Thank you for an impactful 2025. Looking ahead to what’s next
Welcome to a new year! As we look forward to everything 2026 has to offer, I wanted to take just a moment to thank you for all of your support through 2025. You helped us accomplish a lot last year.
With your support, we started The Backstory podcast, a short, weekly podcast that goes deeper into the stories we covered. It also takes a look at the reporting process to help improve media literacy across North Dakota. We’re excited about the success The Backstory has seen so far. In fact, we hear it’s even inspired other newsrooms in the state to start their own weekly podcast this year. The Backstory took a short break for the holidays but returns this Friday with a deep look at the latest North Dakota Poll.
You also helped us start up fact briefs in partnership with Gigafact. I personally get to write the fact briefs and I really enjoy it. We encourage you to submit your questions either by emailing me or by using our online tip line.
There are a couple of strict rules I must follow for the fact briefs. The question must have a solid yes or no answer. There can’t be any “maybe” or “yes, but…” answers. Gigafact requires an absolute yes or no. Some questions can’t be answered so definitively, so I can’t use them for a fact brief. In those cases, we look into whether there’s a bigger story there for us to report on.
Another strict rule is that the answers must be 150 words or less. The fact briefs are meant to give short, informative answers. I like that format. I think it works well alongside the long feature articles from Michael. From the feedback we’ve received, it seems you like it, too.
And finally, I’m still crunching numbers but it looks like later this week we’ll have some big news regarding our NewsMatch fundraising campaign and what you made happen! Keep an eye out for that.
Those are just a few of the things we accomplished in 2025. Looking ahead to 2026, we’re excited about all the things to come. I’ll make the unofficial announcement here that we’ve been selected as one of the nonprofits to participate in this year’s Giving Hearts Day. We’ll have more on that in the coming weeks.
We’re going to be strengthening our social media outreach this year. We’re still a building organization and to be honest, it’s not something we’ve focused a lot on up to now. If you’re on Facebook, we’d appreciate a follow. You can find us by clicking here.
We’re especially looking forward to continuing to hear from readers about the questions and issues they want us to dig into this year.
Primarily, we’re excited to get to keep partnering with you to bring quality, unbiased, and independent news to North Dakota. Thank you for everything you do to make it happen.
Most sincerely,
Sabrina Halvorson
CEO, North Dakota News Cooperative
