The News & Record is an American, English language newspaper with the largest serving Guilford County, North Carolina, and the surrounding region. It is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and produces local sections for Greensboro and Rockingham County, North Carolina. As of September 30, 2011, it had an average weekday circulation of about 54,789 and an average Sunday circulation of about 81,600. The News & Record is also the third largest paper in North Carolina after the News & Observer and Charlotte Observer.
History
The News & Record traces its roots to the Daily Record which was first printed in 1890 in Greensboro. An afternoon paper, it was begun by John Benson, Joseph Reece, and Harper J. Elam. Both Benson and Elam eventually sold their interest in the paper to Reece who operated it as sole owner for 14 years until his death in 1915. For four years thereafter it was owned by Al Fairbrother and George Crater until it was bought by Julian Price in 1919. The Daily News was a morning paper founded in 1909, an outgrowth of the recently defunct Daily Industrial News. The Daily News and the associated company, the Greensboro News Company, grew quickly, acquiring the other morning paper, the Greensboro Telegram in 1911 and in 1930 acquired the Daily Record. The Greensboro News Company and its two papers were run by Edwin Bedford Jeffress who owned half interest in the company after 1914. He remained president until 1961, when his son, Charles, took over the reins of the company. In 1965 the company was purchased by Norfolk-Portsmouth Newspapers, based in Norfolk, Virginia. Jeffress remained publisher but the presidency was given to Frank Batten of Norfolk. Two years later Norfolk-Portsmouth Newspapers became Landmark Communications. In the early 1980s, the Greensboro Daily News and The Greensboro Record began gradually consolidating their operations beginning with the Sunday edition in 1980 followed by Saturdays in 1983. By March 1984, both papers were combined into the News & Record, a single paper with two editions, morning and afternoon. The afternoon edition was eliminated two years later. On January 3, 2008, it was reported that the family-owned Landmark Communications may be for sale. On January 31, 2013, the News & Record was sold to BH Media, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., a Fortune 500 company based in Omaha, Nebraska. On March 16, 2020, Lee Enterprises Inc. completed its $140 million purchase of BH Media publications, including the Journal, all of which Lee had managed since June 2018.
Go Triad
Go Triad is a weekly insert in the News & Record each Thursday. The section is also available in free racks on Friday. Go Triad focuses on arts and entertainment, including reviews and listings of movies, concerts, theater, art exhibits and events, festivals and more, as well as restaurant reviews. It also has features about local figures in the arts and entertainment industry, including local bands, artists and others.
Recent changes
In 1999, the paper broke with the trend in the medium and began a major expansion effort. The paper expanded its coverage of High Point, challenging the smaller High Point Enterprise on its turf. The news department added 33 positions. However, the paper quickly reversed itself. By 2006, the newsroom had been reduced by about one-fourth mostly through attrition. The News & Record received national attention in the spring of 2005, including an article in The New York Times for its plans to try to integrate online reader participation into the reporting and news distribution process. Online reader participation in reporting and distribution has not materialized. Online readers can make comments on staff blogs and some online stories. On June 7, 2007, the newspaper announced it was laying off 41 employees as part of a "business reorganization," the first layoffs in its history. The paper's publisher cited declining advertising revenues and the "general" and "expanding use of the Internet for news, information and advertising."
