Why Hyperlocal Newsweeklies Are Making A Quiet Comeback

On the corner of Oakland and Asheville in Hendersonville, N.C.–behind a used-car dealership where banged-up late-model sedans sport “AS IS” stickers and sub-$4,000 price tags–sits an 812-square-foot trailer that houses what just might be the future of local print journalism.   The Trailer of Truth, as it’s known in these parts, is world headquarters of the Hendersonville Lightning. The 2,000-circulation, 75-cents-per-issue newsweekly has actually been growing, albeit slowly, every year since it was founded in 2012 by veteran newsman Bill Moss. Sitting at his desk on a cloudy late-autumn afternoon, he unfurls the latest issue.