Durham Morning Herald

''The Herald-Sun'' is an American, English language daily newspaper in Durham, North Carolina, published by the McClatchy Company.

History

''The Herald-Sun'' began publication on January 1, 1991, as the result of a merger of ''The Durham Morning Herald'' (19191990) and ''The Durham Sun'' (19131990). ''The Herald-Sun'' and ''The Durham Morning Herald'' had previously been owned by the Rollins family of Durham, which had been in management positions since 1895. Edward Tyler Rollins Jr., former owner, board chairman and publisher of ''The Herald-Sun'', died November 5, 2006, just shy of two years after selling to Paxton Media Group.

Early history

''The Durham Morning Herald'' began publication in 1893, as a result of the reorganization of '' The Durham Globe'' from a daily to a weekly paper. Four former employees of the downsized ''Globe'', itself an outgrowth of the merger of Durham's first daily, ''The Tobacco Plant'' and ''The Durham Daily Recorder'', organized a competitor newspaper, ''The Globe Herald'', which would soon be renamed ''The Morning Herald''.

In 1929, the Durham Morning Herald Company acquired ''The Durham Sun'', an evening daily that had been in publication in one form or another since 1889.

Merger

The late Rick Kaspar was the first person outside of the Rollins family to run the century-old newspaper. He was recruited by the Rollins Family to make changes and bring the company into the 21st century of newspaper publishing. In 1991, he successfully merged the ''Morning Herald'' and the ''Sun'' to form ''The Herald Sun''. "Rick was devoted to his family, to his community and to his newspaper," noted Durham Herald Co. Chairman E.T. Rollins Jr.

Acquisition by Paxton Media Group

On December 3, 2004, The Durham Herald Co., the parent company of ''The Herald Sun'' and '' The Chapel Hill Herald'' announced that Paxton Media Group had purchased the company from the locally based Rollins family. The sum paid by Paxton was not publicly announced (the two companies are both privately held), but sources placed it at about $124 million. Pre-sale appraisals of the company had placed its value at roughly $70 million. The paper has constantly jettisoned employees while seeing its circulation dwindle dramatically ever since the sale.

First downsizing and reorganization

Upon assumption of operations, on January 3, 2005 Paxton's executives fired 81 of the newspaper's approximately 350 employees, including president and publisher David Hughey and longtime executive editor, vice-president Bill Hawkins, award-winning photographer Ross Taylor, award-winning editorial cartoonist John Cole and longtime columnist Jim Wise.

The firings were unexpected and abrupt, many employees being told they were fired upon returning from lunch, and then being escorted to the parking lot. The new editor, Bob Ashley said the job cuts were made because of financial reasons. He explained that fired employees were escorted from the building immediately due to security concerns and on the advice of the company's lawyers.

Second downsizing and reorganization

On July 30, 2008, ''Herald-Sun'' editor Bob Ashley announced a new round of staff layoffs and content reductions, citing the paper's poor revenues and admitting that the quality and quantity of the information presented in ''The Herald-Sun'' was not satisfying readers. Ashley also noted that a number of stand-alone feature sections would be consolidated into a nonetheless reduced metro section and that overall article length would be reduced, while the number of informational graphics and informational sidebars would increase, a move that appears to signal a further reduction in the depth of local and national reporting. According to Ashley, the shorter article length, along with the recent reassignment of two staffers to news reporting will increase local coverage, much like similarly promised increases in local reporting that followed on the heels of Paxton's earlier staff cuts at ''The Herald-Sun''.

Third downsizing and reorganization

On May 15, 2009, there was yet another reduction that included seven members of the newsroom staff among others.

Fourth downsizing and shift to Kentucky production

On July 28, 2011, seven staff positions were eliminated from ''The Herald-Sun'' newsroom, leaving a fewer than 20 editorial staff positions at the Durham paper. In the course announcing the layoffs, Publisher Rick Bean also announced that, as of August 14, 2011, production duties, namely page design and copy editing, would be shifted from Durham-based staff to the staff of the Owensboro ''Messenger-Inquirer'', in Kentucky.

Fifth downsizing

On September 25, 2013, there was yet another staff reduction, with six staffers sent packing including two in the newsroom. Among the casualties was sports editor Jimmy DuPree, who had been with the paper for more than 25 years.

Acquisition by The McClatchy Company

In late December 2016, Paxton sold The Herald-Sun to The McClatchy Company. The acquisition made The Herald-Sun a sister paper to the other major daily newspaper in the Triangle, ''The News & Observer'' of Raleigh.

Controversy

Jim Cooney, the lawyer of one of the three Duke University lacrosse players involved the 2006 Duke lacrosse case named ''The Herald-Sun'' in a press conference that was televised live on many national news networks on April 11, 2007. Saying that ''The Herald-Sun'' is one of the major "cowards" of the case, Cooney stated that ''The Herald-Sun'' empowered Nifong to go forward with a weak case by not "bother ngto stand up and demand proper processes ndthe presumption of innocence," while "publishing what they knew were lies, and repeating them."Duke Lacrosse Press Conference
''CNN.'' April 11, 2007. ''The Herald-Sun'' also came under fire for having "not written a single editorial critical of the way in which Mike Nifong proceeded" at the time the North Carolina Attorney General declared the defendants "innocent." This occurred despite the fact that the North Carolina State Bar had filed two rounds of ethics charges against him, the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys demanded that Nifong remove himself from the case, and many other news organizations demanded that the district attorney step down. Duke Rape Suspects Speak Out
''60 Minutes.'' October 15, 2006.
. ''The News & Observer''. August 6, 2006.The prosecutor is guilty
''The Star-Ledger.'' December 30, 2006.

Awards

''The Herald-Sun'' won nine awards in the 2009 North Carolina Press Association contest. The paper won General Excellence in its circulation category. ''The Herald-Sun'' received first-place awards for sports photography, serious columns and news section design in its circulation division. It also received second place for best use of an interactive features on its web site; and third place in news enterprise and investigative reporting, general news photography, criticism, and appearance and design.

Web site

''The Herald-Sun's'' website was first launched in 1995 as a basic online information site, with relatively little dynamic content from the print edition of the newspaper. Despite the basic offerings, the site won a Newspaper Association of America

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