A Brief History of News in Western North Carolina

News has traveled throughout Western North Carolina since the first human beings came into the region.   Indigenous tribes carried information from village to village, disseminating news via word of mouth.  This practice continued as men and women of European descent began filtering into the mountains during the 1780's and 90s. 

 News could be written down on hides or paper and carried from town to town.  Written news could be duplicated allowing multiple messengers to distribute the news simultaneously to geographically distributed location, albeit slowly. The introduction of horses into the region sped up the transmission of news and information.   

Newspapers were published in the more heavily populated areas of Eastern North Carolina since the early days of the colony.  These newspapers were distributed into Western North Carolina via horse and later via wagon or stagecoach. By the time news reached the then remote mountain region, it was days, weeks, or in many cases months old.

Among the first printed newspapers in Western North Carolina was The Highland Messenger    The Highland Messenger, began publication in 1840.

"Asheville's first newspaper established about 1840 was the Highland Messenger. It was edited by DR McAnally who was a Methodist preacher and later a Methodist editor in Saint Louis Missouri where he died in July 1895 He was born in Granger County Tennessee February 17 1810 and became a preacher when he was nineteen years old For some years he engaged in preaching and came to Asheville in that work living at the foot of the hill on the north side of Woodfin Street a little east of the mouth of Vance Street He edited the Highland Messenger a weekly paper for three years and in 1843 went to Knoxville Tennessee...." 
Source: Asheville and Buncombe County;  Forster Alexander Sondley, Theodore Fulton Davidson

NOTE: Scroll Down To the End of this Article To Read More About Early Asheville Newspapers 


 In the succeeding 175 years, journalism has undergone drastic changes.  A variety of new types of media and communication tools  have come into existence to challenge the preeminence  of print media.  Teletype,  Photography, Wire recorders, Radio, Tape Recorders, Television, Satellite Transmission,  Small lightway video cameras,   The Internet have all transformed the way news in collected, curated, edited, and disseminated.   It's is now possible to transmit live coverage of newsworthy events via "live streaming" using smartphones and tablets which can be held in one hand.  

 Today, media throughout Western North Carolina are exploring new media models, new tools, and new techniques in the face of increasingly challenging business models for generating revenue in print, broadcast, and on-line media.

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 *Asheville Newspaper History from

Western North Carolina: A History (from 1730 to 1913)
By John Preston Arthur

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