| Type | Tri-weekly newspaper (Published Monday, Wednesday & Friday afternoons) |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Heartland Publications, LLC |
| Founded | 1911 |
| Headquarters | 214 East Main Street Elkin, North Carolina 28621 United States |
| Circulation | 4,000 |
| Official website | elkintribune.com |
The Tribune is a tri-weekly newspaper published in Elkin, North Carolina. It has covered the tri-county area of Surry, Wilkes, and Yadkin counties since 1911. The Tribune has an average paid circulation of about 3,000.
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Harvey Laffoon (1897-1978) was the owner, publisher and editor of The Elkin Tribune for 42 years, beginning in 1926. He was inducted into the North Carolina Journalism Hall of Fame in 2002 [1]. In 1949, the paper expanded from a weekly to bi-weekly.
After Laffoon retired in 1968, the newspaper was sold to Mid-South Management Company Inc. Thomas Fleming succeeded Laffoon as publisher. Soon after the paper was sold, it was expanded to three times weekly. Further, Elkin was dropped from the masthead, and it became known as The Tribune. In 1970 Rebel Good became editor at the age of 21 and, in 1978, after Fleming experienced health problems, became publisher. He served as editor and publisher for 37 years.
In June 2007, both The Tribune and the other Surry County-based newspapers were part of a sale from Mid-South Management to Heartland Publications, LLC of Connecticut. [2] In a bid to consolidate operations, Heartland eliminated a dozen staffers from its Mount Airy and Elkin papers, including Tribune Managing Editor Leighanne M. Wright. A week later, Good left his position along with a number of senior staffers. Good and former Mount Airy News publisher Michael Milligan launched The Messenger July 9, 2007, to compete with their former newspapers in Surry County.[3]Over the next two years, as its advertising and circulation plummeted, The Tribune's number of employees dropped from about 30 to fewer than 10. In 2009 Heartland Publications went into bankruptcy. When it emerged in April, 2010, it had shed more than $100 million in debt and the investments of its principals, The Wicks Group, Wachovia Capital Partners and Michael Bush, it's president, were wiped out. It's primary lender, GE Capital, essentially took control of the operations. By the close of 2010, according to postal records, The Tribune's average paid circulation had slipped even further, to about 2,500. Curiously, in October, 2011, the paper reported its average paid circulation per issue had more than doubled from the previous year, to more than 5,500.
In 1992, the paper sued the Yadkin County Board of Commissioners for access to applications for a Yadkin County manager opening. The paper argued the files were public records. The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in Elkin Tribune v. Yadkin County Board of Commissioners that the applications were personnel files and are governed by the state's personnel statues, not public records laws. [4]
October 2000, the paper sued Boonville after the town said it needed a written request and up to five days to produce public records. A North Carolina Superior Court judge ruled in favor of The Tribune, and the town later changed its policy on public records. The paper's suit won it a third-place Community Service Award from the North Carolina Press Association. [5]
The Tribune also publishes On the Vine, a quarterly magazine that focuses on Yadkin Valley and North Carolina wine.
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