Blue Ridge Public Radio has partnered with FRONTLINE, PBS’s investigative documentary series, for a year-long reporting project focused on Western North Carolina’s recovery after Hurricane Helene.
FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative provides editorial and financial support for newsrooms. BPR was selected in late 2025 for the project.
BPR Rural Communities Reporter Gerard Albert III will lead project reporting in the region. Through the reporting partnership between BPR and FRONTLINE, he will investigate how changes to FEMA are impacting recovery efforts in Western North Carolina for residents, local governments, farmers and small business owners.
“This opportunity will help me build off the hurricane recovery reporting I have been publishing over the last 18 months,” said Albert. “With the help of FRONTLINE, I will be taking an in-depth look at how federal policy changes have disrupted storm recovery in Western North Carolina.”
BPR, Frontline partnership
BPR is one of seven newsrooms selected for FRONTLINE’s 2026 Journalism Initiative. Albert will team up with reporters from the Vermont Digger and The Texas Newsroom to examine the aftermath of devastating local floods, focusing on the victims and survivors as well as the federal government’s shifting response to natural disasters.
“Gerard covered Hurricane Helene on the ground and around the clock in the days and weeks following widespread flooding and landslides, and he worked in tandem with BPR newsroom colleagues to get timely, critical updates broadcast during a time when the radio served as the only means of getting the news for thousands in our region,” said Ele Ellis, CEO and General Manager of BPR.
“This continuation, through FRONTLINE, of Gerard’s dogged reporting and dedication to public service journalism will produce high-impact coverage and uphold BPR’s commitment to hold leaders accountable and tell the stories that matter most to Western North Carolina.
Hurricane Helene was the deadliest and most expensive storm in North Carolina’s history. It reshaped lives and land throughout Southern Appalachia, leaving many people navigating the often complex and slow recovery process.
It also swept through the region weeks before President Donald Trump was re-elected and vowed to “slash through every bureaucratic barrier” to recovery while touring Swannanoa. Since then, his administration has promised sweeping changes to how the federal government responds to natural disasters.
“There is no facet of life for people in Western North Carolina that has not been touched by the storm. I am thankful for every person who has shared their story with me so far, and look forward to speaking with more people throughout the next year,” said Albert.
Since 2019, the FRONTLINE Local Journalism Initiative has helped produce major investigative projects, including Breakdown, a Peabody and Emmy Award-nominated multiplatform investigation into Maine’s deadliest shooting with Portland Press Herald and Maine Public Radio; Fractured, an 11-part WFAE radio series and FRONTLINE documentary on North Carolina inmates living with mental illness; and stories about a polluting lead smelter in The Tampa Bay Times that won a George Polk Award and Pulitzer Prize.
