Journalism veteran returns to NC to lead Charlotte Observer newsroom
Matt Leclercq, a longtime North Carolina journalist whose career began covering rural communities near Fayetteville, has been named the new editor of The Charlotte Observer at a pivotal moment for both the newspaper and the local news industry.
Leclercq, who most recently helped oversee coverage and newsroom strategy at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, succeeds Rana Cash, who resigned as executive editor at the beginning of the month.
He officially was introduced to Observer staff Tuesday during a newsroom meeting in Charlotte.
Prior to the job in Fort Worth and stints as an editor at USA Today in Washington and at Gatehouse Media in Austin, Leclercq spent roughly two decades at The Fayetteville Observer.
His North Carolina roots extend all the way back to the ninth grade, when his family moved to Hendersonville. He went on to study journalism and communications at UNC Chapel Hill.
“It feels really good to be back in North Carolina,” said Leclercq, who will turn 50 years old this weekend.
At The Fayetteville Observer, he rose from reporting intern in the late 1990s all the way to executive editor, a role he held from July 2017 to June 2019. In between, he covered counties and local government, crime and growth issues before moving into projects reporting, which included coverage of the foreclosure crisis during the late-2000s housing collapse.
Leclercq said he’s excited to return to North Carolina’s green landscapes, Eastern-style barbecue and sense of community. This will be his first time living in Charlotte, which boasts a metro area that continues to attract thousands of people to the region each year.
He said he’s also eager to rise to the challenge of guiding the Observer through what he describes as a moment demanding both accountability journalism and newsroom experimentation.
“I feel like it’s a rare opportunity,” Leclercq said, “to lead us forward in the direction that we need to go as an industry, facing all of the headwinds that we’re facing, and to really experiment — that’s exciting to me.”
Greg Farmer, executive vice president of local news at McClatchy Media, said Leclercq brings both deep regional knowledge and a strong understanding of the industry’s changing demands.
“Matt’s passion for Charlotte and this state will lift our journalism and better connect the work we do with the local audiences we exist to serve,” Farmer said. “Observer readers tell us every day what they care most about. Matt is focused on reflecting that in everything we do.”
From April 2020 to July 2025, the Charlotte region added more than 278,700 people on both sides of the Carolinas border, for a total of 2.9 million people last year. Those figures put the area in the top 10 nationally, Census Bureau estimates released in March found.
Said Leclercq: “I believe nobody can cover the communities of Charlotte, and the things that matter for people who live here, better than this team.”
This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 11:09 AM.
