The Herald is a once-a-week community newspaper serving Johnston County. It is published on Wednesday and is offered free of charge to approximately 47,000 homes.
The Herald has been reporting about life in Johnston County since 1882 and is the only community newspaper to cover all of fast-growing Johnston County, a proud part of North Carolina's Triangle Region.
The Herald delivers local news that is relevant to all residents of the county. It reports news from all towns in the county including, Smithfield, Selma, Clayton, Four Oaks, Benson, Kenly, Princeton, Pine Level, Micro and Wilson's Mills.
The newspaper is published in two sections: local news and local sports and classifieds. Numerous special sections that highlight various events in the county are published throughout the year.
About 25 employees work at the Herald office in downtown Smithfield, the county seat. They perform all tasks necessary to produce the newspaper and to conduct our business operations. Please visit our Staff Directory for contact information.
The Herald is owned by The News and Observer and the two newspapers provide some reader and advertiser services jointly to serve customers better. An example of this is a combined real estate section for Johnston County that is produced and distributed in both papers. Another example is the N&O's Triangle-wide total market coverage program, Midweek Values. The Herald distributes preprints for the TMC program in most of its home-delivered copies in Johnston County.
Delivery
More than 39,000 copies of The Herald are delivered to select single-family homes in Johnston County. Distributions will begin on Wednesday mornings and will be completed by 6 p.m. Also about 8,000 readers receive The Herald inside their News & Observer on Wednesdays. And the paper is still available at our rack locations across the area for 50 cents, or inside copies of The News & Observer on Wednesdays from N&O news racks.
If you live outside the immediate Johnston County area, you can still get The Herald by mail for $24 a year; or, if you are out of county, for $35 a year.
