Serving the community for 50 years and counting

By Bridget Elam As The Chronicle celebrates its 50th year of news reporting, we are taking the time to soak in this huge milestone.  On September 5, 1974, the first issue was published.  Approximately 1,300 issues later, The Chronicle is still the most-respected, African American newspaper in Winston-Salem.  None of this would be possible without the vision and foresight of Ernie Pitt and Elaine Pitt.  A look back As the Fourth Estate, media is considered an arm of government that is responsible for informing citizens about the functions of our democracy.  Personally, I think media, in its most foundational form, is a public service job.  No different than a police officer, a nurse or a firefighter, the media’s basic function is monitoring the pulse of a community by telling the stories that affect them the most.  The Black Press was created out of this need.  As recorded to have said, “Too long have others spoken for us,” publishers John B. Russwurm and Samuel Cornish, who owned and published the very first Black-owned, Black-ran newspaper in 1827 (the same year slavery ended in New York), felt the need to report the news.   The Chronicle was birthed out the need to disseminate...