Broadwell talked about The Fayetteville Observer newspaper's role in covering the region, including Scotland County.
"I was pleased to receive an invitation from the Rotary Club to speak about the Observer, our role and our commitment to serve our readers," Broadwell said.
Broadwell is a Fayetteville native and have lived there most of his life.
He spoke of his ties to Scotland County and Laurinburg.
"My knowledge of Laurinburg and Scotland County comes mostly through my work at the newspaper, from covering a high school football game at Scotland High, a commencement ceremony at St. Andrews and an environmental dispute as far back as the 1980s," he said.
"The Fayetteville Observer has changed over the years, from the beginning in 1816 in which we're recognized as North Carolina's oldest newspaper still in publication on down to today," Broadwell said.
He then showed the club some examples of the Fayetteville Observer newspaper, including a smaller-sized copy from the 1890s and a large scale newspaper from the 1930s.
Broadwell explained to the club that the newspaper business always goes through changes including recent changes to the newspaper and continuing enhancements to the Web site, www.fayobserver.com.
He also talked about the privilege the newspaper has in sharing stories with their readers.
"I started in the Observer's sports department when I was 16," he said.
At the Rotary Club, Broadwell read some excerpts from an oral-history book the newspaper published from a series of interviews he did in 1999, called "Our Century."
Broadwell used these excerpts -- a teacher's memory from the day President Kennedy was shot in 1963, for example -- just to help convey the point that we all have stories to share, and it's our privilege to try to share those stories in the newspaper each day, he explained.
Broadwell then spoke about the future of the newspaper business.
He said, "I think the newspaper business is going to continue to evolve." "We're just moving really fast these days because of revenue shortfalls and changing reader habits."
"We're committed to keeping the newspaper strong while also developing our Web site and other products and publications.," he said.
Broadwell was named editor of the Fayetteville Observer in 1994. In 2000 he was named the publisher, and served as editor and publisher until 2005. Then he relinquished his editor duties to focus more on his responsibilities as the company's president and publisher.
Rotary President, Neal Carter enjoyed having Broadwell as the speaker.
"He had an interesting perspective on the journalism business," Carter said. "He talked about the industry locally and nationally and what he thinks the industry will come of in the future."
"He explained to the club that the industry will be here in the future," Carter said. "I think the newspaper business will still be here in the future but I there are different avenues the industry will take whether it be on a website or through hand held devices."
"I really enjoyed the presentation and I think all of the club members picked up on it as well."
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