If you’re a longtime reader or subscriber of paper edition of The Free Press, you’ve certainly noticed some changes in the product you’re holding in your hands today. Nearly four years ago, upper management types in our former company (Freedom Communications) decided a smaller version of the paper — a “compact” edition — would be more palatable to you, dear reader.
At the same time, we started publishing The Free Press in Jacksonville in our sister paper’s facility at The Daily News. That change pushed up our deadline, which had been midnight or later, to before 9 p.m., meaning we couldn’t get in a lot of sports and breaking news at night.
We went through some bumps and bruises in those changes … OK, a LOT of bumps and bruises … but we’ve refined the paper and the product you’re holding in your hands today into one that has collected 45 North Carolina Press Association awards in the past three years alone — including 11 a couple of weeks ago.
Under the leadership of Vernon DeBolt, we have an extremely hard-working newsroom, circulation department and group of advertising professionals that are dedicated to bringing you an outstanding product to which you, dear reader, have become accustomed to reading every morning.
After a plethora of questions from the community over the past month, I feel the need to address our new change in leadership at The Free Press. We suffered a painful loss when longtime publisher and editor Patrick Holmes was released by the new company that owns us, the Halifax Media Group. Patrick was more than just a boss to many of us at The Free Press — he was and remains a friend, a mentor and someone who loves The Free Press and Kinston more than just about anyone I know. Those 45 awards I mentioned earlier are due to the leadership, encouragement and professionalism Patrick exhibited on a daily basis.
I realize business decisions are business decisions and as anyone who is toiling in this economy can tell you — those tough decisions are made daily in every walk of life and in every vocation.
There are more decisions being made at The Free Press that directly affects the product you are holding.
We’ve changed the look of the front of your paper to adequately use the space provided to us; we call it a “magazine” front, in which a large piece of art (from our outstanding and award-winning photography department of Chief Janet S. Carter, Zach Frailey and Casey Mozingo) is used to help promote the big story of the day which accompanies it inside the paper.
For a few Sundays now, the Opinion pages have been significantly altered; instead of advocating only one political ideal or thought, myself and Halifax ENC Desk Chief Richard Clark came up with the “Left Side” and “Right Side” pages — including a column and the best liberal and conservative cartoons from the past week. We’ve also expanded the Letters to the Editor section; if you take the time to write a letter to The Free Press, we are going to do everything in our power to print it.
Soon, we’re also going to be touching up the beloved cartoon page by replacing some of the older ones with fresh ’toons. Today and tomorrow, you can go to Kinston.com and vote on which of the cartoons (“B.C.,” “Blondie,” “Born Loser,” “Frank & Ernest,” “Shoe” and “Wizard of Id”) you’d least like to see go away from your daily read.
There are many other exciting changes coming soon to your Daily Free Press and I’ll use this space in the coming weeks and months to let you know when they are arriving.
I have no allusions about who are the true owners of this newspaper — it’s you, dear reader. The Free Press is here to serve you, not the other way around. It has been this way for 131 years and it remains true to this day: there is no better entity in this market that serves the residents of Lenoir, Greene and Jones County than The Free Press for your news and advertising needs.
That’s why I think it’s important for your feedback, and it’s why I’m asking you to leave comments with this story online about what you’d like to see (or not see) in your paper. You can also email me at the address listed below or send me a snail mail to P.O. Box 129, Kinston NC, 28502.
I’m not going to promise we’ll make every change that is suggested, but I promise you this: your suggestions will be mulled over and considered.
The Free Press is your newspaper. Help us make it something you will continue to want to read for years to come.
Bryan C. Hanks is the managing editor of The Free Press; his column appears in this space every Sunday. You can reach him at 252-559-1074 or at Bryan.Hanks@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at BCHanks.