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Outlet profile

WRAL (Capitol Bureau)

U.S. center-left

Owned byCapitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. — a privately held, family-owned media company based in Raleigh, NC, controlled by the Fletcher-Goodmon family across four generations; current president and CEO is James F. 'Jimmy' Goodmon Jr.
FundingPrimarily advertising revenue from its television and digital platforms; Capitol Broadcasting Company also holds a portfolio of other media and real estate assets that provide financial cushion
On the administrationmixed

Background

Capitol Broadcasting Company was founded in 1937 by Raleigh attorney A.J. Fletcher as a radio operation, launching WRAL-AM. Fletcher secured the FCC license for Channel 5 television in 1955 after competing with Durham Life Insurance Company, and WRAL-TV began broadcasting on December 15, 1956. James F. Goodmon Sr. took over as president of CBC in 1975; the company has since passed to a fourth generation, with Jimmy Goodmon Jr. named president and CEO as of the mid-2020s. The Capitol Bureau — WRAL's dedicated state government and politics desk — expanded significantly around 2010 when the station hired Laura Leslie (previously of WUNC public radio) as bureau chief, making it one of the first TV stations in the country to launch a dedicated multiplatform political reporting unit. Leslie led the bureau for 14 years before departing in late 2024 to become editor of NC Newsline, a States Newsroom nonprofit outlet. Media Bias/Fact Check rates WRAL as Left-Center Biased with high factual reporting, and conservative critics have periodically accused its political coverage of favoring liberal perspectives, though the station has not endorsed that characterization. WRAL faces the same advertising-revenue headwinds pressing local TV stations nationwide, though Capitol Broadcasting's diversified holdings have so far provided financial stability.

Sources

  1. WRAL-TV – Wikipedia
  2. Capitol Broadcasting Company – Wikipedia
  3. Where It All Began: The Founding of WRAL-TV – Capitol Broadcasting Company
  4. WRAL – Bias and Credibility – Media Bias/Fact Check
  5. WRAL Media Bias | AllSides
  6. WRAL-TV Fights to Succeed in a New Media World – The Assembly NC
  7. Longtime NC political reporter Laura Leslie named NC Newsline's editor – NC Newsline
  8. NC sues Trump administration over $50 million in cuts to rural or low-income schools – WRAL
  9. North Carolina ICE arrests double under Trump – WRAL Investigates
  10. Trump administration grants another $116 million in disaster funds for North Carolina – WRAL

Profile compiled 2026-06-26; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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