Fiktiv USA - The Virginian-Pilot

The Virginian-Pilot is the daily newspaper for Norfolk, Virginia. Commonly known as The Pilot, it is Virginia's largest daily. It serves the five cities of South Hampton Roads as well as several smaller towns across southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina. It was a locally owned, family enterprise from its founding in 1865 at the close of the American Civil War until its sale to Tribune Publishing in 2018.

The Virginian-Pilot and its sister afternoon edition, the Ledger-Star (which ceased publication in 1995) were created by Samuel L. Slover as the result of several mergers of papers dating back to 1865. The Virginian-Pilot covered the Wright brothers' early flights. Slover's nephew Frank Batten Sr. became publisher at age 27 in 1954. He expanded the Virginian-Pilot's parent company, which soon evolved into Landmark Communications and later Landmark Media Enterprises, by acquiring other newspapers and radio and television stations and by creating The Weather Channel, now owned by a group of investors led by NBCUniversal. In Norfolk, on September 1, 1923, the company founded Virginia's first radio station, WTAR. In 1950 it added Channel 4 WTAR-TV (now Channel 3 WTKR) and in 1961, it signed on 95.7 WTAR-FM (now WVKL).

The paper was among the first available online as a part of the Compuserve experiment in early 1980s where the paper and 10 others around the country transmitted text versions of stories daily to Compuserve's host computers in Ohio.

Frank Batten Jr. became publisher in 1991 and expanded on digitizing the paper. In 1993 The Virginian-Pilot was one of the first newspapers in the country to launch a sister website, Pilotonline.com. Batten Jr. stepped down as the paper's publisher, becoming Landmark Communications' Chairman and CEO. "Dee" Carpenter became publisher in 1995, followed by Bruce Bradley in 2005, Maurice Jones in 2008, David Mele in 2012 and Patricia Richardson in 2014. The paper published a podcast in 2017. The Shot was created by reporters Gary Harki and Joanne Kimberlin and dealt with the unsolved 2010 murder of Norfolk police officer Victor Decker.

After The Pilot was sold to Tronc in 2018, no new publisher was named. Marisa Porto was named the newspaper's editor, but she left the next year. Interim General Manager Par Ridder said a search would begin for a new editor for the newsroom and a new general manager to oversee the business side of the newspaper.

Kris Worrell was named by Ridder as The Pilot's editor on July 22, 2019. She had previously been the executive editor of The Press of Atlantic City. Worrell graduated from Kempsville High in Virginia Beach and worked previously both for The Pilot and the Daily Press.

The paper's offices remains in their original downtown Norfolk headquarters on Brambleton Avenue, where it has been based since 1937. The paper operates satellite offices in Virginia Beach, Suffolk, Portsmouth, and Chesapeake, and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in Nags Head. The paper's printing facility, once located also in the downtown Norfolk headquarters, is in Virginia Beach.

The Virginian-Pilot is the leading news and advertising medium in Hampton Roads, Virginia, the state's most populous market. Everyday The Virginian-Pilot reaches over 415,000 South Hampton Roads adults and nearly 520,000 on Sundays.

Circulation of The Virginian-Pilot is concentrated in the cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, and Suffolk. These five cities, which comprise South Hampton Roads, are home to over two-thirds of the population of the entire Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News MSA. Other areas served by The Pilot include: the city of Franklin, the counties of Isle of Wight, Southampton, and Northampton in Virginia and the counties of Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Northampton, Bertie, and Hyde in northeastern North Carolina.

Daily Sections:
Main News
Main News is a standard broadsheet section published daily as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. It contains local, national, and worldwide news with a special "local-lens" approach to all applicable stories - a focus on how the news applies to Hampton Roads.

Regular features include:
One Minute News - a recap of notable national and international stories
Today's Focus - an in-depth look at important issues, science news, and news on the health front

Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is a standard broadsheet section published daily as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. Here news of local interest is the focus with special emphasis on local communities and community events.

Regular features include:
Hampton Roads in Brief
Virginia and North Carolina Digests
Daily theme pages include Public Safety, Military, and Education
Editorial Page
Local and Regional Obituaries

Sports
Sports is a standard broadsheet section published daily as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. It contains national, international, regional, and local sporting news with special emphasis on teams and athletes here at home.

Regular features include:
For the Record - lists all the box scores
The Buzz - briefs on the sports world
Stop Watch - quick take on the dayıs top sports stories
Weekly fishing roundup
Detailed reporting of area high school and college events

Business
Business News is a standard broadsheet section published daily as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. It is here that the business of doing business is reported on local, regional, national and worldwide levels, with a special emphasis on local business stories of trends, events and changes in the marketplace.

Regular features include:
Local Scene - local business news in brief
Stock market quotations for the New York and NASDAQ stock exchanges, and for mutual funds
Full-color Weather Page

Daily Break
Daily Break is a standard broadsheet section published as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. This is the newspaper¹s lifestyle section containing a wide range of topics that include the night's television listings, the daily comics, horoscopes and crossword puzzle, Bridge and calendar of community events. The full-color back page always features The People column and advice from Abby. The Daily Break regularly features reviews on movies and the local arts community and its events.

Regular features include:
Monday - Health
Tuesday - Family Life
Wednesday - Shopping
Thursday - Entertainment
Friday - Preview Section
Saturday - Religion
Sunday - Travel Section

Classifieds
The Classifieds Section is a standard broadsheet section published daily as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. It includes private party and commercial advertising in general merchandise, legals, auctions, employment, real estate, and automotive categories.

Regular features include:
Service Directory
Boat Directory
Training Schools
Employment
General Merchandise
Real Estate
Auctions
Legals

The Virginian-Pilot's Classified Section also has themed sections that publish during various days of the week.

Weekly Sections:
Business & Technology (Monday)
Business and Technology is a standard broadsheet section published each Monday as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. It contains national and worldwide news with a special emphasis on local business stories.

Regular features include:
Career Track - profiling executives and management changes throughout the area
This Week - a synopsis of what's ahead in the business community
Small Business
Technology
Workplace
Money
Full-color weather page

Flavor (Wednesday, Sunday)
Flavor is a standard broadsheet section published on Wednesday's and Sunday's as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. It contains light-hearted fare on all things food - from recipes to restaurant reviews - from marketing tips to seasonal savings.

Regular features include:
Try This
Market Report
Desperation Dinners
Morsels
Miles to Go Before I Eat
Restaurant Reviews throughout the area

Express Line (Thursday)
Express Line is a standard broadsheet publication hand-delivered every Thursday to area, non-subscriber households as a part of The Virginian-Pilot's Total Market Coverage program. Its editorial focus is on entertainment and celebrities and also contains an abbreviated form of The Pilot classified advertising section featuring articles for sale, help wanted and automotive ads. The entertainment-focused editorial and verified delivery system makes The Express Line an excellent vehicle to distribute your advertising inserts to non-subscribing households in South Hampton Roads.

Regular features include:
Airwaves
Real People
Gossip
A Closer Look

Auto Weekly (Friday)
Auto Weekly is a standard broadsheet section published every Friday as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. This automotive guide for buyers and sellers includes repair and maintenance tips for all auto owners. It also includes classifieds where both private individuals and dealers offer new and used car, trucks, vans and boats.

Regular features include:
Shifting Gears
On the Air: Auto Sports on TV
Car Calendar
Customer Incentives
Car Clinic

Preview (Friday)
Preview is a standard broadsheet section published every Friday as a part of The Daily Break section of The Virginian-Pilot. This is the newspaper's weekend entertainment guide which contains a wide range of topics including that night's television listings, advice from Abby, the daily comics, horoscopes and crossword puzzle, Bridge and calendars of community events.

Regular features include:
Movie reviews
Local arts community and its events

Greensheet (Saturday)
The Greensheet is a tabloid section published every Saturday as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. This section is printed on a special green paper stock and contains the complete television listings for the coming week.

Regular features include:
Guide to all local stations and cable companies
Daytime television schedule
Daily and Prime Time viewing grids
Movie capsules

Real Estate Weekly (Saturday)
Real Estate Weekly is a tabloid published every Saturday as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. This guide, for home buyers and renters, regularly features a weekly update on mortgage rates and the classified listing of homes, condos, apartments for sale or rent.

Regular features include:
At Home
Common Ground
Nation's Housing
On The Move
Smart Moves
Handyman on Call
Real Estate Mailbag

Sunday Comics (Sunday)
The Sunday Comics is a standard broadsheet section published each Sunday as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. This section contains the "funnies," comic strips drawn by the favorite comic strip artists of the majority of The Pilot's readers.

Home and Garden (Sunday)
Home and Garden is a standard broadsheet section published each Sunday as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. It contains information relating to the many aspects of home ownership as well as timely gardening tips focused on the area's unique locale.

Regular features include:
Gardening
The Calendar of Events
Sunday's Real Estate Classified Section

Commentary (Sunday)
Commentary is a standard broadsheet section published every Sunday as a part of The Virginian-Pilot. It contains local and syndicated editorials representing a broad spectrum of political opinion.

Regular features include:
Book Reviews
Editorial Page - columns written by nationally-syndicated columnists
Weekly Editorial - local concerns written by The Pilot's editorial staff
Another View - opinions of local experts
Letters to the Editor
Public Editor - weekly column