The newspaper produces several weekly sections, including Business, Food, Journal West, and Relish.

[4] In 2017, the paper won the Hugh Morton Photographer of the Year award (Allison Lee Isley), Beat News Reporting, Best Community Coverage, and more.

[6] The Winston-Salem Journal, started by Charles Landon Knight, began publishing in the afternoons on April 3, 1897.

Later that summer, the Journal began publishing on Sundays, after which Fawcett's church removed him from its membership.

The elder Leslie, an artist and the son of an engraver, made the Journal the state's first newspaper to have photographs.

Owen Moon bought the Journal in 1925, and the Sentinel, owned by Frank A. Gannett of the New York newspaper chain, in 1927.

Editor Santford Martin advocated improvements in the roads, especially in "the forgotten provinces" of Northwest North Carolina.

In September 1994, the Journal moved some of its operations into a new 140,000 square feet (13,000 m2) building on East 5th Street, with a Mitsubishi press that allowed improvements in color printing.

Other publications from the Journal serve older adults, people with pets, families with children in Forsyth County schools, prospective brides and young parents.

[12] The paper endorsed Libertarian Gary Johnson for the 2016 presidential election and was the second newspaper to endorse the Libertarian candidate in this election cycle instead of either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, the paper cited their distrust of both major candidates and of status quo politics in the American political system.

In April, the Journal's parent company, Media General, announced that it was dropping all Winston-Salem-based copy editor and design positions, shifting production to consolidated editing centers in Richmond, Va., and Tampa, Fla.[15] Media General also announced that they are going to use a portion of their $1 million of cost savings to "focus on intensified local news coverage.