Goodbye to a strong voice and a fine journalist | Opinion

Ned Barnett is leaving the News & Observer after more than 30 years, including the last 13 on the editorial board. He’s written a column about his work and the importance of your voices. You should read it. It’s powerful.

That’s nothing new for Ned; he’s long been one of North Carolina’s most potent and important voices. He doesn’t often talk about himself, however — including today — so I have a few things to add to his goodbye.

I started working with Ned in 2019 when we combined the opinion teams of the N&O and Charlotte Observer. I knew his work — he’d been in opinion since late 2012, and he also had been a sports columnist and metro editor since joining the News & Observer in 1991. At that time seven years ago, there was a welcome shift toward urgent, reported opinion content and away from editorial writers giving their thumbs up and thumbs down from their keyboards. Opinion journalism, not just editorial writing.

Ned was already there.

I learned quickly that when Ned said he wanted to write on an issue in the Triangle or North Carolina, what he meant was that he was going to research it and call people who mattered for quotes, for context, for depth. That was, and is, how he does opinion writing, and it’s been a model for opinion writers in North Carolina and across McClatchy’s opinion teams.

You should also know this about Ned: He cares. There has not been one meeting or phone call in our seven years in which Ned said “there’s not really anything to write about.” Even on slow news days, he has had at least a few thoughts — and often many more than a few — about topics on which we should have something to say. His reporting and his columns come from a deep passion about issues and a deep appreciation that we are a part of our communities’ conversations. He cares about what we write. He cares about the impact of our words. He’s an active participant in all our content, not just our editorials, and I’ll continue to seek his perspective as a voice in Raleigh and across our state.

North Carolina has been fortunate to have that voice, and I’ve been blessed to work alongside him.

Peter St. Onge is opinion editor for the Charlotte Observer, News & Observer of Raleigh and Durham Herald Sun.

This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 8:58 AM.