Charlotte Observer eliminates Hornets beat writer position

For the first time in franchise history, the Charlotte Observer will enter a Hornets season without a reporter dedicated to covering the team.

Rod Boone announced Monday that his position was eliminated by McClatchy last week, exactly 10 days before his five-year anniversary with the newspaper. Seven of his colleagues also lost their jobs.

The timing was especially cruel. Boone said the decision came less than 48 hours after he was informed that corporate officials had approved the return of his Hornets podcast, which had been discontinued two years earlier.

“This means the paper of record … will no longer have a writer dedicated to giving readers the latest daily insight on the team,” Boone wrote on X.

Training camp begins in two weeks. Boone spent five seasons covering the Hornets and more than 25 years in the industry. He followed longtime Observer reporter Rick Bonnell, whose name now appears in the Spectrum Center media room and on an annual award presented by the team.

The move follows last week’s McClatchy layoffs that eliminated the Sacramento Bee’s entire sports department, including Kings beat reporter Jason Anderson. Nearly 100 journalism positions reportedly were cut across the company.

These losses extend beyond the people who attend games and write stories. A team can publish its own interviews, highlights and carefully polished announcements. It cannot independently cover itself.

Beat reporters ask the uncomfortable questions, provide daily institutional knowledge and tell readers what is happening beyond the final score. Now the Hornets are preparing for a new season without that dedicated coverage from the city’s newspaper of record.

The NBA keeps growing. Local access to independent reporting keeps shrinking. That is a bad trade for everybody except the people approving the layoffs.