Ernest H. Pitt – Founder and Publisher, The Winston-Salem Chronicle
Ernie Pitt is an evangelist for the truth. “In journalism,” he says, “if you don’t have the truth you don’t have anything.”
This is the spirit that guided him, in 1974, to start his very own weekly newspaper, The Winston-Salem Chronicle, the year he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In his senior year, Pitt’s assignment for an investigative journalism course was to “research an article and have it published.” His article was an exposé on the rate of failure on the BAR exam for Black law students in North Carolina, detailing the inherent racism of the exam, which was drawn from the White experience. The difficulty he had in getting the story published was the impetus behind what is now know as The Chronicle. From the beginning, the goal of The Chronicle was unwavering: expose the disparities in the Black community by giving voices to that community. The Chronicle became the first Black-owned newspaper to join the NC Press Association. “I just saw something that needed to be,” he says, “and where I could make a small difference. People believe what they read, so it’s important that what they read is truthful, honest, correct, accurate and thought-provoking.”
The Chronicle was that and more, winning hundreds of awards from the National Newspaper Publishers Association over a 20-year span, including Best Newspaper, Best Feature, Best News Story, Best Investigative Story, Best Layout and Design, and many more. Pitt wore many hats in the early days—most of the hats, in fact: he was publisher, editor, reporter, advertising salesman and circulation manager. But The Chronicle outgrew him, and its success continued unabated. For that Pitt gives credit to his staff. “I learned how to pick people who had a passion for their jobs. I tried to find out what their dreams and aspirations were and create a landscape where they could achieve them.” And indeed, many went on to succeed at daily newspapers, such as Allen Johnson, James Parker, Angela Wright and T. Kevin Walker, to name a few. Maya Angelou was among the newspaper’s contributors. The impact of The Chronicle on newspaper publishing in North Carolina and across the journalistic landscape is vast. Ernie Pitt sold the Chronicle in 2017. By then, the circulation was over 7,000. Its success both pleases, and, occasionally, baffles him. “I made every mistake known to man,” he says with a laugh. The Chronicle was not one of them.
