It’s a little easier to understand why Paxton Media LLC came into the offices of The Herald Sun last Monday with the ax swinging when you know how much they overpaid for the paper. Sources inside the news industry say the Paducah, Ky.,-based media chain paid $125 million–almost twice what analysts had estimated the 50,000-circulation […]
Fiona Morgan
Posted inNews
Black Monday at The Herald-Sun
“If you had asked me yesterday with the sale closing tomorrow morning, what would happen,” reflects Jim Alexander, former chief financial officer of The Herald-Sun, “I would have said, ‘Not much.’” What did happen sent shock waves through the entire city of Durham. Alexander was one of four top officers at The Herald-Sun who was […]
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The Christmas farm
Caroline and her cousin Molly used to hang around and watch the local boys cut down the Christmas trees and haul them off to the trucks. Caroline’s father, Gary Edwards, has been in the Christmas tree business for 30 years, including the 12 years he was a teacher. He and her uncle own the Elk […]
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Radio is dying (and it’s about time)
The bigger they get, the harder they fall. While the National Association of Broadcasters continues to wield tremendous power in Washington, the radio industry lobbying group is trying desperately to outlaw the competition. Listeners are losing interest in radio, with its poor reception and irritating commercials, and getting more interested in the digital gadgets that […]
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Red and blue retail, for real
Attention shoppers: That e-mail about the politics of your favorite retail stores is sort of correct. We decided to check out what the Center for Responsive Politics, our favorite source for campaign finance information, had to say about the top companies. CRP says it had nothing to do with the ubiquitous e-mail, but it does […]
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The importance of trees, part two
The drive to and from our house leads through the wilderness of northwest Durham. At night, it’s a good idea to go below the speed limit–it’s not a matter of if, but when, a deer will pop out onto the road. I’ve seen hedgehogs, rabbits, even a fox flirt with the idea of crossing. A […]
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Herald-Sun becomes a link in chain
News of the Durham Herald-Sun‘s sale last week to Kentucky-based Paxton Media Group was met with some nostalgia, but little surprise, as our local media market follows the national trend toward consolidation. There aren’t many locally owned newspapers left in the United States. Most are owned by chains and managed out-of-state. The News & Observer […]
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WUNC’s semantic headache
Is the word “rights” political? Well, it is now. In trying to avoid making a political statement, WUNC radio has plunged into a politically charged semantic debate. Ever since the nonprofit organization Ipas announced its disagreement with the station over the language of its underwriting announcement last month, news of the controversy has spread nationally, […]
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Transforming politics
Ask Pete MacDowell about things that happened in the past, and he’ll always come back around to a passionate, optimistic idea for what needs to happen right now. While Democrats everywhere are licking their wounds over the election, MacDowell’s attitude is positive: In 30 years of political organizing, he’s seen more new blood enter the […]
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NCSU students questioned by FBI, police
Friday evening was particularly noisy on Hillsborough Street, where N.C. State University students held the same Honk for Peace event they’ve been holding since the beginning of the war in Iraq. There was a lot of honking in response to the hand-painted signs and the unusually large crowd. Last Friday’s protest drew more than 70 […]