Winston-Salem Journal facts for kids
Front page on August 28, 2011
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| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner(s) | Lee Enterprises |
| Publisher | Alton Brown |
| Founded | 1897 |
| Language | American English |
| Headquarters | 418 N. Marshall Street Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27101 United States |
| Country | United States |
| Circulation | 42,071 (weekday) 52,982 (Sunday) |
| OCLC number | 12156422 |
The Winston-Salem Journal is a daily newspaper from the United States. It's written in English. It mainly serves the cities of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, North Carolina. It also covers other parts of Northwestern North Carolina. The newspaper started in 1897. It is currently owned by Lee Enterprises.
Contents
About the Winston-Salem Journal
The Journal newspaper is mostly delivered in Forsyth County and its main city, Winston-Salem. However, you can also find the paper in many other nearby counties. These include Alleghany, Ashe, Davidson, Davie, Stokes, Surry, Wilkes, Watauga, and Yadkin counties.
Online Presence and Special Sections
The newspaper also has a website called JournalNow. It works with WGHP, a TV station in High Point, North Carolina. The Journal creates several special sections each week. These include sections about Business, Food, and local news for the western part of the area. It also publishes a monthly magazine called Winston-Salem Monthly. This magazine started in 2006. The newspaper also makes special guides like Carolina Weddings and City Guide.
Awards and Recognition
The Winston-Salem Journal has won many awards from the N.C. Press Association. In 2018, the paper won an award for Best Daily Article. It also received the Henry Lee Weathers Freedom of Information Award. Its website won a General Excellence award. In 2017, the paper won the Hugh Morton Photographer of the Year award. It also won awards for Beat News Reporting and Best Community Coverage.
History of the Newspaper
The Winston-Salem Journal first started publishing on April 3, 1897. It was founded by Charles Landon Knight. At first, it was an afternoon paper, just like another local newspaper, the Twin City Sentinel. After Knight left the area, the Journal had a few different owners. Publisher D.A. Fawcett changed it to a morning paper on January 2, 1902.
Later that summer, the Journal began publishing on Sundays. In 1903, A.F.W. Leslie and his son, A.V. Leslie, bought the paper. The elder Leslie was an artist. He made the Journal the first newspaper in North Carolina to include photographs.
Owen Moon bought the Journal in 1925. He also bought the Sentinel in 1927. The Sentinel had started as the Twin City Daily on May 4, 1885. It served both Winston and Salem. Before that, the Weekly Gleaner started in 1829. It was later taken over by the Western Sentinel, which was the first newspaper in Winston in 1856. The Twin City Daily then took over the Sentinel.
- Preceding newspapers include: The Daily Journal (1900-190?) and Twin City Sentinel (1916-1974).
In 1927, the Journal and Sentinel moved into a new building. The Sunday paper was then called The Journal and Sentinel. The editor, Santford Martin, worked to improve roads. He focused on areas in Northwest North Carolina. Radio stations WSJS, WSJS-FM, and WSJS-TV got their names from "Winston-Salem Journal Sentinel". This is because the newspapers used to own these stations.
Changes in Ownership and Columns
Attorney Gordon Gray bought the newspapers on April 30, 1937. He was dedicated to serving all the communities the newspapers covered. This commitment continued even after Media General Inc. bought the newspapers in 1969.
The "Call SAM (Sentinel Answer Man)" column started in the Sentinel on October 10, 1966. Bill Williams wrote it, and Christine Friedenberg took over in 1984. David Watson answered questions for the Journal as the "Straight Answer Man" from 1985 to 2000. Ronda Bumgardner was the "Straight Answer Ma'am" from 2000 to 2009. Tim Clodfelter became SAM in 2010. Melissa Hall became the second "Straight Answer Ma'am" in 2020.
On March 29, 1985, the Sentinel published its last edition. This made the morning Journal newspaper stronger. Its daily circulation grew from 73,000 to over 91,000 papers. Sunday circulation reached 106,000.
In September 1994, the Journal moved some of its work to a new building. This building had a new press that improved color printing. The Journal also publishes other materials for older adults, pet owners, and families.
Political Endorsements
In 2004, the paper decided not to support any presidential candidate. For the 2012 presidential election, the paper supported Democratic President Barack Obama. This was a change, as they had supported Obama's opponent, Republican Senator John McCain, in 2008. Before Obama, the paper's editorial page had not supported a Democratic Party presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. In 2016, the paper supported Libertarian Gary Johnson for president. They were one of the few newspapers to support a Libertarian candidate instead of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. They said they did not trust the main candidates or the usual way politics worked.
Recent Changes and Sales
In August 2007, the Journal announced changes to its business section. It also cut five jobs, including two in the newsroom. More changes happened in 2010. In April, the Journal's parent company, Media General, said it would move all copy editing and design jobs to other cities. They said this would save money. They planned to use some of the savings to focus more on local news. In October, Carl Crothers, the paper's executive editor, was let go to save costs. On December 15, the Winston-Salem Journal fired 18 more employees when it closed its copy desk.
On April 9, 2012, Media General said it might sell its newspaper division. On May 17, 2012, Media General announced the sale of most of its newspapers to BH Media, which is part of Berkshire Hathaway.
On March 16, 2020, Lee Enterprises Inc. bought BH Media publications, including the Journal, for $140 million. Lee Enterprises had already been managing these papers since June 2018.
Pulitzer Prizes Won
- 1971—Meritorious public service, staff; "primarily for their year-long campaign in print to save territory in western North Carolina and Virginia from the hazardous effects of strip mining." You can find more details in a reprinted version of the paper's 1971 article: "Journal-Sentinel Papers Win Pulitzer Public Service Prize."
Notable People Who Worked Here
