From the editor: How owner’s bankruptcy filing will, and won’t, affect The Observer

By now many of you have read or heard that The Observer’s parent company, McClatchy, moved last week to restructure under Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.

It’s important that our readers understand that this filing has no immediate impact for our staff, our readers and our subscribers, as well as our company’s relationships with sponsors and advertisers. Our staff will continue delivering daily news on multiple digital platforms and in print without interruption.

To be sure, there’s much at stake as McClatchy, like some 20 news companies before it, seeks bankruptcy protection to relieve enormous financial pressures from debt and pension liabilities. The crisis in local journalism is real and is unrelenting, driven by a business model in upheaval as reader and advertiser habits have shifted dramatically.

In Charlotte, our journalists are deeply committed to reporting on issues of public interest in this community — the community where they, too, live, work and play.

McClatchy’s decision to restructure is necessary to preserve our newsroom’s ability to report and inform. The Observer staff’s intense focus on building our digital future is the reason we own a heavily dominant share of local digital readership.

We’ve done that by reporting stories you won’t find anywhere else — stories such as Fred Clasen-Kelly’s and Annie Ma’s investigation of how a touted security system at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools didn’t work but had already cost taxpayers $1 million. The school system said last week it’s ending its relationship with the security system vendor and seeking to recoup the $1 million it already spent.

Or Ames Alexander’s and Gavin Off’s reporting on the frequency of murders on Catherine Simmons Avenue, and the forces that need to work together to keep the neighborhood safe for longtime residents who don’t want to be forced out.

Our journalists’ connections to their state and community drove our recent collaboration with our colleagues at the News & Observer to produce Journey Across the 100, a video storytelling series that took our teams to all 100 N.C. counties to hear from voters.

And speaking of voters, in this major election year, you can expect our staff to continue deep dives into candidates’ backgrounds and their positions on critical issues in national, state and local elections.

Despite the economic challenges, our journalists remain focused on our mission to provide our city and region with fact-based, independent reporting that serves the good of the community and holds the powerful accountable. Our readers provide vital support for that mission — and our journalism — with their subscriptions.

So while a complex legal process moves forward, our customers can be assured that they’ll see no service disruption and no faltering in our commitment to deliver the journalism you rely on from our team.