''The Fayetteville Observer'' is an American English-language daily
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
published in
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city.
Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...
. As the oldest North Carolina newspaper, the paper was founded in 1816 as the ''Carolina Observer''. It was locally owned by the McMurray family from 1923 to 2016, when it was acquired by GateHouse Media, which became
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
. It was founded in 1816 as the ''Carolina Observer''. The ''Fayetteville Observer'' was not published between 1865 and 1883, so the Wilmington ''
Star-News
''Star-News'' is an American, English language daily newspaper for Wilmington, North Carolina, and its surrounding area (known as the Lower Cape Fear). It is North Carolina's oldest newspaper in continuous publication. It was owned by Halifax Me ...
'' (founded in 1867) is North Carolina's oldest continually published newspaper. The name was changed to the ''Fayetteville Observer'' in 1833. The ''Observer''s offices were destroyed by
William T. Sherman
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
's invading army in 1865. It was refounded as ''The Fayetteville Observer'' in 1883. W. J. McMurray bought the paper in 1923, and his family-owned Fayetteville Publishing Company ran the paper for four generations.
Edward Jones Hale was the editor of the newspaper from 1825 to 1865. The paper was a leading supporter of the Whig party. The content of the paper during this time period included many historical articles about North Carolina and accounts of the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
. The Hale family moved to New York after the newspaper buildings were destroyed in the Civil War. His son, Edward Joseph Hale returned to North Carolina in 1883 to revive the newspaper and continued ownership of the newspaper until 1919 when it was sold to a group of local businessmen.
The Fayetteville Publishing Company was founded in 1923. A Sunday edition of the paper was started in 1957. Originally an afternoon paper, it began publishing a morning paper, ''The Fayetteville Times'', in 1973. The two papers published combined editions on Sunday, and from 1982 onward published a combined Saturday edition as well. In 1990, the McMurrays merged the ''Observer'' and ''Times'' into a single morning paper, ''The Fayetteville Observer-Times.'' It dropped "Times" from its flag in 1999. The ''Fayetteville Observer'' launched its first website in 1995 and it has a presence on Facebook for distribution of news and interaction with readers.
Awards
''The Fayetteville Observer'' is a member of the
North Carolina Press Association
The North Carolina Press Association (NCPA) is an American, nonprofit organization devoted to protecting and promoting newspapers and freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communicat ...
. The newspaper has received the following awards:
* 2002, recognized as one of the 50 best-printed papers in an international color-quality competition
* 2010, 2011, 1st place in excellence for large newspapers, awarded by the North Carolina Press Association
* 2018, Melissa Sue Gerrits, Hugh Morton Photographer of the Year, North Carolina Press Association; 1st Place in General Excellence
See also
*
List of newspapers in North Carolina
There have been newspapers in North Carolina since the ''North-Carolina Gazette'' began publication in the Province of North Carolina in 1751. As of January 2020, there were approximately 260 newspapers in publication in North Carolina. While pr ...