High Point Enterprise

Infobox Newspaper
name = High Point Enterprise


type = Daily newspaper
format = Broadsheet
foundation = 1885
ceased publication =
price =
owners = Paxton Media Group
publisher = Rick Bean
editor = Tom Blount
circulation =
headquarters = 210 Church Avenue
High Point, North Carolina 27261 USA
ISSN =
website = [http://www.hpe.com hpe.com]

"High Point Enterprise" is a daily morning newspaper that primarily serves High Point, North Carolina.

The newspaper's coverage area includes parts of Guilford, Davidson, Randolph and Forsyth counties in the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina. "The Enterprise" is owned by Paxton Media Group. The paper was founded in 1885.

The newspaper's circulation in 2002 was 28,848 [ [http://parklibrary.jomc.unc.edu/NCPAPERSCIRC2002.html University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Park Library] ] . By 2008 circulation was 19,483 during the week and 22,467 on Sundayhttp://abcas3.accessabc.com/ecirc/newsform.asp Retrieved 25 May, 2008.]

Overview

"The Enterprise" was founded as a weekly newspaper about 1885 by Ed Steele and W.A. Blair. In 1888 Charles Farriss purchased the paper. Soonafter, he left the paper in the hands of his brother J.J. Farriss, a former editor of "The Biblical Recorder", the newspaper of the North Carolina Baptist Convention. In 1885, the paper became a daily.

In 1921, the paper was bought by J.P Rawley (1886-1937) and R.B. Terry (1883-1955), and it remained in the Rawley and Terry families for eight decades.

The newspaper moved to its current home at 210 Church Avenue in 1970.

Recent history

In the early 1990s, the paper shifted from afternoon publication to mornings.

In 1999, the Rawley family sold their stake of the newspaper company, which also included "The Thomasville Times", "The Archdale-Trinity News" and the "Triad Business News", to Paxton Media.

Longtime Publisher Randall B. Terry Jr. held onto his half of the company. The relationship between Terry and Paxton was testy. In 2000, Terry accused Paxton of trying to cut local content. Paxton sued Terry, alleging mismanagement. [ [http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A23240 "Ye Olde Archives: Herald-Sun becomes a link in chain," Independent Weekly, December 8, 2004] ]

In June 2001, the paper cut 16.5 positions, including eight full-time jobs and two part-time jobs from the main newspaper. [ [http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2001/06/25/daily33.html "High Point Enterprise, sister papers cutting staff," The Business Journal of the Greater Piedmont Triad Area, June 8, 2001] ]

Terry died of cancer in May 2004. Soon after, Paxton bought the remaining shares of the newspaper. Rick Bean became publisher in May 2004. Upon assumption of operations, Paxton fired the managing editor, the general manager, and laid off 20 employees after it closed "ESP", a weekly entertainment newspaper. Mass firings also followed Paxton's purchase of " The Herald-Sun" in Durham, North Carolina in 2005.

The paper underwent a redesign in 2005, resulting in a USA Today-type format. Emphasis was placed on shorter stories with less in-depth reporting.

The paper is facing declining circulation. Circulation figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations from November 2006 show it lost 10.1 percent of its Sunday circulation and 11.4 percent of its daily sales, compared to the same period in 2005. This is well above that of the two largest Triad newspapers ("Winston-Salem Journal" and "The News & Record") [ [http://triad.bizjournals.com/triad/stories/2006/11/06/story15.html "Triad's daily newspapers see circulation drop again," The Business Journal of the Greater Piedmont Triad Area, November 3, 2006] ]

More layoffs followed at the Enterprise in November 2007. [ [http://jonathanjones.wordpress.com/2007/11/15/has-paxton-media-group-struck-again/ Has Paxton Media Group struck again?] Retrieved 21 December, 2007.] [ [http://blog.news-record.com/staff/jrblog/2007/11/layoffs_in_high.shtml Layoffs in High Point] . Retrieved 21 December, 2007.]

Newspaper alumni

Capus Waynick, United States ambassador to Nicaragua and Colombia in President Harry Truman's administration, and a campaign manager for North Carolina Governor W. Kerr Scott, was "Enterprise" editor from 1923-1931 and from 1937-1941.

References

External links

* [http://www.hpe.com/ High Point Enterprise]