In 1956, then-editor Jack O'Dowd, the son of the newspaper's publisher, enraged the Ku Klux Klan by supporting the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education desegregation decision and he was run out of town, going to a job with the Chicago Sun-Times.
On June 14, 2000, the Thomson Corporation sold the Morning News, as well as associated newspapers in the Pee Dee to Media General for approximately $237 million.
In 2012, Berkshire Hathaway acquired the Morning News as part of an acquisition of Media General's newspaper group.
The Morning News serves as the regional hub for four weekly newspaper publications also owned by Lee Enterprises: The Hartsville Messenger, The Lake City News and Post, The Marion Star & Mullins Enterprise, and The (Hemingway) Weekly Observer.
Starting June 6, 2023, the print edition of the newspaper will be reduced to three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.