Since resuscitating the Rhino Times, hardly a day has passed without someone asking me to take the Rhino to a daily publication so that they could get fair and balanced local news and editorials.  Since day one of owning the Rhino, I have studied doing just that; however, the thought recently occurred to me that it might be advantageous to just purchase the News & Record.  Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns the Greensboro News & Record, along with the Winston-Salem Journal and a list of other daily publications across the country.  I believe the News & Record has turned its back on mainstream Greensboro and taken a hard left turn, and, while I don’t know this for a fact, I would surmise that the paper’s readership and ad sales numbers are bound to have taken a downward turn as well.

Under my business plan I would return the News & Record to a “middle of the road” publication, using the Rhino Times to complement the News & Record with its typical political commentary and coverage of city, county and state news.”

“Dear Mr. Buffett:

I first would like to introduce myself.  My name is Roy Carroll and I own several Greensboro businesses, including Snap Publications, the parent company of the Rhino Times, a local weekly news publication.

Speculation is that you are not satisfied with the financial performance of several of your newsprint publications since you acquired them.  If that is correct, I would ask that you seriously consider the enclosed Letter of Intent to Purchase the Greensboro News & Record.

Please understand that this is not a publicity stunt but a bona fide offer.  I have developed a business plan to turn the News & Record around and to hopefully make it a viable business.  The plan involves utilizing the synergies that could be created between both publications being located in the same city, and consolidating senior management, advertising sales and distribution.  I envision changes to the editorial team that would result in potentially the most cost savings and revenue growth.

Over the course of several years, the News & Record, in my opinion, has drifted far left of center in terms of its coverage and stories.  I believe that this drift far to the left has hurt the News & Record in terms of readership and ad sales.  Under my business plan, I would prune back some of the writers that have gone so far left of center and hire writers that were less dogmatic in their far left of center news coverage and opinions.    Don’t get me wrong, I value opposing viewpoints and would promote healthy debates on important topics.  Publishing opposing viewpoints is productive and, in my opinion, a responsibility of a local daily.  Actually, most Greensboro citizens see themselves in the political center.

I’ll give you a classic example of what I’m saying.  I’m sure you have research detailing the unfortunate state of the local Greensboro economy.  Over the last four or five years we have somehow lost our way in terms of job creation and wage growth.  While our peer cities were actively recruiting new businesses on the back side of the recession, Greensboro, in my opinion, had the wrong people and possibly the wrong economic development structure in place.  As a result, there have been virtually no net jobs created in Greensboro.  You would think that a responsible local daily would be all over this issue, regularly writing about the lack of job growth and local economic development, especially since it hurts everyone in our community, including the readers and advertisers that the News & Record relies on.”

Read more:

http://www.rhinotimes.com/a-letter-to-mr-buffett.html

I have criticized the News Record as well.

From Citizen Wells February 22, 2015.

“There are numerous variations of the AP January 2015 jobs report from around February 7, 2015.

The Greensboro News Record regurgitated their own version in print. I could not find an online version so the print edition is provided in full below.

The News Record has been diligent in fact checking the employment data and record of the NC Republicans in power but when it comes to Obama and the national economy, anything goes.”

I am disappointed that instead of fact checking the AP article and presenting the truth, they regurgitated it.

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/ap-january-jobs-economy-report-lies-inaccuracies-misleading-statements-greensboro-news-record-regurgitates-sloppy-reporting-bias-or-orwellian-lies/