The News & Observer
Encyclopedia
The News & Observer is the regional daily newspaper of the Research Triangle area of the U.S. State of North Carolina
. The N&O, as it is popularly called, is based in Raleigh
and also covers Durham
, Cary
, and Chapel Hill
. The paper also has substantial readership in most of the state east of Winston-Salem. It is the state's second-largest newspaper, after The Charlotte Observer
. The paper has won three Pulitzer Prize
s, most recently in 1996 for a computer-assisted investigation of the North Carolina hog industry.
The News & Observer Publishing Co. also publishes several non-daily local newspapers,including The Cary News, The Chapel Hill News, the Southwest Wake News, and The Herald in Johnston County
.
The newspaper became an online service provider
and offered one of the first World Wide Web
news sites with Nando
.net in 1994. In 1995, the paper was bought by McClatchy Co. of Sacramento, California
.
The publisher is Orage Quarles, who was named the nation's outstanding publisher by Editor and Publisher magazine in 2002. In 2007, John Drescher was named executive editor, succeeding Melanie Sill. The paper has a daily circulation of approximately 176,000, and a Sunday circulation of approximately 211,000.
bought The News & Observer at a distressed property auction with the purpose of using the paper to support the state Democratic Party
; 70 prominent North Carolina Democrats donated money for the auction. Daniels became the editor. His first edition was released on August 12, 1894, with a circulation of 1,800 (out of 10,000 in Raleigh) at $7 ($ today) a year.
Daniels was editor of the paper until his death in 1948, and made many prominent changes. He installed the first linotype machine
s, changed the typography
, and took advertisements off the front page. He wanted to change the name to The North Carolinian, but was convinced otherwise because The News & Observer already had name recognition with advertisers and readers. During this time, though, the paper was dubbed "The Old Reliable" by salesman Wiley Rogers.
Daniels was an unabashed racist and used every resource of his newspaper to remove African American
officials from office. In editorial
s, his paper advocated the use of violence and intimidation to control black voters. A group of men called the "red shirts" appeared at political rallies and meetings, often with weapons to get their message across to black voters. Daniels was quoted as saying "if you have never seen three hundred red-shirted men towards sunset with the sky red and the red shirts seeming to blend with the sky, you cannot conceive the impression it makes."
In 1898, The News & Observer and Daniels ran a racist campaign to reclaim the state legislature from an alliance of the Republican
and Populist political parties that had taken control of the state legislature in 1894. This 1898 campaign helped to bring about the disenfranchisement of thousands of black voters. The campaign, organized by Democratic Party state leaders (including Daniels and other white supremacists), resulted in the deaths of up to 100 African Americans and the burning of a newspaper owned by Alex Manly, an African American, in the Wilmington race riots
. That bloody day led to Republicans (both black and white) who held public office being forced to resign at gunpoint. The event remains the only known violent overthrow of a city government in American history. A recent study by the Wilmington Race Riot Commission showed that "the Wilmington Race riot was not a spontaneous event, but was directed by white businessmen and Democratic leaders", one of whom was Josephus Daniels.
According to Pope House Museum Foundation in Raleigh
, "As many of the whites the Democrats wanted to reach were illiterate, Daniels hired a professional cartoonist, Norman Jennett, who drew vile and false images of supposedly incompetent African American politicians who lusted after young white women."
After Democrats regained control, Daniels later said he regretted his tactics, and supported a number of progressive causes, like public education, anti child-labor laws, and banning alcohol.
edited the paper, and his son Frank was the president and publisher. In the 1950s, The News & Observer consolidated its position, buying The Raleigh Times
and moving into a new headquarters at 215 S. McDowell St. in Raleigh, where it remains.
In 1968, the Daniels family hired Claude Sitton
, who had been a correspondent for The New York Times
and later an editor there. Serving as the editorial director of the paper, he promoted The News & Observer as a government watchdog and moved the news of the paper away from the personal and partisan stances it had taken under Josephus Daniels. However, its editorials were still often aligned with the Democratic Party. Triangle conservatives often call the paper "the Nuisance and Disturber." A year later, the Mini Page
children's supplement was created and published. Today, it is one of the nation's most widely used children's newspaper supplements.
In 1971, Sitton became the editor and the paper began buying and publishing smaller local newspapers, starting with The Island Packet in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and The Cary News in Cary, North Carolina
.
On March 16, 1980, a welder's torch started a fire and burned through all the newsprint threaded through the press, injuring three and causing millions in damage.
In 1987, the staffs of The News & Observer and The Raleigh Times
merged, and on November 30, 1989, the last edition of The Raleigh Times
was published. In 1988, The News & Observer endorsed its first Republican candidate for statewide election, showing, perhaps, a distancing from Democratic partisanship.
Throughout the early 1990s, The News & Observer divested itself of various local newspapers in South Carolina and the North Carolina mountains, and by September 1993, Sunday sales of The News & Observer reached 200,000 for every week. However, the newspaper still owns The Cary News, Chapel Hill News, and the Smithfield Herald among other newspapers. In 1994, the paper created Nando
.net, becoming an Internet service provider and began publishing the NandO Times online newspaper.
On May 17, 1995, The News & Observer Publishing Company was sold to McClatchy Newspapers for $373 million, ending 101 years of Daniels family ownership. In the mid-1990s, Flexo machines were installed, allowing the paper to print 32 pages in color, at the time the largest color capacity of any newspaper in the United States.
In 1999, The News & Observer was named one of the nation's 100 best newspapers by the Columbia Journalism Review
, and one of the 17 best-designed newspapers in the world by the Society for News Design
.
With McClatchy's acquisition of most of Knight Ridder
's properties in 2006, the state's two largest papers—the N&O and the Charlotte Observer—are now under common ownership.
In September 2008, the News and Observer offered buyouts to all 320 newsroom employees, approximately 40% of its staff, in an effort to cut expenses. Previously the company had shut down its Durham news bureau and in a separate event laid off 70 employees. Layoffs and buyouts have continued since then. http://graphicdesignr.net/papercuts/index.php?s=%22news+%26+observer%22
appeared in the 1994 movie The Hudsucker Proxy
. The building served as the Terre Haute, Indiana
police station in Arthur Newman, Golf Pro, in scenes filmed November 9, 2011.
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. The N&O, as it is popularly called, is based in Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
and also covers Durham
Durham, North Carolina
Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
, Cary
Cary, North Carolina
Cary is a large town and suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located almost entirely in Wake County, it is the second largest municipality in that county and the third largest municipality in The Triangle after Raleigh and Durham...
, and Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
. The paper also has substantial readership in most of the state east of Winston-Salem. It is the state's second-largest newspaper, after The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer
The Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North Carolina and South Carolina...
. The paper has won three Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
s, most recently in 1996 for a computer-assisted investigation of the North Carolina hog industry.
The News & Observer Publishing Co. also publishes several non-daily local newspapers,including The Cary News, The Chapel Hill News, the Southwest Wake News, and The Herald in Johnston County
Johnston County, North Carolina
-Major highways:* Interstate 40* Interstate 95* U.S. Highway 70* U.S. Highway 301* U.S. Highway 701-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 121,965 people, 46,595 households, and 33,688 families residing in the county. The population density was 154 people per square mile . There were...
.
The newspaper became an online service provider
Online service provider
An online service provider can for example be an internet service provider, email provider, news provider , entertainment provider , search, e-shopping site , e-finance or e-banking site, e-health site, e-government site, Wikipedia, Usenet...
and offered one of the first World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
news sites with Nando
Nando
In the early 1990s, NandO or Nando.net was one of the first Internet newspaper sites.-Inception:Nando was produced by the New Media division of The News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina...
.net in 1994. In 1995, the paper was bought by McClatchy Co. of Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
.
The publisher is Orage Quarles, who was named the nation's outstanding publisher by Editor and Publisher magazine in 2002. In 2007, John Drescher was named executive editor, succeeding Melanie Sill. The paper has a daily circulation of approximately 176,000, and a Sunday circulation of approximately 211,000.
1865-1947
The News & Observer traces its roots to The Sentinel, which was founded in 1865. That paper was eventually absorbed by The Observer, which in turn merged with The News in 1880 to form The News & Observer. In 1894, Josephus DanielsJosephus Daniels
Josephus Daniels was a newspaper editor and publisher from North Carolina who was appointed by United States President Woodrow Wilson to serve as Secretary of the Navy during World War I...
bought The News & Observer at a distressed property auction with the purpose of using the paper to support the state Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
; 70 prominent North Carolina Democrats donated money for the auction. Daniels became the editor. His first edition was released on August 12, 1894, with a circulation of 1,800 (out of 10,000 in Raleigh) at $7 ($ today) a year.
Daniels was editor of the paper until his death in 1948, and made many prominent changes. He installed the first linotype machine
Linotype machine
The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....
s, changed the typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
, and took advertisements off the front page. He wanted to change the name to The North Carolinian, but was convinced otherwise because The News & Observer already had name recognition with advertisers and readers. During this time, though, the paper was dubbed "The Old Reliable" by salesman Wiley Rogers.
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
officials from office. In editorial
Editorial
An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
s, his paper advocated the use of violence and intimidation to control black voters. A group of men called the "red shirts" appeared at political rallies and meetings, often with weapons to get their message across to black voters. Daniels was quoted as saying "if you have never seen three hundred red-shirted men towards sunset with the sky red and the red shirts seeming to blend with the sky, you cannot conceive the impression it makes."
In 1898, The News & Observer and Daniels ran a racist campaign to reclaim the state legislature from an alliance of the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and Populist political parties that had taken control of the state legislature in 1894. This 1898 campaign helped to bring about the disenfranchisement of thousands of black voters. The campaign, organized by Democratic Party state leaders (including Daniels and other white supremacists), resulted in the deaths of up to 100 African Americans and the burning of a newspaper owned by Alex Manly, an African American, in the Wilmington race riots
Wilmington Insurrection of 1898
The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, also known as the Wilmington Massacre of 1898 or the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina on November 10, 1898 and following days; it is considered a turning point in North Carolina politics following Reconstruction...
. That bloody day led to Republicans (both black and white) who held public office being forced to resign at gunpoint. The event remains the only known violent overthrow of a city government in American history. A recent study by the Wilmington Race Riot Commission showed that "the Wilmington Race riot was not a spontaneous event, but was directed by white businessmen and Democratic leaders", one of whom was Josephus Daniels.
According to Pope House Museum Foundation in Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
, "As many of the whites the Democrats wanted to reach were illiterate, Daniels hired a professional cartoonist, Norman Jennett, who drew vile and false images of supposedly incompetent African American politicians who lusted after young white women."
After Democrats regained control, Daniels later said he regretted his tactics, and supported a number of progressive causes, like public education, anti child-labor laws, and banning alcohol.
1948 and later
In 1948, Daniels died and was replaced by his four sons. His son JonathanJonathan W. Daniels
Jonathan Worth Daniels was an American author, editor, and White House Press Secretary. Daniels' term serving as White House Press Secretary was the shortest since the inception of the position in 1937. He held the position in 1945 under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman...
edited the paper, and his son Frank was the president and publisher. In the 1950s, The News & Observer consolidated its position, buying The Raleigh Times
Raleigh Times
The Raleigh Times was the afternoon newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina. The history of the paper dates back to 1879 the Evening Visitor, first published in 1879. The Visitor later bought out other rival afternoon papers, the Daily Press in 1895 and the Evening Times in 1897...
and moving into a new headquarters at 215 S. McDowell St. in Raleigh, where it remains.
In 1968, the Daniels family hired Claude Sitton
Claude Sitton
Claude Fox Sitton is a retired American newspaper reporter and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He covered the civil rights movement for The New York Times during the 1950s and 1960s, eventually becoming the paper's national editor...
, who had been a correspondent for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and later an editor there. Serving as the editorial director of the paper, he promoted The News & Observer as a government watchdog and moved the news of the paper away from the personal and partisan stances it had taken under Josephus Daniels. However, its editorials were still often aligned with the Democratic Party. Triangle conservatives often call the paper "the Nuisance and Disturber." A year later, the Mini Page
Mini Page
The Mini Page is a syndicated newspaper supplement for children, created and authored by Betty Debnam.-History:The Mini Page began in August 1969 and appears weekly in over five hundred newspapers in the United States as an offering of Universal Press Syndicate. Its regular features include short...
children's supplement was created and published. Today, it is one of the nation's most widely used children's newspaper supplements.
In 1971, Sitton became the editor and the paper began buying and publishing smaller local newspapers, starting with The Island Packet in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and The Cary News in Cary, North Carolina
Cary, North Carolina
Cary is a large town and suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina in Wake and Chatham counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located almost entirely in Wake County, it is the second largest municipality in that county and the third largest municipality in The Triangle after Raleigh and Durham...
.
On March 16, 1980, a welder's torch started a fire and burned through all the newsprint threaded through the press, injuring three and causing millions in damage.
In 1987, the staffs of The News & Observer and The Raleigh Times
Raleigh Times
The Raleigh Times was the afternoon newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina. The history of the paper dates back to 1879 the Evening Visitor, first published in 1879. The Visitor later bought out other rival afternoon papers, the Daily Press in 1895 and the Evening Times in 1897...
merged, and on November 30, 1989, the last edition of The Raleigh Times
Raleigh Times
The Raleigh Times was the afternoon newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina. The history of the paper dates back to 1879 the Evening Visitor, first published in 1879. The Visitor later bought out other rival afternoon papers, the Daily Press in 1895 and the Evening Times in 1897...
was published. In 1988, The News & Observer endorsed its first Republican candidate for statewide election, showing, perhaps, a distancing from Democratic partisanship.
Throughout the early 1990s, The News & Observer divested itself of various local newspapers in South Carolina and the North Carolina mountains, and by September 1993, Sunday sales of The News & Observer reached 200,000 for every week. However, the newspaper still owns The Cary News, Chapel Hill News, and the Smithfield Herald among other newspapers. In 1994, the paper created Nando
Nando
In the early 1990s, NandO or Nando.net was one of the first Internet newspaper sites.-Inception:Nando was produced by the New Media division of The News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina...
.net, becoming an Internet service provider and began publishing the NandO Times online newspaper.
On May 17, 1995, The News & Observer Publishing Company was sold to McClatchy Newspapers for $373 million, ending 101 years of Daniels family ownership. In the mid-1990s, Flexo machines were installed, allowing the paper to print 32 pages in color, at the time the largest color capacity of any newspaper in the United States.
In 1999, The News & Observer was named one of the nation's 100 best newspapers by the Columbia Journalism Review
Columbia Journalism Review
The Columbia Journalism Review is an American magazine for professional journalists published bimonthly by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961....
, and one of the 17 best-designed newspapers in the world by the Society for News Design
Society for News Design
The Society for News Design is an international organization for professionals working in the news sector of the media industry, specifically those involved with graphic design, illustration, web design and infographics....
.
With McClatchy's acquisition of most of Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder
Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of...
's properties in 2006, the state's two largest papers—the N&O and the Charlotte Observer—are now under common ownership.
In September 2008, the News and Observer offered buyouts to all 320 newsroom employees, approximately 40% of its staff, in an effort to cut expenses. Previously the company had shut down its Durham news bureau and in a separate event laid off 70 employees. Layoffs and buyouts have continued since then. http://graphicdesignr.net/papercuts/index.php?s=%22news+%26+observer%22
Movie appearances
The newspaper's pressesPrinting press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
appeared in the 1994 movie The Hudsucker Proxy
The Hudsucker Proxy
The Hudsucker Proxy is a 1994 screwball comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Sam Raimi co-wrote the script and served as second unit director....
. The building served as the Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute is a city and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, near the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a population of 170,943. The city is the county seat of Vigo County and...
police station in Arthur Newman, Golf Pro, in scenes filmed November 9, 2011.