Rhino Times

Last updated
The Rhino Times
TypeDaily newspaper
Format Internet (Greensboro and Charlotte editions) [1]
Owner(s)Scott Yost
Founder(s)John Hammer
Founded1991
LanguageEnglish
Ceased publication2018 (print edition)
Headquarters Greensboro, North Carolina
United States
Website rhinotimes.com

The Rhino Times is a conservative news and opinion website covering Guilford County, North Carolina.

Contents

History

John Hammer founded the website. In the mid-80s, Hammer worked the door of a bar in Greensboro called The Rhinoceros Club. One day the owner asked him to create a newsletter. One side would advertise bands coming to the bar, while Hammer could put whatever he wanted on the other side. Hammer produced the newsletter until 1986. [2]

Hammer founded the print newspaper The Rhinoceros Times in 1991. [2] Another print edition was founded in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2002 and discontinued in 2008. [1]

The primary newspaper went into hundreds of thousands dollars of debt and ceased publication in 2013, [3] but it was bought by local real estate developer Roy Carroll and reopened later that year. [4] It ceased print publication again in 2018 and became an online-only newspaper. [5] In June 2024, Hammer retired and Carroll sold the website to longtime editor/writer Scott Yost. [2] [6]

Features

The newspaper features editorial columns by Greensboro-based science fiction and fantasy author Orson Scott Card and local investigative reporting by New York Times best-selling author Jerry Bledsoe.

The back page of the paper features a regular commentary article by editor John Hammer, "Under the Hammer". [7] In the feature, Hammer is highly critical of President Barack Obama, referring almost exclusively to him as either "Barack Hussein Obama" or by his last name. [7] [8] Hammer also promotes conspiratorial and fringe theories that Obama is a "secret Muslim" and was not born in the United States. [7] [8]

Controversies

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoon

The newspaper published two of the controversial Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons in February, 2006. [9]

Ku Klux Klan

In July 2009, the paper won a $25,000 judgment for punitive damages against an Arkansas-based Ku Klux Klan group and its leader Thomas Robb. [10] The case was filed in 2006 when the paper alleged the Klan inserted its fliers into Times newspapers, which then went to customers. [11] The Klan counter-sued for defamation, but lost. [11] In addition to punitive damages, the paper reportedly received the nation's first permanent injunction against the KKK, [11] barring them from using the paper to distribute their literature in the future.

Prisoner cartoon

In June 2011, a controversy was created when the Rhino Times published a cartoon by Geof Brooks that featured two African American men in orange prison jumpsuits in the front yards of what appears to be two suburban homes. [12] The first character states, "Geez! Dey builds a brand new jail wit' three squares [square meals] an' cable...", and the second character concludes, "And dey puts us on house arrest so's dey can pays for it!" [13]

Editor John Hammer apologized in the next edition of the paper, claiming that the cartoonist had intended the prisoners to be caucasian; [14] [15] in his apology, Hammer did not address why the cartoon had been colorized as it was, nor the failure of the editors to catch the mistake. The Greensboro News & Record reported that Hammer called Guilford County Commissioners Chairman Melvin "Skip" Alston to apologize for the cartoon. [12] Alston commented that he felt the cartoonist "might have had some racial intent". [12]

Photography arrest story

In January 2015, Editor John Hammer published a story claiming two Irish tourists were accosted, mistreated, and arrested by Greensboro police while trying to take photos in the city's Bicentennial Garden. The story, including interviews with the couple and details of their arrest, was a fabrication. In response to controversy over the story, Hammer claimed the piece was intended as satire, though the publication did not in any way label it as such. In the next week's issue, Hammer apologized to readers for not marking the piece as satire and "to the police for maligning them." [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ku Klux Klan</span> American white supremacist terrorist hate group

The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is the name of several historical and current American white supremacist, far-right terrorist organizations and hate groups. Various historians, including Fergus Bordewich, have characterized the Klan as America's first terrorist movement. Their primary targets, at various times and places, have been African Americans, Jews, and Catholics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greensboro, North Carolina</span> City in North Carolina, United States

Greensboro is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. At the 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 302,296 in 2023. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte and Raleigh, and the 69th-most populous city in the United States. The population of the Greensboro–High Point metropolitan statistical area was estimated to be 789,842 in 2023. The Piedmont Triad region, of which Greensboro is the most populous city, had an estimated population of 1,736,099 in 2023.

The Daily Illini, commonly known as the DI, is a student-run newspaper that has been published for the community of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 1871. Weekday circulation during fall and spring semesters is 7,000; copies are distributed free at more than 100 locations throughout Champaign–Urbana.

The Greensboro massacre was a deadly confrontation which occurred on November 3, 1979, in Greensboro, North Carolina, US, when members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party (ANP) shot and killed five participants in a "Death to the Klan" march which was organized by the Communist Workers Party (CWP).

Landmark Media Enterprises, LLC is a privately held technology company headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia.

<i>Winston-Salem Journal</i> Daily newspaper in Forsyth County, North Carolina

The Winston-Salem Journal is an American, English language daily newspaper primarily serving Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, North Carolina. It also covers Northwestern North Carolina.

<i>The Daily Tar Heel</i> Student newspaper of UNC-Chapel Hill

The Daily Tar Heel (DTH) is the independent student newspaper of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was founded on February 23, 1893, and became a daily newspaper in 1929. The paper places a focus on university news and sports, but it also includes heavy coverage of Orange County and North Carolina. In 2016, the paper moved from five days a week in print to four, cutting the Tuesday edition. In 2017, the paper began to print on only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In 2021, the paper began to print only on Wednesdays. All editorial content is overseen by student editors and a volunteer student staff of about 230 people. It's located at 109 E. Franklin St. in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and it is the largest news organization in Orange County.

The Review was a bi-weekly newspaper based in Reidsville North Carolina, based in Rockingham County, North Carolina. It was published under that name between 1899 - 2017. In 2017, it merged with two other newspapers in Rockingham County ; all three papers publish under the name Rockingham Now.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Ashmore</span> American journalist

Harry Scott Ashmore was an American journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorials in 1957 on the school integration conflict in Little Rock, Arkansas.

<i>News & Record</i> American newspaper based in Greensboro, North Carolina

The News & Record is an American, English language newspaper with the largest circulation serving Guilford County, North Carolina, and the surrounding region. It is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and produces local sections for Greensboro and Rockingham County, North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Rall</span> American cartoonist, born 1963

Frederick Theodore Rall III is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. At their peak, Rall's cartoons appeared in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States. He was president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists from 2008 to 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Civil Rights Center and Museum</span>

The International Civil Rights Center & Museum (ICRCM) is located in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Its building formerly housed the Woolworth's, the site of a nonviolent protest in the civil rights movement. Four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University started the Greensboro sit-ins at a "whites only" lunch counter on February 1, 1960. The four students were Franklin McCain, Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr., and David Richmond. The next day there were twenty students. The aim of the museum's founders is to ensure that history remembers the actions of the A&T Four, those who joined them in the daily Woolworth's sit-ins, and others around the country who took part in sit-ins and in the civil rights movement. The Museum is currently supported by earned admissions and Museum Store revenues. The project also receives donations from private donors as a means of continuing its operations. The museum was founded in 1993 and officially opened its doors fifty years to the day after the sit-in movements in Greensboro NC.

<i>Q-Notes</i>

Q-Notes is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newspaper serving North Carolina and South Carolina. It is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Published every other week, it has a circulation of 11,000 print copies and is the largest print publication serving the LGBT community in the American Southeast. The paper traces its origins to the monthly newsletter of the Queen City Quordinators, a Charlotte LGBT organization, which they began publishing in 1983. In 1986, Qnotes changed to a monthly tabloid. In 2006, it merged with the Raleigh, N.C. LGBT newspaper The Front Page.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greensboro Ballet</span> American ballet company

Greensboro Ballet is a professional ballet company in North Carolina. It is the only ballet company in the Piedmont Triad. It is one of the few non-profit ballet companies in North Carolina. Greensboro Ballet has presented works by George Balanchine. The company also has performed a number of works made especially for the Greensboro Ballet by Rick McCullough, Jill Eathorne Bahr, Leslie Jane Pessemier, Elissa Minet Fuchs, and Emery LeCrone. Maryhelen Mayfield, who served as artistic and executive director of Greensboro Ballet from 1980 to 2019, choreographed over twenty-five works for the company.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.

The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2004 based on the violent events of November 3, 1979 in Greensboro, North Carolina. On that date, the Communist Workers Party (CWP) led by Nelson Johnson gathered at the Morningside Homes to protest for social and economic justice along with protesting against the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The chant that united the 40–50 protesters was “death to the Klan”. Shortly after 11 am, a nine-vehicle convoy that contained 37 members of the KKK and the American Nazi Party arrived. After a short skirmish, the KKK and American Nazis retrieved their firearms and moments later, five protesters lay dead and ten others were wounded.

The Tabor-Loris Tribune is a weekly newspaper serving Tabor City, North Carolina and Loris, South Carolina in the southeastern United States. It was founded in 1946 by W. Horace Carter. In 1953 two journalists for the paper won a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service after a series of articles on the Ku Klux Klan that led to an FBI investigation, resulting in 254 convictions of Klansmen. The paper was renamed the Tabor-Loris Tribune in 2010 and has been cited by other organizations for its local news coverage.

Triad City Beat is a free weekly alternative newspaper with distribution in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point in North Carolina. It was founded in 2014 by Brian Clarey, Jordan Green and Eric Ginsburg, who were former editors and reporters for YES! Weekly. The newspaper primarily covers topics local to the Triad such as news, politics, culture, opinion, music, and food. It describes itself as an independent voice to hold "economic and governmental powers accountable" across the Triad and North Carolina, and as a defender of democracy, as well as "LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice and an urban sensibility". It has an estimated circulation of 10,000, and is published every Thursday.

<i>Chagrin Valley Times</i> Chagrin Valley Times newspaper

The Chagrin Valley Times is a Northeast Ohio weekly newspaper covering the eastern suburbs of Cleveland in Cuyahoga and Geauga counties. The newspaper is published every Thursday and was founded in 1971. It is produced in the village of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

Robert Sylvester Alston is an American serial killer who raped and murdered at least four women in Greensboro, North Carolina from 1991 to 1993, whose bodies he then dismembered and buried in various locations. He made anonymous phone calls to investigators about the crimes in an attempt to confuse them and gain media attention. He pleaded guilty to all charges in 1998 and received multiple life terms.

References

  1. 1 2 Washburn, Mark (2008-09-19). "Rhino Times paper ends, stays online". The Charlotte Observer . Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  2. 1 2 3 Killian, Joe (2024-06-07). "Rhino Times Looks to the Future in Greensboro". The Assembly NC. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  3. ↑ "The Rhinocerous Times to stop publishing after 21 years | Piedmont". WXII-TV . 2013-04-30. Archived from the original on 2013-10-21. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  4. ↑ Covington, Owen (October 2, 2013). "The Rhino Times returns: What to know about its new strategy". Triad Business Journal. Retrieved 2024-06-07.
  5. ↑ "The Carroll Companies | Rhino Times Greensboro, NC". The Carroll Companies. Archived from the original on 2021-01-17. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
  6. ↑ Carroll, Roy E. (2024-05-31). "Roy Carroll: Why I'm Selling the Rhino Times". The Rhino Times of Greensboro. Retrieved 2024-06-08.
  7. 1 2 3 The Rhinoceros Times article: "Under the Hammer - June 24, 2010".
  8. 1 2 99 Blocks article: "Is the Rhino Times racist?".
  9. ↑ "Paper reprints hated cartoons in Greensboro". Winston-Salem Journal. February 17, 2006. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Arkansas Klan Group Loses Legal Battle with North Carolina Newspaper". Anti-Defamation League . 2009-07-09. Archived from the original on 2010-10-16.
  11. 1 2 3 "Arkansas Klan Group Loses Legal Battle with North Carolina Newspaper". Anti-Defamation League. July 9, 2009. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  12. 1 2 3 Greensboro News & Record article: ""Dey builds a brand new jail..."
  13. ↑ "Rhino Times comic June 23, 2011". Edcone.typepad.com. 2011-06-23. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  14. ↑ "Poynter". Regret the Error. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  15. ↑ "An Apology". Archived from the original on 2011-07-07.
  16. ↑ "EzGreensboro News: Hartzman's Rhino Watch; January 22, 2015". 22 January 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.