County resolution supports newspaper

The Summit County Council plans a special meeting for 5 p.m. Monday to vote on a resolution to support a worker-friendly buyout of the Akron Beacon Journal and 11 other Knight Ridder Inc. newspapers, and the creation of an employee-owned media firm.

The resolution supports such a buyout as a way to ``create a place where employees want to work and invest and thereby protect the legacy of John S. Knight,'' the Beacon Journal's longtime editor who built the Knight newspaper chain.

Council President Clair Dickinson, D-at large, said the futures of Akron and the Beacon Journal are inseparable. ``The Beacon is part of our identity. I cannot imagine the city without it,'' he said.

Dickinson, County Councilman Tom Teodosio, D-2, and Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville will be among the speakers at a rally outside the Beacon Journal scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday. The gathering was organized by newsroom staffers to rally public support for the paper's continued role in the community.

[Source: Akron Beacon JourAL business section, Friday, Mar 24, 2006]