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Newspaper in Fayetteville, North Carolina

The Fayetteville Observer is an American English language daily newspaper published in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Founded in 1816, it is the oldest local newspaper published in North Carolina. The paper originally operated as the Caroline Observer before rebranding to the Fayetteville Observer in 1833. It was locally owned by the McMurray family from 1923 to 2016, when it was acquired by GateHouse Media, which became Gannett in an acquisition in 2019.

The Fayetteville Observer is the oldest newspaper in North Carolina. It was founded in 1816 as the Carolina Observer. The Fayetteville Observer was not published between 1865 and 1883, so the Wilmington Star News (founded in 1867) is North Carolina's oldest continually published newspaper. The name was changed to the Fayetteville Observer in 1833. The Observers offices were destroyed by William T. Sherman's invading army in 1865. It was refounded as The Fayetteville Observer in 1883. W. J. McMurray bought the paper in 1923, and his family owned Fayetteville Publishing Company ran the paper for four generations. Edward Jones Hale was the editor of the newspaper from 1825 to 1865. The paper was a leading supporter of the Whig party. The content of the paper during this time period included many historical articles about North Carolina and accounts of the Civil War. The Hale family moved to New York after the newspaper buildings were destroyed in the Civil War. His son, Edward Joseph Hale returned to North Carolina in 1883 to revive the newspaper and continued ownership of the newspaper until 1919 when it was sold to a group of local businessmen.