Save the Rep web site started

Employees of the Canton Repository have started a web site called SavetheRep.org which seeks community support. The Rep and other Copley Newspapers were put up for sale in October, 2006.

Among those who have expressed an interest in the Ohio Copley newspapers is Beacon Journal owner David Black.

The photo of Guild members is from the web site.

You may want to visit the site to show your support. Here are some interesting facts from the site:

12 Repository positions have been cut since Dec. 2006, other vacancies are not being filled

25% of the staff at the Akron Beacon Journal was slashed

100 members cut or bought out at the Plain Dealer over the past six years

44,000 news industry employees have been cut in the past five years

And here is the web site's profile on Black Press:

Privately held primarily by David Black. Torstar, owner of the Toronto Star, holds a 20-percent stake. The company purchased the Akron Beacon Journal in 2006, paying $165 million.

David Black founded the business in 1975. The company gained attention when it bought 33 Canadian titles from UK group Trinity in 1997. In 2001 he acquired the Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Liberty Newspapers. Black merged the Star-Bulletin with a small local weekly, building circulation until the revived paper now equals Gannett's Honolulu Advertiser.

The company owns one other daily newspaper is The Red Deer Advocate in Alberta. It also owns some of the oldest, most trusted newspapers in British Columbia, like the Chilliwack Progress, founded in 1891, and the Ashcroft Journal, which first published in 1895, and modern, cosmopolitan voices like the Westender, in Vancouver. It bought the 10 King County Journal newspapers late last year, and closed the daily King County Journal, which had been losing money and circulation for years. The paper shut down Jan. 24.

David Black was the recipient of the 2007 Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year Award (DEYA), presented by the University of Victoria’s faculty of business board of advisors. The award was announced on Feb. 14. The annual award acknowledges an inspirational entrepreneur who has had a significant and positive impact on the global community through his or her business leadership.