As Business North Carolina readers know, this is an interesting period in the journalism world.
Public respect for the media is hitting historic lows. The incoming president hinted that he wouldn’t mind if someone took a shot at a pack of reporters. (Yes, it was a bad joke, not a serious threat.)
Closer to home, Melanie Sill, the former editor of the News & Observer of Raleigh and a media industry observer, criticized the New York Times’ coverage of the 2024 election in several LinkedIn posts. After Donald Trump’s victory, she said she was canceling her subscription because the most famous U.S. news organization had largely focused its coverage on polls and predictions rather than helping readers understand the rival campaigns’ agendas and impact on people’s lives.
That sparked chuckles from my conservative friends, who view the Times and other traditional media outlets as unabashed advocates of Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris.
Bottom line, this year fulfilled expectations that anger and division would dominate news and society, spreading negativity all around.
So how is your statewide business magazine supposed to respond in this raucous environment?
Keep pounding, to steal the Carolina Panthers’ slogan, and leave the pontificating to others. We’re continuing our agenda of spotlighting people, businesses and trends that are influencing our state.
The goal is to be accurate and fair, to never be boring or waste our readers’ precious time, and to reflect the diversity of our state on many levels. We don’t attain those goals every day, but they are always on our mind.
Every business and businessperson has a story, so the challenge is selecting the best options given time and manpower constraints. Longtime readers will notice we’re doing shorter articles on more people and enterprises, rather than longer, in-depth stories. That reflects our sense of the times.
We’re constantly thankful for tips from readers and writers that lead us to better story ideas than we can develop on our own. Please keep them coming.
Producing a monthly BNC magazine is our primary, joyful, 44-year tradition that continues to draw strong support from sponsors and readers. Providing an opportunity for advertisers to share their messages makes the enterprise possible. Our survival doesn’t rely on foundations, government or wealthy contributors, which is becoming the media norm.
Editorially, we offer special thanks to Creative Director Cathy Swaney, along with Mike MacMillan, Shannon Cuthrell, Kathy Blake and other freelance writers for their strong contributions.
But today’s journalism requires a 24-7, multifunctional effort, which is displayed in our increasing emphasis on breaking digital news stories at www.businessnc.com, 13 newsletters published every week, special events, podcasts and other ventures.
Our online readership has spiked significantly over the past two years, which is a credit to hard work by my colleagues Ben Kinney, Kevin Ellis, Ray Gronberg, Dan Barkin, Chris Burritt, Brad King and Chris Roush, who departed this fall for a job at Elon University.
Moreover, our events such as the MfgCon event for the manufacturing industry, inaugural N.C. Rural Summit and Best Employers gala created some terrific opportunities to build networks and friendships. The world needs more of that in 2025!
It also was a painful year as we lost longtime writer Ed Martin, whose award-winning stories made him BNC’s heart and soul. More recently, Gary Ball, whose tech skills have kept us afloat, died of cancer. His cheerful, patient attitude will be sorely missed.
Controversy sells in journalism, for valid reasons, and we love for BNC writers to mix it up as much as anyone. But calling balls and strikes in a fair manner is a vital journalism value that remains our North Star. Thank you for your continuing support, and have a joyous holiday season.
(The third paragraph in this column was revised from the BNC December print publication to better reflect Melanie Sills’ views.)
