Outlet profile

Columbus County News

U.S. right / conservative

Owned byIndependently owned; Jefferson Weaver became sole owner in December 2025. Weaver is also the editor and publisher.

FundingAdvertising-supported; no subscription fees. The site is free to readers.

On the administrationbroadly supportive

Background

Columbus County News launched on July 4, 2020, as a free, advertising-supported digital outlet covering Columbus County, North Carolina — a rural area in the southeastern corner of the state centered on Whiteville. The site's tagline is 'Fast, fair and free,' and it has never charged readers for access. Jefferson Weaver, also affiliated with Whiteville radio station WTXY-FM, serves as editor and publisher; he became the sole owner in December 2025. Weaver publishes a regular column and hosts a weekly public-affairs podcast called 'The Columbus Connection,' covering local government, regional issues, and state and national politics. In his commentary, Weaver describes himself as 'firmly Jeffersonian' with 'no bones about my distrust of a strong centralized government,' and his writing consistently reflects conservative and libertarian-leaning positions — skeptical of centralized power, critical of Democratic officials, and sympathetic to positions on election integrity and immigration enforcement associated with the Republican Party. News coverage focuses on local government meetings, law enforcement, courts, and community events. The outlet is distinct from the older, Pulitzer Prize-winning weekly The News Reporter, which has separately covered Columbus County since the early 1900s.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-08-23; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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