His paper played a leading role in the disfranchisement of blacks in 1900, a "reform" Daniels believed was necessary to remove a corrupt element from state politics and incidentally to ensure the ascendancy of the Democratic Party. He supported women suffrage and workers' compensation, state industrialization, better roads, and crop rotation. Under Daniels's guidance, the News and Observer was updated technologically (it was the first paper in the state to own a Linotype) and regularly fought against special interests, exposed corruption, condemned vice and the liquor traffic, and fought for better public schools-including Daniels's special concern, the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (UNC), where he served on the board of trustees from 1901 to 1948. From 1894 to 1948, the year of his death, Daniels was editor and publisher of the Raleigh paper, tirelessly supporting the state Democratic Party and a variety of other causes. Josephus Daniels, who, through his work at various newspapers, especially the State Chronicle, had become widely recognized as the dominant political editor of the state, purchased the bankrupt News and Observer in 1894 with the backing of his former patron, Julian S. ![]() By the mid-1880s, however, Ashe increasingly lost favor with the Democratic Party and the News and Observer was financially distressed. A year later Ashe merged the Observer with the Raleigh News, publishing the first issue of the Raleigh News and Observer in September 1880 as the city's only morning daily.Īshe was financially successful from 1880 to 1885 because he secured the state printing contract from the legislature's Democratic caucus, which controlled state government. Ashe withdrew from a law partnership and acquired the paper. The Observer advocated the development of the state's natural resources and supported a strong program of internal improvements, including extension of a railroad to the western counties. The Sentinel ceased publication in March 1877. Saunders, who had established the Raleigh Observer on 18 Nov. In 1877 Smith and Batchelor sold it to Peter M. Holden in 1870 and his impeachment in 1871.īut Turner was no financial wizard, and on 16 June 1876 the Sentinel was sold by the sheriff to George A. Turner's crusade is considered to have been largely responsible for the recapture of the state legislature by the Democrats (then called Conservatives) and for the overthrow of Governor William W. This journalistic battle was carried on even more effectively after Josiah Turner Jr. Pell founded the Sentinel in Raleigh, using the newspaper to fight against the domination of carpetbaggers and other forces during Congressional Reconstruction. ![]() Its staff has boasted some of North Carolina's most outstanding journalists, including Sam Ragan, Herb O'Keefe, Nell Battle Lewis, Woodrow Price, Simmons Fentress, Dick Herbert, and Bob Brooks. Through the exuberance and vision of its longtime owner Josephus Daniels and his descendants, the News and Observer became the primary source of news and information for North Carolinians as well as a state leader in the technological advances in journalism. As the daily paper in the state capital, it has served as a constant gadfly, tormenting inattentive or incompetent government officials at every level. Before wire services became the norm, news reports from the News and Observer were routinely clipped and reprinted in other North Carolina dailies and often made the subject of editorial comment. The Raleigh News and Observer, dating to 1865, has been one of North Carolina's most influential newspapers for more than a century, particularly regarding state and national politics.
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