https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BKy2Tb1aU/
Editor’s note: The following is the text of the video message shared on our Facebook page.
As we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, we’re celebrating here as well. CCN officially launched July 4, 2020. I became the sole owner in December 2025. We appreciate all your support through the years, and hope you will continue to be with us on this journey.
We were founded on the principle that you shouldn’t have to pay for real, unbiased news coverage. That’s what we have done and continue to do. You will never be asked to pay to read local news. CCN will never ask you to pay for a subscription. Our website is free. Our social media is free. Our email newsletter that comes to your inbox Monday through Friday is free.
Our revenue comes from advertising. If we do not provide the news coverage we promise, then we do not have the numbers to show our advertisers, and they can and will go elsewhere. We rely on you, our readers, to prove we are doing our job right. It’s that simple. By the way, Kelly Vereen and Tori Fernandez will happily help you find the right advertising package for your business, and we always have room for more.
But to the reader: CCN is free. No pay walls. No limits to how many stories you can read. No paid subscriptions. We don’t sell your information. We don’t buy bots to artificially increase our numbers or harvest your information. We don’t use clickbait to get your attention and drive traffic to our website.
No tricks. No gimmicks. No cut and paste without context from public sources. No screenshotting social media.
Just real news of local interest. It’s written by people you know, right here in Columbus and Bladen counties. Christopher Cawley is a real, degreed meteorologist, not a garage-dwelling scary-graphic producer inciting panic over a thunderstorm. Tommy Taylor has been a fixture as a coach and mentor in local sports for years. Crystal Faircloth has been bringing you the Good News, church news, and Lake Waccamaw news on CCN for years.
We live here. We shop here. We go to church here. We play here, when we have time off. We pay utility bills and taxes here like you do (and fuss about them, too). This is home. For some of us, it’s been home for our entire lives. Others just got here a little later.
Every story you read on CCN has a byline, unless it’s a press release that’s edited for space and style. When we present you with what we believe to be the facts, we attribute those facts. Editorials of course are opinion pieces that represent the position of CCN, but even those will have initials at the end, and contact information. There are no anonymous stories. We don’t even read anonymous notes that come in the mail. In the news business, if you don’t have guts enough to sign your name, my feeling is you shouldn’t speak your piece.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I guess we must be doing something right. There have been some other digital media outlets that have popped up lately, and some folks have rightfully been confused because the names of those others are similar to ours. One even uses a name that was considered and rejected when we were starting CCN. In some cases, copyrighted stories that we created at CCN were picked up and rewritten using artificial intelligence, then presented as original stories.
It’s sad that folks feel the need to do that, but the difference is that we actually do the work, and we use bylines.
You know who you are dealing with at CCN. You always will.
CCN has an actual office that’s open most days 10 until 5, where you can come almost anytime and talk to the owner (that’s me). We are invested in the community, because the community is invested in CCN.
Our promise has always been that our news will be fair, fast and free. We also promise that we have nothing to hide.
You can call anyone on this staff at any time and talk to a live person. You won’t get an automated system that makes you climb a telephone tree. My number is 910.632.4965. The number for CCN is 910.234.6991. If I miss you, I’ll call or text you back. The same goes for the other members of the CCN family. You do not have to email an “info” email address or message some unknown person on social media. We stand by our work.
And in the unlikely event that there’s any confusion about whether someone represents CCN or some other outlet, give me a call. Again, my number is 910.632.4965.
We are working very hard to making some new, positive changes with CCN. You can already see the improvements to our website, and of course we have brought back the daily email. On the right hand side of our front page, you can find links and information on how to watch local government meetings online. There are more good things coming soon, too.
Again, thank you for your loyalty and support. Thank you for calling when there’s an error or an issue. Thank you for supporting CCN.
Here’s to another 250 years for America, and maybe even just as long for Columbuscountynews.com.
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