- Title
- Our State
-
-
- Date
- April 2000
-
-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
-
Our State
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on the endangered list , but look at
The News Reporter in Whiteville.
news
With a bevy of awards — including a Pulitzer Prize —
and a 104-year tradition of covering its community,
this paper isn't just surviving, it's thriving.
by Ede Dunn Baldridge
ihc historians of the community." says
I xslie T. I
ПцЬ.
managing editor
«>1 Пи
News Rrfxnter. our ol llu*
few independent. lamily-owncd newspapers l«*li in North
Carolina.
To visit the Whileville pa|x-r’s ollices is to get captivated In the
romance of the news business in general and ne\vspa|»ei pulv
lishing in lenticular. Take the look ol the place, for instance.
Tlic furniture, the equipment both new and seasoned, the lay¬
out ol the building with its c ubic le ollices. the* generous layout
and
|Ш1е-ир гскнп.
and the yawning space lor the presses.
And the smells. The ink and the
ра|кт.
the ink on the |M|xt.
and the- I'rc-shly printed newrs|xt|x‘iN hot oil the- press. And the
sounds. Telephones ringing, the tap-tapping ol kcylroaids.
presses humming, emergency radio calls from lire and police
departments and ambulances. And the stall. Community peo¬
ple. “iieople" |K*ople. sharp. concerned. hardworking. caring
|ieople. Radio and television programs just cannot translate the
energy ol a community newspaper.
Ol the- approxiinalciv 200 newspa|x-ts in the slate-, only 37
We are
|H-rcent or so ol them are independently owned — and the
iiuiuIkt is stc-adilv dec lining. (Statistics for family-owned papers,
c-stimated to lx- considerably levs, are not available.) The Artie
Refxntn, however. I rousts a 1 01-year history and three gene-ra¬
tions at the editor and publisher desks. < )l the- 1 1 newspaper, in
Columbus Counts Ix-lween 1878 and
НЮ8, Пи Хеш
Reporter \s
the only one that survived.
Joseph Addison Brown, a stale senator and congressional
aspirant, founded the- news|u|x*r in 18%. Originally called The
ihukm, Report, in deference to the county's large market in
truck farm produce, the name later would yo-yo from Xews-
Rrfxntn to Afoot Rfportit, bac k to XewyReporter and. linallv. The
jYrtici Reporter. Unfortunately, a lire- in 1923 destroyed the records
ol the newspaper's litst 27 years.
A crusade and a prize
A new c hapter in
Пи
Xeun Reporters history lx-gan in 1938
with the- arrival ol Irslie S. Thompson. Twelve years Ix-fore.
I Tompson — fresh out ol Duke and looking toward entering
68 Our State April 2000