David Black, the new BJ owner, and his new publisher, Edward R. Moss, were in town to meet with the staff on Friday. BJ reporter Jim Mackinnon reported on the visit in a story on the business front on Saturday..
They said job cuts will be made throughout the building in coming months, but did not say how many. Sale of the BJ which was expected to close on Friday has been delayed until Tuesday, Black said.
Moss, 51, a former newspaper publisher and an executive with Media General in Richmond, Va., will succeed James N. Crutchfield, publisher since 2001. Moss has an industry reputation for improving newspaper finances, Black said.
Moss said he expects to be heavily involved in the community. ``While I want to reach out to the community, and I will, I need to get my arms around the business,'' Moss said. ``I have always reached out to the community. I enjoy doing it.''
Moss and Black told staffers that they expect the Beacon Journal to heavily focus on local news coverage and to carry advertising that reflects the local scene.
BJ ad revenues had been flat for several years, until the end of 2005, when they dropped sharply, particularly in the automotive and employment categories.
``We need to be growing this business. We need to be growing readership. We need to be growing advertising. And that's got to be the focus,'' Moss told employees. ``And so there will have to be a lot of hard decisions over the next several months. We are going to study what needs to be done.... We are going to focus on growing the company.''
``We've got to do something about costs as well as grow the revenue,'' Black said. ``The good news from everybody's point of view here is, Ed and I are builders. That's how I built my business. That's how Ed made his way in the industry. We're going to do that here.''
The Beacon Journal, which sells an average of 135,000 papers weekdays, has about 720 full- and part-time employees. The newspaper will become the largest-circulation newspaper in Black Press Ltd. The paper will operate under the company's Washington-based U.S. subsidiary, Sound Publishing Holdings Inc.
Click on the headline to read the full story by Mackinnon. Two photos were published with the story..
Saturday, July 29, 2006
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Companies always say they won't change things when they take over another company, but everyone knows better than that.
The object, which is understandable, is to make as much profit as possible as quickly as possible.
I do notice that the BJ started having more local stories on Page A1 almost as soon as the Canadian was announced as the new owner.
Now we retirees have to wait for the other shoe to drop on us. Pension? Probably OK. Medical coverage? Heck, that continually changed so that we had to pay more out of our pockets, even under KRI. Remember KRI? The day will come when School of Journalism students won't know what a KRI is.
Sad times.
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