Every week, a group of men in their late 60s meets at the Corner Cafe in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. One important reason for these meetups is to discuss what’s going on in their community.

Local news has virtually dried up in their rural county, as well as neighboring counties, and some residents say they’re being left in the dark and don’t feel equipped to make informed decisions.

“I’m not gonna vote if I can’t get the information,” says Penny Abernathy.

Like in much of the country, roughly two-thirds of North Carolina’s counties are considered news deserts. And the lack of local journalism isn’t just making it harder for people to stay informed; it’s exacerbating a crisis of trust in the news media.

This week on Reveal, we partner with the podcast Scene on Radio and hosts John Biewen and Chenjerai Kumanyika to understand how American journalism got here and what can be done to repair the cracked foundation of the Fourth Estate.

This is an update of an episode that originally aired in June 2026.

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More To The Story: On Tuesday, House Republicans blocked a remarkable effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led by a lone GOP legislator and supported by Democrats. The eight articles alleged that Hegseth violated the Constitution by waging war against Iran without congressional authorization, unlawfully capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and launching strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean, among other charges. But the impeachment efforts failed. In his time as defense secretary, Hegseth has not only helped push the US into a deeply unpopular war with Iran, but he’s also started wars within the military itself. Under his leadership, the US military has ousted female and Black officers, blocked promotions for Black service members, reassigned the first woman to lead the Naval Academy, and targeted transgender service members and just about anyone who doesn’t fit his narrow definition of what constitutes a proper “warrior.”

On a special episode of More To The Story for this year’s Veterans Day, host Al Letson talks with Bibby about what life is really like for Black troops in the US military, how Hegseth has widened racial inequities under his leadership, and whether the armed services can ever become a true meritocracy.

Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Copy editor: Nikki Frick | Digital producer: Artis Curiskis | Executive producer: Brett Myers | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson

Listen: How a Soldier’s Beating Helped Desegregate the Military (Reveal)

Read: Hegseth Lashes Out at Impeachment Push, Accuses Critics of ‘Sabotage’ (Mother Jones)

Read: Pete Hegseth Articles of Impeachment

Learn more: Black Veterans Project

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More To The Story: A blue wave engulfed Republicans in this year’s midterm elections. Democrats throughout the country soundly defeated GOP candidates, giving them at least 54 seats in the US Senate and a majority in the House of Representatives. But it was where they won that was so shocking. Texas, South Carolina, Kansas, and Iowa all elected Democrats to the Senate, while a number of House districts that previously supported President Donald Trump turned against the GOP. On this week’s More To The Story, Mother Jones’ Ari Berman talks with host Al Letson about this potentially transformational moment in American politics, how redistricting backfired on Republicans, and what the 2026 midterm results could mean for the presidential race in 2028.

Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Copy editor: Nikki Frick | Digital producer: Artis Curiskis | Executive producer: Brett Myers | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson

Read: The GOP’s Mid-Decade Gerrymandering Strategy Was an Epic Fail (Mother Jones)

Read: Trump’s Midterms Nightmare (Mother Jones)

Read: Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America (Picador)

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