Quickly Daniels refocused the News and Observer to combat rampant corruption and other problems he saw within the state. Josephus Daniels, with help from Julian Carr and other friends, bought the paper. In 1894 the paper was sold at auction, this time to a Washington, North Carolina, native who was a strong Democratic supporter. This model worked well for the paper until Ashe lost favor in the Democratic caucus, leading the paper to fall on hard financial times for the fourth time in its history. Ashe used connections within the Democratic Party to get an upper leg on upcoming stories. Ashe ran the company personally until 1894, focusing on politics and the Democratic party. Īshe combined the two papers under the new banner The News & Observer in September 1880, making it the sole daily paper in Raleigh. After about ten years the paper ran out of money, so the two owners sold to the owner of the Raleigh News, Samuel A. Saunders, bought the now-bankrupt paper, ending its publication and focusing on the Raleigh Observer. The owners of the newly founded Raleigh Observer, Peter M. The Sentinel went bankrupt a little over ten years after the paper was first founded. Josephus Daniels, the principal shaper of The News & Observer With the new owner The Sentinel began to cover the Democrats' push to retake the North Carolina Legislature, along with the impeachment of Gov.

Pell in 1865 and who used, 'the newspaper to fight against the domination of carpetbaggers and other forces during Congressional Reconstruction.' The paper's struggles to stay relevant and make money led to new ownership in 1868. The News & Observer traces its roots to The Sentinel, which was founded by the Rev. With McClatchy's acquisition of most of Knight Ridder's properties in 2006, North Carolina's two largest newspapers (the News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer) are now under common ownership. The McClatchy Company currently operates a total of twenty-nine daily newspapers in fourteen states with a combined weekday circulation of 1.6 million and a Sunday circulation of 2.4 million. In the mid-1990s, flexo machines were installed, allowing the paper to print thirty-two pages in color, which was the largest capacity of any newspaper within the United States at the time.

On the News & Observer Publishing Company was sold to McClatchy Newspapers of Sacramento, California, for $373 million, ending 101 years of Daniels family ownership.

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