Letter asks community support

The web site of the Beacon Journal unit of the Newspaper Guild displays a letter being sent to Beacon supporters asking them to e-mail publisher Edward Moss and new owner David Black to express their concerns about what has happened and could still happen to the newspaper.

Click on the headline to go to the letter on the web site at http://www.bjguild.homeip.net

An ad also may be published.

Here'a the lead on the letter:

Dear Beacon Journal supporter,

Several months ago, when the Beacon Journal was for sale, you showed your concern for your daily newspaper by expressing support for keeping the Beacon a strong, quality newspaper dedicated to maintaining the highest standards. We appreciate that expression and are convinced it effectively put bidders on notice that the Akron-area community feels a keen sense of ownership in its daily newspaper.

Now, we are asking for your help once again, to demand that the new owner, for his part, match your commitment to and interest in the Beacon as a premiere newspaper worthy of the Akron community. As recently as late June, that new owner, David Black of Canada, said layoffs of newroom personnel were unlikely and unnecessary. Only six weeks later, his publisher, Edward Moss, announced that 25 percent of the newsroom’s 160 positions were being eliminated. Since then, 27 employees from other departments have been let go. In recent years, you’ve seen your Sunday Beacon magazine disappear. You’ve seen the Sunday News and Views section, as well as the Saturday editorial page, evaporate. You’ve seen news bureaus in Hudson, Medina and Stark County close. You’ve watched the entire newspaper shrink, from local news to features to business and sports coverage. Without overstating the obvious, you are getting less than what you used to, less than what you expect and, we believe, less than what a thriving, five-county community of well more than a half- million people deserves and demands.

We are concerned that further reductions would lower the Beacon Journal to below any level considered journalistically acceptable to you, our readers. Of course we are trying to protect jobs. But, more than that, we are inviting you, our most loyal and vocal readers, to play a role in protecting your stake in the Beacon Journal and in the life of your community.

What we are asking of you today is to let the owner and publisher know that you are troubled that, by virtue of the deep layoffs that already have occurred, your Beacon Journal is less than what you want, that further cuts would be intolerable. Please e-mail Mr. Black at DBlack@blackpress.ca and Mr. Moss, at emoss@thebeaconjournal.com. Tell them what you expect and demand of your Beacon Journal.

In other Guild news, officers were elected by acclamation during a meeting Wednesday, Oct. 18, at the Printer's Club. They are: Stephanie Warsmith, chair; Bob DeMay, first vice chair; John Higgins second vice chair; and Katie Byard, secretary/treasurer. These officers will serve until January, when the Guild's annual election for officers and executive board members will be held. Warsmith had been the secretary-treasurer, but now takes over as unit chairperson following the departure of Andale Gross, who took a job with the Associated Press in Kansas City. The above officers will complete the terms for 2006 and serve until the annual unit election of officers in January.

There is now a link to the Akron Unit Guild web site on our web site.

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