Gloria Irwin wrote the main story on the sale of the Beacon Journal under a dull headline: CANADIAN BUYS BEACON for this historic front page. Gloria gives the main facts with a nice lead and the first seven graphs printed here:
By Gloria Irwin
Beacon Journal business writer
The Akron Beacon Journal, the first of John. S. Knight's newspapers, will become the largest newspaper in a private, family-owned media company.
Sound Publishing Holdings Inc., a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Black Press Ltd. of British Columbia, Canada, emerged from nearly three months of bidding as the surprise winner and future owner of the Beacon Journal. Black Press is paying $165 million for the paper and its Web site, Ohio.com.
The transaction is part of McClatchy Co.'s purchase of Knight Ridder Inc. and is expected to close about June 27. It will be the first time in more than three decades that the Beacon Journal is privately owned.
Beacon Journal Publisher James Crutchfield announced the sale shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday in a companywide meeting.
David Black, president and CEO of Black Press, was not present. In a letter read to employees, he stressed his belief in ``good community journalism'' and emphasized the awards won by his newspapers in Canada and Hawaii.
``Under the direction of the Knight family and Knight Ridder, the Akron Beacon Journal has been a good community newspaper for a long time,'' he said in a news release. ``We believe in the same focus on local journalism of high quality.''
No immediate changes in the newspaper's leadership are expected, and no layoffs are planned, Crutchfield said. Black Press will honor existing union contracts, employees were told. The newspaper has about 720 full- and part-time employees.
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Black will delve into Beacon Journal operations starting Monday, when he and three associates begin a three-day visit. Reached in Canada, Black said he doesn't know the Beacon Journal well enough to say what changes readers may see in six months.
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Click here To delve deeper into today’s coverage at the main page on Ohio.com
Here are the stories:
See Gloria Irwin’s full story
Next publisher holds papers accountable, but give full rein
Sale is outside of norm in Ohio
Questions about sale of Beacon
The newspaper today also has a history chronology of the old Knight newspaper and some omments from civic leaders, readers and old-timers including John Olesky, Tom Moore and Ott Gangl.
The usual caustic comments from loyal readers can be found on the Ohio.com site. The best play on words so far is this comment:
Canadian Beacon ha ha ha
"under a dull headline: CANADIAN BUYS BEACON"
ReplyDelete???
I guess I thought it was funny, now the Akron paper is Canadian B(e)acon. Of course, there are those who say that my mind has gone over the hill a long time ago. I suspect the Canadian Bacon may become the term those who want to diss the paper will use, much like the Canton Suppository employees refer to the Leaking Urinal. Some childhood playground mentality never leaves people.