The fight for credibility

The Shelby Independent officially launched on July 1, 2025.

EDITORIAL — Like any business just starting out, in the public perception, The Shelby Independent didn’t exist one day — and then suddenly it did.

Once the doors open, you have to convince people to check out what you’re offering / selling, or in the case of media, what you’re reporting.

For The Shelby Independent, the majority of our inventory is our news articles.

Our customers are our readers, and our advertisers pay for you to read freely, and in turn the advertising gets the word out more about their business — some sponsors just do it for name branding, the more places a business name is seen, the more recognition it receives, and for others it’s all about letting potential customers know they exist as they build name recognition and a reputation.

It’s not always easy right out of the gate.

Sometimes you face adversity, some people refuse to try something new and then you also have to deal with the bigger, more established competitors that see you as a problem and do what they can to make it difficult for you to operate.

The Shelby Independent has to convince local governments, organizations, events, businesses and individuals that we’re worth taking seriously and worth reading.

Sometimes, loyalty to another media outlet, purposely, or by accident, leaves us out of the loop for press release mailings. People working in local government departments ignore my emails and don’t bother returning my calls — for whatever reasons.

This media blog is less than a month old, so when I contact certain local government officials or departments, some are supportive or at least cooperative and some aren’t. It’s normal for them to say they’ve never heard of The Shelby Independent, but then they know.

And yet I still get ignored.

So, as The Shelby Independent continues to grow, as it increases coverage of towns, events, issues and people, we hope that some local government officials employees / departments will at least be more cooperative, if not supportive, and grant us the same courtesy that it does other, more established, media outlets.

It’s okay to ignore The Independent … I’ll just write about other things, give other good news the attention — but sometimes ignoring a reporter makes the reporter more curious as to why…?

I hope that in time, The City of Shelby, elected officials in Kings Mountain, the various departments of the County, and our other amazing towns, organizations, festivals, and individuals across our beautiful county will be willing to cooperate more openly with The Shelby Independent.

It’s a free country and nobody is required to work with The Shelby Independent, but this is my home, too. I care about this place.

And I can’t cover everything— but it’s unfortunate that when I do try to contact a public employee, elected official, or whomever handles press releases and information of various entities, that I would hope they would want to get their side of things out for others to read, and that the more established media outlets wouldn’t be so jerky about my existence. (I’m small, small potatoes, I don’t affect what you do).

I hope that as this site moves into its 29th DAY of official existence that certain local officials and employees of public departments choose to work with me, as some are already being cordial and cooperative.

No media outlets will ever win the support of everyone — you’re going to seriously dislike what I write about sometimes, but that’s because I’m just trying to report on what happens. Heck, I don’t like everything I report on, but that’s the job.

However, it would be nice to know that local governments and other institutions across Cleveland County are willing to (at least pretend to) cooperate— and I know you’ve never heard of me; you don’t know what The Shelby Independent is — but you do now, because I’ve called and emailed you enough to annoy and be remembered by anyone.

I know I’m just a small fish in a big pond, but small fish sometimes grow and then you might not be able to reel me in one day when you wish you could.

I just want to inform the public on what’s going on — if you don’t want me to know what’s going on then I assume you don’t want the residents of Cleveland County to know what’s going on neither — and that’s a bigger story than me just asking for a quote or more information on what I’m inquiring about.

To the 67,000+ website visits that The Shelby Independent has already received this month, THANK YOU, that means I have repeat readers and you are truly appreciated more than I can say — and the likes of/ followers on Facebook, to the small 1,100+ followers that have sent me messages, that are obviously returning to read again and again, THANK YOU.

We’re fortunate to get to live here in Cleveland County. Say what you want but it’s home, and the people make it special.

For someone that has moved around a lot, all across the state and our nation, from North Carolina to California and South Dakota, covering many interesting news stories and talked to fascinating people and seen beautiful places, it sure is good to be home.

And because I’m home, I’ve held back from causing any issues — I’ve not said in articles “So and so would not comment,” or “Such and such refused a request for comment”  but I guess I shouldn’t treat my home any differently than anywhere else.

I just need to be the journalist I was everywhere else, since only a handful will bother to email, call or text me back.

Regardless of that, I’m happy to be back home and look forward to writing about what I can, when I can, as The Shelby Independent continues to grow…. Whether or not officials and employees cooperate, news still happens.

Time to get to work and build The Shelby Independent into a trusted local news source for readers across Cleveland County.