Meet The News & Observer’s new service reporter, Anna Roman

Hi there, Raleigh. I’m Anna Roman, a reporter switching gears and beats at The News & Observer.

I’m thrilled to be joining the service journalism team, and excited to introduce myself — or reintroduce myself to long-time readers.

For the last eight years, I’ve had the privilege of covering the city of Raleigh and Wake County as part of our stellar local government team. That’s the longest job I’ve ever had, covering three different Raleigh mayors, a pandemic and how community members have grappled with a changing city.

And a lot has changed in my personal life during the last eight years. I moved four times, got married and had a daughter.

But one of the things that hasn’t changed is my love for this community, and for helping people make sense of their lives in an evolving world. That’s why I am so excited about joining the service team. I’ll specifically be covering weather, local government utility journalism — sometimes called “news you can use” — and answering readers’ questions about life in the Triangle through our Asked & Answered series. (More on that below.)

What brought you to where you are now?

I love North Carolina, and it’s been my home my whole life. I grew up in a small town (the home of Randy Travis for those in the know) in Union County, and plucked up the courage to ask the sole staff member of my hometown weekly newspaper if I could start writing articles as a teenager.

With only a learner’s permit, I’d make my mom stay in the car while I interviewed people about their run-down barns and church mission trips. I was hooked.

After studying journalism and graduating from Elon University, I jumped around North Carolina working at newspapers in Sanford, Burlington and Durham before landing my dream job here in Raleigh.

When you’re not working, where will we find you?

A lot of my free time and weekends now are at parks and toddler story time at the Wake County Public Libraries. Our goal is to visit a story time at every library branch in the Wake County system this year. But I also appreciate the time I can carve out for my hobbies.

My husband and I love playing board games, and I really enjoy survival, sandbox video games with interesting or challenging building mechanics like Minecraft, Subnautica and The Forest.

I also 3D print and paint miniatures. So far it’s mostly been original characters and NPCs for Dungeon’s and Dragons games, but I’m in the early planning stages for a future fairy garden.

What are you most excited about in this service journalism role?

Definitely our Asked & Answered series. We select reader submitted questions, figure out the answers and present what we learned. This is an initiative I’m taking over, and I’m looking forward to seeing what questions you have.

Are you curious about something in Raleigh? Or North Carolina? You can email ask@newsobserver.com or fill our form here.

How can we reach you?

Please send me story ideas and tips to my email at amroman@newsobserver.com.

This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 8:00 AM.

Anna Roman

The News & Observer

919-829-4807

Anna Roman is a service journalism reporter for the News & Observer. She has previously covered city government, crime and business for newspapers across North Carolina and received many North Carolina Press Association awards, including first place for investigative reporting.