Joel Bulkley
Years ago the Charlotte Observer was North Carolina’s best newspaper. It had the best writers and largest circulation. That was three or four sales ago and the paper, like its Raleigh counterpart, has been sliding downhill since with fewer stories, reporters, readers.
McClatchy, the current owner, announced Aug. 2 they were merging with magazine publisher 360accelerate (Us Weekly, A Woman’s World).
Starting Sep. 16, Charlotte will cut its print/paper editions to three per week (Wed/Fri/Sun) in an effort to pump up digital subscriptions. They will be delivered by the Post Office so they’re really Tue/Thu/Fri editions.
Every city needs a newspaper to report on what’s happening locally and why, but the N&O and Observer don’t often measure up. They win lots of state press awards (where Charlotte and Raleigh are the primary entries) but that’s about it. They do some things like high school sports well, but ignore most college sports except the big 3 (football, basketball, baseball). They tackle the big easy news targets like budgets, tax rates, unpopular rezonings and ignore the rest of local government. You get what you get, and it’s shrinking in number by the month while the cost increases. A digital sub is $30/ month, and the terms of service protect the paper and limit the (subscribers) readers. As the print paper shrinks, the publishers reply that what you’re looking for is on the web. Not likely.
The Olympics are an example. The Hussman School of Journalism sent 30 student reporters/editors to Paris and they’re filing stories on local athletes to NC radio and papers, sometimes filling the Raleigh sports pages. That’s a category the Associated Press normally fills, but the N&O eliminated the AP to save money. Too bad the Olympic stories were probably the first mention for some area swimmers and divers though they’ve had big years competitively locally and nationally.
The Carolina Panthers switched local radio outlets for the 2024 season. No story on game day to remind fans games are now on Mix101 instead of 99.9 The Fan. Just another example.
Don’t let me get started on the sports TV listings. They’re often incomplete or just plain wrong. For the Panther/New England preseason game, the N&O said NFL Network, WRAZ, WYDO. The game was on WRAZ, the Giant/Detroit game on NFL Network.
Lately they’re putting out more weekly newsletters to fill the gaps in the daily papers. Some like the national sports wrapup help (but they’re not as complete as theathletic.com or yahoo). Others offer follow ups to local stories, with fun weekend entertainment events added at the end or promote upcoming features.
Chapelboro.com often has more local news than the Herald or N&O.
International soccer was a big hit in the Carolinas this summer. Real Madrid beat Chelsea in Charlotte exhibition (62,617); Colombia beat Uruguay in Copa America semi final in Charlotte (70,644); Uruguay beat Canada in third place Copa game in Charlotte (24,386); Liverpool beat Manchester United in Columbia, S.C. exhibition (77,559); Celtic FC beat Man City in Chapel Hill exhibition (30,000).
For sports fans, the Olympics were crazy fun with 45 sports on multiple channels for two weeks. I need a break.
Michael Phelps, Serena Williams and Lionel Messi were the top athletes of the 21st Century, according to espn.com. LeBron James was fourth, Tom Brady fifth.
The new CEO of the Carolina Hurricanes wants an expansion MLB team for Raleigh. His boss, Tom Dundon is among the leaders of the baseball band.
The NFL won an appeal of the Sunday Ticket verdict that awarded $4.7B to fans. No such luck.