a long project and researching over several months. Or, they might just need background information on their topic. They might just want to meet you to hear about what is happening in your life and what matters to you. These kinds of informal meetings with members of the community guide and inform our reporting.

Our reporters might contact you via email, phone, through your website, on social media, or in person at events, meetings or when they bump into you in the neighborhood. We often meet potential sources at public gatherings, ask for contact information and then follow up later.

Our reporters do their best to explain why they are reaching out, whether they have questions for an article or are looking to understand a topic more broadly.

If you agree to an interview, remember that you decide what you want to say and what you are comfortable with. Charlottesville Tomorrow encourages you to let our reporters know if you feel uncomfortable or have questions during your conversation. You should feel free not to answer any question.

Charlottesville Tomorrow’s reporters might record an interview or take notes to ensure accuracy. These recordings are often only used as the reporter works on their article or, in some cases, by editors verifying the accuracy of a quote. If reporters are planning to use the recording in any other way, such as for a podcast or to share online, they will seek permission. If you feel uncomfortable with a reporter recording the interview, talk to them about your concerns.

In rare cases, Charlottesville Tomorrow will consider quoting or paraphrasing a source without using their name. Our reporters and editors usually only use anonymous sources if what they are saying is the only way to report on a critical issue. The reporter might need to consult with an editor before agreeing to anonymity, and the reason for anonymity will be mentioned in the story. This high bar for anonymous sources helps our readers trust our work.

You should feel free to ask how your personal details will be shared and why specific information is important to the story. 

As this useful guide from Outlier Media explains, reporters rarely share questions beforehand. This is because questions and the direction of the conversation change in the moment based on the interviewee’s answers. Often, unstructured conversations flow more naturally.

Most professional journalists do not pay people they speak with to avoid conflicts of interest. Charlottesville Tomorrow reporters are the same. However, we do have a program with our partners in Charlottesville Inclusive Media called First Person Charlottesville for community members to tell their own stories. If your piece is published through this program, you are compensated for your work. Here’s where you can share your story idea.

If you are speaking to a reporter, you should assume that you are “on the record” unless you and the reporter specifically agree otherwise. If something is “on the record,” it means the reporter may quote or paraphrase you, attributing the statement to you with your name.

Before you begin to speak to a reporter, you should tell them if you are not comfortable being on the record or quoted by name. You can ask the reporter about going “on background” for context or going “off the record,” which means they will not use the information in an article.

You should state what you want up front. Anything you say before “This is off the record” is on the record and it is up to the reporter to use the information or not. At Charlottesville Tomorrow, we generally honor requests to speak “off the record.”

Reporters most often attribute information by following a quote with “said” and then your name, plus your title, affiliation or other description. Here’s an example: “Ten percent of our members work in agriculture,” said Lena Smith, who leads a local business organization in Spring County.

If the information is a fact or statistic, the reporter will give the name of the report, study or data set where they found the information. They will also link to the source if possible. Here’s an example: Parts of central Virginia have few local journalists, but they do have community members who share local news, according to a 2026 study published by the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation and Charlottesville Inclusive Media.

Once a reporter completes several interviews and does research, they might reach back out to you for more information. Reporters will include different points of view in their work so that they can all better understand the issue. For Charlottesville Tomorrow’s longer articles, we often do extensive research, speak to many sources, and take time with the writing process to make sure we are being fair to the sources while being informative to the widest possible audience. All of that requires time, fact-checking, effort and thought — a lot of careful work. This is especially true if the article is about a sensitive topic or involves investigative reporting where we are searching for detailed information.

At some point, we might also ask to take photos, or request archival photos or documents such as family photos, maps or records. Just as when you grant an interview, you should ask any questions you have about having your picture taken or sharing this kind of material.

If you are in a public space, such as a government meeting or an event, we might also take your photo for use in an article. We understand that photographs can be very sensitive and we publish photos that align with our values, with a focus on dignity and respect.

Some articles can take just a few hours to report, edit and publish, while others might take days, weeks or months. The timeline depends on the depth of the reporting, the length of the piece, available staff and resources and what other news is happening in the community. Stories may be paused or dropped due to a variety of factors. It’s not personal!

We deeply appreciate the time community members take to speak with us, but there are times you might talk with a reporter and not see your name in an article. That’s because the article may have changed focus, or we couldn’t fact-check critical information or find the sources we needed. Sometimes there is other news that we pursue first, and once in a while, the reporting process is interrupted by people needing to take time off work or staff changes.

We understand how disappointing this can be, especially when you spend time talking with us about an issue that is important to you. No matter what, each and every conversation with community members helps Charlottesville Tomorrow serve the community better.

“Public safety situations are an example of a coverage area that can evolve very quickly. We have had cases where we were about to hit publish on a story and then new information came in that completely changed the story,” said Managing Editor Sinha.

No matter the timeline, we always do as much as we can to make sure we get the facts right.

Fact-checking includes confirming information, statistics, names and locations. For example, if a local business organization leader says that 10% of their members work in agriculture, and doesn’t cite any sources, our reporter or editor will seek more sources on the labor force. If there is no source for this information, we will not include it in the report, or we will state that we could not confirm the claim or find evidence to support it.

We do not share articles with sources before publishing to protect our editorial independence. When you read an article in Charlottesville Tomorrow, it is not censored or edited by anyone other than the editorial team. This independence is critical to building and maintaining trust with our community.

That said, you should always feel empowered to ask about how you are being quoted or how information is being attributed to you. While we might not change something you’ve already said, we are always open to talking again after you’ve given an initial interview.

“We’re focused on getting it right and making sure we’re articulating sources’ perspectives accurately,” said reporter O’Hare.

And sometimes, we’ll get it wrong. We issue corrections in a timely and transparent way, and do our best to make sure our readers are alerted to significant corrections.

We believe in consistent, two-way communication with the communities we serve. We encourage community members to send us feedback and point out errors. To submit feedback to the newsroom, fill out this form.

Our reporters follow and get to know topics, find and frame reports to dig into, interview sources, do research, write report drafts and revise with editors, check facts and meet with community members at events.

We send photojournalists to take photographs for reports, most often of the people, places and events the reports are about. Photojournalists also propose their own stories that they would like to tell visually. Sometimes reporters are also photojournalists. 

Editors work with reporters on story ideas; edit drafts to make sure they have strong sources, clarity, organization, grammar and consistent style; check (and double check) facts; work on our website to design how reports and photos appear; write and send newsletters; and make corrections or clarifications. Editors sometimes report stories, too. They might have areas they focus on, like our community editor or democracy editor.

These newsroom leaders do all of the above, plus the daily work of managing reporters and their professional development, approving reporter expenses and coordinating all reporting projects with a bird’s-eye view. They work with our technology director, photographers, designers and data specialists to make sure reports are accessible and will work in all the ways people get them.

The Editor-in-Chief is in charge of editorial strategy — how we build the newsroom, recruit talented journalists and how we understand and serve communities’ needs. They are the leader of the newsroom, managing the budget and overseeing the whole team. The Editor-in-Chief also does some editing and review of reports and projects.

That’s you! These are the community members, public officials, spokespeople or experts who talk to reporters for stories.

This is an idea for an article submitted by you, our community members.

In general, statements you make to a reporter are considered on the record, meaning they might share it and attribute it to you, unless you discuss otherwise with the reporter. Public officials and government employees are always on the record, with few exceptions.

Both parties agree that the source will provide background information to a reporter without attribution. These conversations give context to the reporter, informing their approach and further research.

Both parties agree that the reporter will not quote or paraphrase information or statements or identify the source of the information. These conversations might inform the reporter’s approach and further research for the article. In order to report the issue, though, reporters will need to find sources who will go on the record.

A direct quote, verbatim, in an article. These are often used to help you better understand how a source feels or express their perspective in their own voice. Quotes are often used for a short, clear statement of someone’s opinion or a short, clear statement from an expert. 

Sometimes it’s more clear to summarize what someone said. Paraphrasing is often used to concisely communicate detailed and complicated information from a source.

Charlottesville Tomorrow does its best to confirm all the information, statistics, names, locations and other information it provides.