About

Dooly County's first newspaper began as the Dooly County Vindicator in 1875 with C.D. Rainey and J.A. Dupree as its founders and first editors. Seven years later, under the editorship of John E. Howell, the Vindicator became the Vienna Progress. The paper ran without local competition until 1901 when T. A. Adkins established the Vienna News as the city's second major newspaper. The two publications operated as separate entities, the Progress published on Thursdays and News on Fridays, until 1903 when H. D. Smith sold controlling interest of the Progress to Mr. Adkins. Adkins chose to consolidate the papers, keeping the Vienna News masthead. A subscription to either newspaper was one dollar and both publications were aligned with the Democratic Party; when the two combined, the Vienna News began issuing semiweekly, on Tuesdays and Fridays. In addition to local fare, the early twentieth century issues of the newspaper provided agricultural advice, serial literature, international culture, and the latest in American fashion to its Dooly County subscribers. Adkins would become Vienna's postmaster in 1914 and he sold the Vienna News to C. S. Gurr and L.L. Woodward in 1915. Emily Woodward, who served as editor of the Vienna News in 1916 and took over sole ownership of the paper two years later, broke ground as the first woman elected to serve as president of the Georgia Press Association in 1927. Woodward continued ownership of the News until 1933 when she sold the paper to C.M. Methvin. The paper merged with the Unadilla Observer in 1975 and became the Vienna News-Observer. Since 1986, the paper has been published as the News-Observer.