Cherokee Scout

The ''Cherokee Scout'' is a weekly newspaper in Murphy, North Carolina, and Cherokee County. It is one of the largest newspapers in far-west North Carolina.

The print edition is published on Wednesdays and had a paid circulation of 5,748 in 2023. The paper is published by Community Newspapers, Inc. (CNI), Athens, Georgia.

The ''Scout'' publishes a number of special sections throughout the year. It has published "Readers Choice Awards" since 2005. The newspaper also prints an annual football guide named "Pigskin Preview," an annual basketball guide, "Mountain Hoops," and other guidebooks on schools, health, and veterans.

History

The ''Cherokee Scout'' was preceded by multiple Murphy newspapers: the ''Cherokee Herald'' (1874-1876), the ''Murphy Bulletin'' (1885-1889), and ''The Murphy Advance'' (1889). The ''Cherokee Scout'' began weekly publication in July 1889 using a letter press. A 1910 map shows the ''Scout'''s office on Peachtree Street near the Cherokee County Courthouse. In January 1946, the ''Scout'' offices and printing plant relocated to a newly constructed flag stone building on Hickory Street. Before then the offices and printing plant were separated by two blocks. An offset printing plant was installed in March 1961 on Hickory Street to replace the letter press. It was the first offset press in western North Carolina.

The ''Scout'' opened a 5,000-square-foot office it built on Church Street on January 16, 1964. Four years later in March 1968 the paper installed a new Goss offset press to print the ''Scout'' and five other western North Carolina newspapers: '' The Andrews Journal'', ''Clay County Progress'', '' The Franklin Press'', ''Highlands Highlander'', ''Smoky Mountain Times'', and '' Graham Star''.
The first color photographs appeared in the ''Scout'' by November 1973. The newspaper built and moved into its current downtown office in 2008.

The ''Cherokee Scout'' website
CherokeeScout.com
launched by 2005. The ''Scout'' faced competition from the weekly ''Cherokee Sentinel'' newspaper until the ''Sentinel'' closed in January 2012 when its publisher fell ill. ''The Andrews Journal'' was merged into the ''Scout'' on January 1, 2019. The ''Journal'' had been published in Andrews since 1965. Since merging, the ''Scout'' has been the only newspaper serving Cherokee County. Randy Foster became editor in February 2023.

Former slogans include “If it isn’t in the Scout it’s because we didn’t know it” (c. 1920s), “The People’s Paper” (c. 1934), “Our Aim: A Better Murphy, A Finer County” (c. 1939), “Dedicated to promoting Cherokee County” (c. 1956), and “Cherokee County’s Best Buy” (c. 1966).

Awards

The newspaper has won numerous awards from th
North Carolina Press Association
including news photography in 2016 as well as sports and religion reporting in 2016. The paper won second place in the "Best Niche Publication" category that year as well. In 2019, photographer Ben Katz won Hugh Morton Photographer of the Year in the Community Newspaper Division.

Publishers

# F.E. Case (1889-1890)
#Dr. J.W. Patton & J.S. Meroney (1891-1894)
# J.S. Meroney & Towns (1895-1914)
# Tate Powell (1915-1922)
# Bryan W. Sipe (1923-1925)
# C.W. Bailey (1925-1933)
# L.A. Lee (1934-1939)
# Victor C. Olmsted (1940-1942)
# Addie Mae Cooke (1943-1952)
# William V. and Emily P. Costello (1953-1955)
# George N. Bunch (1956-1957)
# Roy A. Cook (1958)
# Jerue Babb (1959-1962)
# Jack T. Owens (c. 1963- c. 1974)
# Weaver Carringer (c. 1985- c. 1986)
# David Brown (2003-present)

Notable contributors

# Tom DeTitta, former reporter who penned Georgia's official state drama, ''The Reach of Song''

See also

* List of newspapers published in North Carolina

References

External links

Cherokee Scout: The local news and information source for Cherokee County, North Carolina

Online historic issues of ''The Cherokee Scout'' at DigitalNC

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherokee Scout, The
Weekly newspapers published in North Carolina
Cherokee County, North Carolina
Newspapers established in 1889
1889 establishments in North Carolina