The Wilson Times
U.S. local, center
Background
The Wilson Times was founded in 1896 as a weekly newspaper by John D. Gold in Wilson, North Carolina, growing out of an earlier religious publication—Zion's Landmark—started by his father, Elder P.D. Gold, in 1867. It shifted to daily publication in 1902 under the name The Wilson Daily Times. The Gold family retained ownership across generations, with Elizabeth Gold Swindell, daughter of the founder, acquiring sole ownership in 1956 and serving as editor and publisher until her death in 1983. By 2019, the current chairman and CEO, Morgan Dickerman III, was described as the paper's fifth-generation family owner. The paper relocated its offices back to downtown Wilson in June 2017 and marked its 125th anniversary of continuous publication in February 2021. In 2019, Wilson Times Co. co-founded Restoration NewsMedia with The Daily Record of Dunn, pooling printing, design, and advertising resources while keeping each paper editorially independent. The Times has earned editorial recognition, including a 2019 Burl Osborne Award for Editorial Leadership for a series advocating transparency on the Wilson County Board of Education. The paper operates as one of the few remaining family-owned newspapers in North Carolina, concentrating on local governance and community affairs and explicitly declining to endorse candidates.
Sources
- The Wilson Times – Wikipedia
- The Wilson Times – Muck Rack
- Restoration NewsMedia
- North Carolina Newspapers Form Media Management Company – Editor and Publisher
- The Wilson Times returning to downtown roots – SNPA
- Wilson Times Co. purchases Wake Weekly newspapers – NC Press Association
Profile compiled 2026-07-15; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.