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Outlet profile

The Charlotte Post

U.S. center-left, Black community press

Owned byThe Charlotte Post Publishing Company, owned by the Johnson family (Gerald and Bob Johnson, sons of founder-owner Bill Johnson who purchased the paper in 1974)
FundingPrimarily print advertising (roughly 90% of revenue), supplemented by subscriptions (print and digital), and occasional journalism grants including placement through Report for America
On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

The Charlotte Post traces its roots to 1878, when it emerged from the AME Zion Church's effort to create a secular press outlet for newly emancipated Black Charlotteans following Reconstruction. The paper went through various owners and publishers over the following century. In 1974, Bill Johnson purchased The Post from Garland Atkins, publisher of the Gaston Gazette, marking the start of continuous family ownership that has now passed 50 years. Under Johnson ownership, the paper expanded its reach across counties surrounding Charlotte and into upstate South Carolina, and in 1998 the family founded a sister publication, The Triangle Tribune, serving the Research Triangle area. At its peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the paper's print circulation reached roughly 30,000; by the 2020s it had settled around 15,000 in print and about 7,000 digital subscribers, with advertising—especially healthcare and automotive—making up around 90% of revenue. The paper has won numerous national and local journalism awards and has collaborated with Report for America to place reporters in its newsroom. Editorially, The Charlotte Post has consistently advocated for the interests of Charlotte's Black community, covering civil rights, economic opportunity, and local politics from that vantage point. Its coverage of the Trump administration's second term has been notably critical, particularly regarding immigration enforcement operations in Charlotte and federal rollbacks on healthcare and social programs.

Sources

  1. The Post marks 50 years of Johnson ownership, service — The Charlotte Post
  2. The Charlotte Post — Wikipedia
  3. Emblems of Change in a Southern City — UNC News Deserts Project
  4. The Charlotte Post — Report for America
  5. Beyond Black History: Before The Charlotte Post, there was The Charlotte Messenger — QCity Metro
  6. As Trump punts on medical debt, battle moves to states — The Charlotte Post
  7. African American Newspapers in North Carolina — NCpedia

Profile compiled 2026-07-28; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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