The Charlotte Observer

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The Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The paper is owned by The McClatchy Company.

The current editor of the paper is Rick Thames.

Contents

1 Overview
2 History
3 Pulitzer Prizes
4 External links

Overview

The Observer primarily serves Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and the surrounding counties of Iredell, Cabarrus, Union, Lancaster, York, Gaston, and Lincoln. It publishes local sections for each of these outlying counties and for specific neighborhoods within Mecklenburg. The newspaper's circulation covers over 40 counties in North and South Carolina.

The paper has a weekday readership of 553,200 daily and a readership of 751,400 on Sundays. The paper has a daily circulation of 218,960 and a Sunday circulation of 273,982 on Sundays (9/30/05 Audit Bureau of Circulations report).

In addition to its main bureau in Charlotte, the paper operates six regional bureaus in Hickory, Gastonia, Concord, Monroe, and Statesville, and Rock Hill, South Carolina. It has offices in the state capitals of North and South Carolina: Raleigh and Columbia, respectively. The Observer also has an office in Washington, D.C..

The newspaper has an online presence at charlotte.com, and its staff also oversees a popular NASCAR news website, thatsracin.com, and a corresponding syndicated feature, That's Racin'. The paper's television partner is WCNC-TV.

The Observer employs over 1,200 employees, mostly in its Uptown Charlotte office.

History

The paper was founded in 1886, and was purchased by Knight Ridder in 1955. McClatchy purchased Knight Ridder in 2006.

In 1959, The Observer purchased The Charlotte News, which it combined all of its operations with, except for editorial content, in 1983. The Observer ended circulation of the afternoon News in 1985.

The paper has won four Pulitzer Prizes, most recently in 1988.

Pulitzer Prizes

1988—Editorial cartooning, Doug Marlette (shared with the Atlanta Constitution)
1988—Meritorious public service, staff; "For its investigation into the misuse of funds by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and their PTL ministries."
1981—Meritorious public service, staff; "For Brown Lung: A Case of Deadly Neglect, a hard-hitting look at the terrible health consequences workers suffered from cotton dust produced in the region's textile mills."
1968—Editorial cartooning, Eugene Gray Payne

External links

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