The Charlotte News & Observer?

The N&O's merger with some of the staff of  The Charlotte Observer is creating some questions and confusion among readers.

Readers have noticed that sports stories in The N&O written by Charlotte Observer reporters carry "staff writer" bylines, while non-sports stories written for the Observer have a "Charlotte Observer" credit line. For example, Charlotte reporter David Poole today was identified as "staff writer" for this NASCAR story on the N&O sports front, while this political story by David Ingram carried the "The Charlotte Observer" label.

N&O Executive Editor John Drescher makes this distinction: The sports staffs of The N&O and The Observer have merged, and therefore it's appropriate to call them all staff writers.  Same will happen in August when the state government reporting staffs merge. But otherwise, the Charlotte and Raleigh staffs are separate, and that should be made clear to readers in the bylines, Drescher said.

For example, Ken Tysiac, previously of The Observer, now operates out of The N&O sports newsroom, covering N.C. State for both papers. Editor Gary Schwab oversees sports for both papers (traveling by train between Charlotte and Raleigh for a day each week).

UNC journalism professor Andy Bechtel labels all this "Charlotte Creep." In a blog today, he noted that three out of four stories on page 4B of The N&O Monday were from The Observer, including one on the Charlotte United Way campaign.

It is ironic, Bechtel says, "that in the era of 'hyper-local news' that North Carolina's two largest newspapers seem to be moving in the opposite direction. Careful editing — from story selection to word choice — will be essential to ensure that each paper maintains its identity."

The byline distinctions make sense, but I can see that they could be confusing to readers. I agree with Bechtel that The N&O - and the Observer - should not let their shared coverage blur the local identity of each.