Front and back pages of The News & Observer celebrate the newspaper's 120 years
Front page of The News & Observer after a redesign from Garcia Media in 1993
According to a tweet from Eric Frederick (@Eric_Frederick ), Election 1960 — and one of the last appearances of The N&O rooster. Reportedly, the rooster appeared on Page One if a Democrat won the elections.
It was the year 1993 and I remember working with then Editor in Chief Jeanne Buckeye and art director Kate Anthony on a redesign of The News & Observer. the newspaper was owned by the Knight-Ridder group at the time. The N&O has undergone other redesigns and visual changes since then, but the spirit of community is still intact as testified by readers' congratulatory messages.
Our redesign involved changes to the newspaper's logo, a new typographic palette, better page one navigators to the inside, and a total clean up of inside pages and some stylizing of ad configurations, to eliminate those terrible "staircases to hell" formed by ads.
Today, the N & O belongs to the McClatchy Newspaper group, and it is celebrating 120 years as the newspaper of record for Charlotte. The readers are joining in the celebration, sending comments and explaining why they still love to read the N & O in its print edition.
Here are some interesting ones. Anyone wanting to collect some arguments for the benefits of reading i"n print, read on here:
"I don't like reading news on the Internet..."
It is nice to open the pages and go through it. I don’t like reading the news on the Internet like I do at the breakfast table, turning each page while I sip my drink. I hope technology does not take this away. I can find the stories I want easier by turning the pages of the paper than I can on the Internet.
After we read the paper we recycle it using it to cover up things when we paint or to start a fire, roll it up to hit a bug or send it off somewhere to become something else. I hope it is delivered to my driveway or my hospital room for many more years.
She likes the happy news
It’s nice to read about something other than murders and war. We have to stay informed of what is happening in the state and the world, but it sure would be nice if people would stop killing each other.
Happy Birthday N&O. I need those columns that make me laugh!
Lean forward, lean back with the N & O
I bring in the paper each morning and scan it when in a hurry, savoring the idea of a thorough read that evening. A huge delight is having time to read all the way through. Happy 120th birthday to a faithful companion!
"The N&O enriches my life"
Not long ago The N&O had a marketing campaign “Life Enriched.” How apt, because enrichment is what The N&O has brought to my life.
Print: no external influences while reading
A newspaper is where a community’s citizens sense the pulse of their city. The website is efficient, but the technology it emanates from has its own unique energy. It is the printed word upon the paper that allows us to read for ourselves without any other external influences. You bring us friends through long-time columnists. You are where we read welcome news and current events.
"Never cease printing the news..."
All my life I’ve had The News & Observer in my home. My day is not complete if my paper does not arrive. I am 86 years old and don’t have a computer. You keep me “in the know,” and I do hope you never cease printing the news. I enjoy the Triangle & Co. section and appreciate your good writing and the editorials. Keep up the good work. I especially love to get my paper when we go to Emerald Isle, and you deliver it faithfully.
"I appreciate those letters to the editor"
My favorite section is the People’s Forum and the editorial page. When I visit other cities and towns, their newspapers do not have nearly as many letters to the editor as you do. I appreciate how many of my letters you have published over the years.
When I began graduate school, I was surprised how much my writing had improved from all those years of saying everything imaginable in 200 or fewer words. I also appreciate that you hired more investigative reporters at a time when many local newspapers were closing. Investigative reporting is what is missing in this country.
"He reads from cover to cover daily"
I have been reading the N&O for 73 years, starting with the free one given me as an 11-year-old delivery boy to my 23 customers. The comics (we called then funny papers in those days) were all I read at first. A year later when World War II broke out, I started to read the daily accounts of the war as reported from Europe and the Pacific.
Today, my wife says I read it until all the ink disappears.
Congratulations to the N & O
Congratulations
We join these readers in congratulating The News & Observer for a job well done, and for many more years.
For more
The N&O celebrates 125
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/08/11/4065293/happy-120th-birthday-no.html
Fun pics from 125 years of storytelling
https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/sets/72157617965298949/
From Charles Apple: The N&O redesigns thru the years
http://www.charlesapple.com/2012/03/news-observer-of-raleigh-n-c-launches-a-redesign/
Trends of Interest
How USA Today’s FTW masters viral content (Digiday)
Highlight
Two years ago, Yahoo veteran Jamie Mottram was recruited to USA Today’s sports group to quickly build the newspaper’s digital audience. Mottram came up with For the Win, a standalone digital media brand that would take its cues from viral publishers like BuzzFeed, Upworthy and others. “We’ve focused on two things: the social distribution of content and the mobile consumption of content,” Mottram said at the Digiday Platform Summit. “When you’re launching a site in 2013, it was clear these were the two big drivers to growing your audience digitally.” The result after its first year: FTW has now drawn an average monthly audience of 9.1 million, 2 to 3 times that of ESPN’s ballyhooed new digital sports media brand Grantland and veteran Sports Illustrated.
