Citrus Tea News Founder Talks Heart, Mission and Local News on The Barry Foster Show
Editor's note: The subject of this article is the founder and editor of The Citrus Tea News.
Becky McLachlan spent a career in the non-profit sector and a decade in education before she started asking why a county of nearly a million people had no locally owned news outlet covering all of it. That question, and the answer she built from scratch, is the subject of her conversation with veteran Florida broadcaster Barry Foster, now streaming on YouTube.
McLachlan, founder and editor of The Citrus Tea News, joined The Barry Foster Show for a full-length interview about why the publication exists, who it serves, and what independent local journalism can actually do for a community. The episode aired Wednesday, July 29, and is available on the show’s YouTube channel.
The Barry Foster Show is an independent, Florida-based news and interview podcast hosted by Foster, who brings more than four decades in journalism and broadcasting to the microphone. According to the show, episodes are recorded at the Ridge Florist Studios in Avon Park and feature elected officials, community leaders, journalists, business owners, historians, authors, faith leaders and newsmakers from across Florida.
Coverage on the show ranges across topics like politics and local government, current events and history, public affairs, and community issues along with a travel segment called Florida Fun Travel that highlights restaurants, attractions and lesser-known destinations around the state.
Foster is known for asking deeper questions and for giving guests room to talk rather than chasing headlines. That format made it a natural place for a conversation about the founding of The Citrus Tea News, which launched in 2026 as a locally owned, independent digital local news publication covering all 17 incorporated municipalities in Polk County.
The Citrus Tea News has no paywall, no corporate parent, and no outside investor shaping their viewpoint. That’s how they stay local, unbiased and free to readers so they can be more informed about what’s happening. McLachlan said it is ad supported, funded by local businesses and corporations that believe in partnering with that mission in mind. The Citrus Tea News posts daily on Facebook.com/thecitrustea and sends weekly e-newsletters and breaking news on thecitrustea.com/subscribe.
The interview covers the ground readers ask about most. Why start a newspaper now? What gets covered when the goal is every city in the county, not just the biggest one? What does it take to sit through a commission meeting, file a public records request and follow a story that nobody else is following? And what happens to a community when local coverage disappears?
Listeners will also hear the part that does not fit in a mission statement. McLachlan and her family moved to Florida in 2022. Her husband lost a 16-month battle with colon cancer in February of 2026. In the middle of that grief, McLachlan started asking what’s next as she develops a future for herself and her children. She wanted something that would allow her to make an impact and show up for the community she has come to love. That is the reason The Citrus Tea News exists, and it is the reason its coverage leans toward the people, businesses and small moments that hold a community together. Read more about the origin story of The Citrus Tea News here.
The Barry Foster Show now reaches a wider Florida audience through its YouTube platform after decades on the air, and the company behind it operates as a division of Highlands Information Service.
The full episode is available at The Barry Foster Show Podcast Featuring The Citrus Tea News, and new episodes of The Barry Foster Show are released regularly on YouTube and major podcast platforms. Give it a listen!
Your community. Your news. Your right to know. The Citrus Tea.
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Sources: The Barry Foster Show, thebarryfostershow.net; The Barry Foster Show YouTube channel, youtube.com/@TheBarryFosterShow; “How One Woman Built Polk County’s Fastest Growing Digital News Outlet, The Citrus Tea News,” The Barry Foster Show, youtube.com, July 29, 2026; The Barry Foster Show program description provided to The Citrus Tea News; The Citrus Tea News, thecitrustea.com
