Reaction today at 32 papers

As the historic sale of Knight Ridder to the McClatchy Co. nears completion, the 32 daily newspapers in the deal -- a dozen of them soon to be passed to third parties -- marked the occasion in a wide variety of ways, from editors' notes to readers to free ice cream for employees. A wrap-up of how they marked the occasion was published in Editor & Publisher, including comments from Doug Oplinger.

Here’s the part about the BJ:

--The Akron Beacon Journal will hold a commemorative event today for employees. The Knight Ridder video sent to all papers will be shown, along with a video produced by Beacon Journal employees. Deputy metro editor Doug Oplinger said the video focuses on the newspaper's ongoing record.

"After John S. Knight died, this newspaper went on to win two more Pulitzers,'' he said. "Those may have been great old days, but we've gone on to better things, and there's no reason why we shouldn't continue to do that.''

Click on the headline above to read about other reactions reported by E&P

In other news, McClatchy Co. said it finalized its purchase of Knight-Ridder Inc. Knight Ridder common stock will no longer be traded, and shares of Knight Ridder common stock were converted into the right to receive $40.00 in cash and a fixed fraction of .5118 of a Class A McClatchy share. McClatchy will issue approximately 34.9 million new Class A shares to previous Knight Ridder shareholders.