“We propose editing and publishing at this place a weekly newspaper, and as evidence of our intention so to do, we, to-day, introduce to the public THE ALAMANCE GLEANER. Our hopes are to make the GLEANER valuable as a newspaper, and by so doing to insure the success of our project. The enterprise is undertaken with a view to permanency. As a newspaper, we fully intend and confidently hope, to make the GLEANER the equal of any paper in the State, to those who have opportunity or inclination to take only a weekly paper. This can be done as well here as anywhere…
“In all matters of public concern, whether county, state or national, of which we may feel called upon to speak, we shall in an humble way, express our candid views; commending where we approve and censuring where we condemn. Our endeavors shall be to faithfully serve the public, and thus, in a small way, to serve ourself. . .
“To those who shall favor us by becoming our readers we can only promise that, whatever latent ability, as an editor, if any, we may possess, and which may be developed by our efforts, shall be energetically devoted to the task of giving them a paper, worthy of their confidence, patronage and encouragement. . .“No one regrets the pittance invested in the price of a newspaper. The great Daniel Webster is credited with having said that he never picked up and perused a newspaper, however unpretending it may have been without learning something – without finding in its columns what was information to him. We shall keep up with, and keep our readers well informed of all matters of local importance – of our county affairs and of all other matters of general news and interest. . . .” Excerpts by editor E.S. Parker, from first edition of The Alamance Gleaner, February 9, 1875
Almost 151 years ago this weekend, on February 9, 1875, the forerunner of this newspaper, The Alamance Gleaner, began publication.
We hesitate to emphasize the “permanency” editor E.S. Parker cited in that first edition, but the newspaper has, in fact, evolved and outlasted many others over the course of the past 151 years, now assuming the lead position as the largest, most well-read newspaper in the county. All the while it has remained faithful to Parker’s original vision of “keeping our readers well informed of all matters of local importance.”
In fact, our modern-day emphasis is on providing the most comprehensive local news coverage available in Alamance County.
The present-day Alamance News is the result of a consolidation of The Alamance Gleaner, first established in 1875, with two other papers: The Alamance County News, begun May 4, 1939, and The Burlington Journal, started January 23, 1936. Both papers first appeared together on the same masthead in 1939, a week after The Alamance County News debuted.
“County” was dropped from the newspaper’s title in 1947, and a few months later, The Burlington Journal was dropped altogether from its secondary position in the newspaper’s name. That same year, ownership of the newspaper also changed.
The distinctive Old English font for the newspaper’s name was established in 1953.
On August 9, 1956, the newspaper was bought by Thomas E. Boney and his wife Jean, who moved to Graham from his hometown of Wallace, where Boney had edited The Wallace Enterprise owned by the Oswald family.
Since at least 1947, there had been two weekly newspapers published in Graham.
J.D. Kernodle ran The Alamance Gleaner first in a partnership from 1880, and after 1882, on his own. Beginning in 1930, he ran it with his son, J.D. Kernodle, Jr., until Sr.’s death in 1944.
On March 16, 1961, Boney announced that he had acquired The Alamance Gleaner and that the merged paper would be known by the combined name The Alamance News-Gleaner.
Subsequently, the front page nameplate added a “ribbon of communities” served by the paper, a feature that still exists today, as well as a rendering of the courthouse, which was subsequently removed.
The joint name was used for little more than a year, when on July 19, 1962, “Gleaner” was dropped, and the paper resumed using the name The Alamance News, which has continued to the present.
A second generation of Boneys assumed ownership in August 1990, when Tom Boney, Jr. and his wife Carol purchased the paper.
The Alamance News is now Alamance County’s only independent, locally-owned newspaper.
It has consistently been a state and national award-winning newspaper, with special recognitions for Freedom of Information, investigative reporting, and in-depth community news coverage.
The newspaper garnered a record number of awards over the past year in both the North Carolina Press Association and National Newspaper Association writing and reporting contests.
We take current readers on this winding trip down an historical memory lane to highlight that this community’s interest in local news has been consistent for more than a century and a half.
As has been the commitment of a succession of owners, editors, and reporters (of both lines of its heritage) to provide coverage of local events.
We often say that if it doesn’t happen in Alamance County, or to someone from Alamance County, it’s just not our beat.
The present ownership is grateful for the ongoing support and encouragement from the community, our subscribers, and readers – many of whom now read it online (both the weekly print edition as well as breaking news stories posted in between print editions).
We strive to continue, in the words of our first editor in that first edition, to seek to be “worthy of their confidence, patronage and encouragement.”
At a time when so many newspapers across the country are struggling – cutting the number of editions, the quantity of local news, and the attention to details about which their communities are still quite interested – we are pleased to be bucking most of these trends.
Indeed, we believe at least a part of our success has been precisely because we have not followed the failed menu that many corporate newspaper owners have followed.
We don’t know that greater attention to local news could have forestalled the decline of many larger, daily newspapers, but it’s always seemed to us that they lost sight on what most readers fundamentally want: local news.
Every newspaper survey we’ve seen – at both the state and national level – lists readers’ desire for more local news as their top priority.
Granted, it is the most expensive to produce, which is why corporations have been so quick to cut reporting staffs and other resources dedicated to covering city councils, planning boards, school boards, boards of commissioners and other local government news.
There are oodles of places, especially now online, for citizens to find information on national and international news, many of which are free. But there are few media that are investing in sending reporters to actually cover local boards and commissions and report to the citizenry about what transpired.
That continues to be our challenge – and, to some extent, our responsibility.
Another dimension of a useful newspaper, as identified by the first editor, is to express candid views on matters of public concern.
We believe such expressions should be restricted to the editorial page, not in the news columns – another mistake made, we would argue, by many larger, daily newspapers, whose reporters have too often allowed their own views, unfettered, to infiltrate their reporting.
We often take full opportunity on the editorial page to “commend where we approve and censuring where we condemn,” in Parker’s 1875 terminology.
Agreeing with such editorial page opinions is by no means a prerequisite for subscribers or readers – and we’re pleased by the variety of partisan and political viewpoints represented by the newspaper’s readership, as well as by the demographic and geographic diversity across the county.
All in all, we thank our readers and subscribers – and, very significantly, our advertisers who seek to reach them – all of whom contribute to making our ability to deliver on 151-year-old goals and promises a continuing reality.
