Daily Digest: Small papers are big winners

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Here at Business North Carolina and our related publications, we embrace enthusiasm as one of our core values. We believe that creativity is the lifeblood for an enterprise like ours and that it flows from finding joy in our jobs.

I was reminded of our most-prized core value last Thursday night while attending the North Carolina Press Association’s annual awards banquet in Raleigh.
The night’s big winners were the small papers whose owners proudly joined in the festivities to celebrate their ink-stained colleagues.

Towns like Siler City, Southport and Southern Pines, as well as Waynesville, Whitevilleand Wilson, dominated the contest.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise, because all of those towns have locally owned newspapers. Their executives’ emotional investment in the betterment of their communities and media companies are equal to their financial outlay.

In a creative enterprise like a newspaper or magazine, it’s obvious to readers (and out-of-state contest judges) when ownership brings enthusiasm and the energy that flows from it to their work every day.
We sweat the details making sure that headline sings, the turn of a phrase is just right, that advertisement captivates and the color registration is nailed – not to mention that the paper is delivered in the right place at the right time.

This situation reminds me of the scene from the 2016 groundbreaking musical La La Land, when Emma Stone, in her Oscar-winning role, encourages Ryan Gosling to chase his dream of opening a jazz club, which he describes as a “dying” artform.

“People will want to go to it because you're passionate about it, and people love what other people are passionate about. You remind people of what they've forgotten.”

Please join me in congratulating these small-town publishers who bring big-time enthusiasm to their work.
David Woronoff
President, Old North State Magazines
david@thepilot.com