Editorial: Frank A. Daniels Jr. combined clout, compassion and innovation

CBC Editorial: Sunday, July 10, 2022; editorial # 8774
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company

In the 26 years Frank A. Daniels Jr. was publisher of The News and Observer, he transformed the newspaper. It moved from one with clout to one that also had compassion and a spirit for innovation. He did not rest on a legacy he inherited. He made it the foundation to build an institution that worked to make Raleigh and North Carolina more inclusive, engaging and prosperous.

Frank Daniel’s death on June 30, more than an end, marks the opportunity to reflect upon an active, unabashed engagement with the large, small and even bit players in the community and state’s civic life.

Neither he, nor his newspaper, went out of their way to court controversy, but neither did they shy from it. In an action that spoke clearly and forcefully, Daniels hired Claude Sitton, the New York Times famed civil rights correspondent, to oversee the company’s news and editorial operations. The move reinforced Daniels’ determination to lead a company working to turn away from its segregationist heritage and also be dogged in holding accountable those in power and public authority.

Those values were exemplified in the News & Observer’s 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, recognizing reporting that exposed the environmental damage from the state’s hog industry.

The editorial pages he oversaw were a must-read -- not only those who agreed with the newspaper’s positions – but to ignite the ire and complaints of those who didn’t. When Daniels’ retired in 1996, U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms sent him a note: “Congratulations and thanks a lot. If I didn’t have your newspaper’s opposite stand, I couldn’t have been elected in 1972. Most recently, I appreciate your newspaper’s help in electing me to my fifth Senate term.”

Daniels brought his core values to his leadership of Associated Press – the massive non-profit global news service – where, as the chair of its board of directors he oversaw its rapid technological advancement to better enable it to expand its coverage.

He personified his newspaper’s emphasis on education and community engagement – serving the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, the Appalachian State University Board of Trustees as well as a trustee at St. Mary’s College and Peace College. He led the boards of the Triangle United Way, the Arts Council and Rex Hospital. He backed up his personal involvement with generosity including the endowment of an executive-in-residence program at the University of North Carolina’s school of journalism and media.

Frank Daniels personified the best of a now nearly extinct breed – the inheritor of a forceful local newspaper legacy who didn’t merely rest on the inheritance but multiplied its impact to leave his company as well as the community and state it served better for the effort.