EVEN BILLIONAIRES CAN'T RESCUE PRINT MEDIA

 $$$Billionaires flounder in

Attempts to save print media

Even billionaires haven’t been able to save print media from suffering a similiar fate as horse-and-buggy manufacturers when Henry Ford introduced automobile assembly lines to America.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million but it did little to rescue the Post from its misery.

 

Biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong bought assets including the Los Angeles Times for $500 million but improvement is barely a ripple.

 

Salesforce Founder Marc Benioff bought Time for $190 million and its still struggling to break even financially 5 years later.

 

eBay founder Pierre Omidyar granted First Look Media, including The Intercept, $250 million in 2014 and has exited the business entirely.

THE LEGEND

 

OBITUARY TRIBUTE FOR LORNET TURNBULL BY HER HUSBAND

 

Lornet Turnbull's husband, Steve Haile, provided me with a moving, inspirational copy of her obituary which will appear in the Seattle Times.

An amazing love story, indeed.

Lornet was a business news reporter at the

 Beacon Journal from 1991-96 and a

 reporter in the BJ Columbus Bureau in

 1997. More details in an earlier blog

 article. Just scroll down a few articles till 

you get to it.

Steve's obituary tribute to Lornet:

Lornet Turnbull, an award-winning journalist with a rich career of story-telling, close friends around the world and an abiding love of nature and the outdoors, died of cancer on Jan. 11, her 59th birthday.

Her beloved husband Steve Haile was at her side in their Seattle home, surrounded by her sister, Lorna Turnbull, and niece LaToya Harrigan of St Thomas, USVI, and niece Sharriann Turnbull of Laurel, MD, and close family and friends.

Lornet is remembered as genuine, sincere, vibrant, determined and engaging, with a warm and beautiful smile.

Lornet was born and raised in the British Virgin Islands on the island of Tortola and spoke often of her warm childhood memories with family and friends.

After graduating with honors with a degree in journalism from Florida A&M University, Lornet went on to work as a reporter for newspapers in Lansing, Michigan; Columbus, Ohio and Akron, Ohio, before joining The Seattle Times in 2004. There, she covered immigration, homelessness, marriage equality and other high-profile issues. While she broke many front page news stories on her beat, her specialty was delving deeper into the lives of everyday people most affected by these highly-charged issues, writing about them with care, dignity and respect.

Lornet left The Times in 2014, later working as an editor for YES! magazine and freelancing for The Washington Post.  Many of Lornet’s stories were instrumental in transforming individuals’ dire situations into positive outcomes.

Lornet was diagnosed with late-stage cancer in 2020, whereupon she began an intense and ongoing treatment regimen that sometimes slowed her, but did not quell her desire to explore life to the fullest.  In the fall of 2021 she and Steve set out on a six week cross-country trip in a small motor home that Steve’s brother loaned them, visiting national parks, riding their e-bikes and striking up new friendships as they made their way to Maine and back. 

She wrote about their travels for The Washington Post and how pleased she and Steve were to meet so many kind strangers along the way, and is best quoted from that story, “I can close my eyes and travel back there in my mind, reabsorbing all that kindness and humanity we encountered on the road.” 

She had just completed a freelance story for REI three weeks before she died about her e-biking adventures with Steve.

Along with her husband, sister and nieces, Lornet is survived by stepchildren Megan (Gaelan Kelly) Haile of Seattle,WA, Ryan (Colette Simanello) Haile, of Oakland, CA, and Dylan (Kristin Rosa) Haile, of Santa Cruz, CA; sister Luette (Gary) Pless, of Atlanta, GA; brother Lawrence (Yvette) Turnbull, of St.Thomas, USVI; brothers Larren and Lendell Turnbull, and Irwin Smith of Tortola, BVI.  Additionally, Lornet had a host of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, great niece and step grandchildren.

A celebration of Lornet’s life is planned for February 19.  Details will be posted here, as well as on her Facebook page.

AMAZING TOUR OF WHAT'S LEFT OF BJ BUILDING

BJ building tour

 For a video tour of what's left of the Beacon Journal building and a fascination explanation by former managing editor Doug Oplinger, which starts at the 18-minute mark, click on the URL below.

Doug was a baby-faced student at Green High when Pat Englehart sucked him into the deNobil vortex and the State Desk. The late Harry Liggett and I were Pat's assistants who handled the day-to-day operations while Pat brought the BJ a Pulitzer for its coverage of the 1970 Kent State shootings by the Ohio National Guard that killed 4 and wounded 9. 

One of the students killed was walking from her class in one building to another building and died from bullets sprayed over the heads of those peacefully assembled below the hill where the Guard fired away.

I've talked to those who were there and they said it was a "party atmosphere," not a dangerous demonstration. That's allowed in the Constitution but Gov. Rhodes was running for a Senate seat and thought "getting tough" on teenagers to barely 20somethings would get him elected.

It didn't. Later the FBI labeled the firing squad to blame for the massacre.

Beacon Journal Newsroom Alumni | Facebook

1990s BJ & COLUMBUS BUREAU REPORTER LORNET TURNBULL PASSES AWAY

 

Former BJ reporter Lornet Turnbull passed away.

Lornet was a business news reporter at the Beacon Journal from 1991-96 and a reporter in the BJ Columbus Bureau in 1997.

She left for the Columbus Dispatch from 1997 to 2003 and was named Enterprise Reporter of the Year.

At the Seattle Times (2004-2014) Lornet was part of a team of reporters who won the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 2014 Oso, Washington landslide that killed 43 people.

Lornet also worked for YES! Magazine and the Washington Post.

She was originally from Tortola and a graduate of Florida A&M University.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2020. She wrote about engaging in outdoor activities as part of her therapy and strategy to fight her illness. Lornet and husband Steve Haile spent almost two decades hiking in the Olympic and Cascade ranges near their Seatttle home. Mount Rainier provided her with magnificent scenery on her drives to their house.

Lornet and Steve ziplined on Seven Mile Beach in Negril, Jamaica; went snowshoeing in Mazama, Washington, and the Adirondacks; enjoyed the scenery of Vancouver, British Columbia, as Paula and I did, including Stanley Park, which has miles of nature’s masterpieces to enjoy.

Lornet and Steve knew how to embrace life and nature!

My thanks to former BJer Ken Krause and my Facebook Googling for the information in this article.

HALLEY SHAFFER, IN BJ NEWSROOM FOR 28 YEARS, PASSES AWAY

 

Halley Shaffer, in the BJ mailroom for 28, beginning in 1972, passed away Friday, January 6.

Calling hours at Tuesday, January 10 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Bacher-Moore Funeral Home at 3326 Manchester Road. Funeral service at Bacher-Moore on Wednesday, January 11. Burial will be in Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Cuyahoga Falls.

Halley is survived by his wife of 65 years, Anna Ruth Shaffer; daughters LaDonna Shaffer Russell, married to Ron; LeAnna Ruth Shaffer Burdett, obviously named for her mother, married to Scott; 4 grandchildren; and 4 great-grandchildren.

LaDonna’s husband’s father passed away December 15. So LaDonna and Ron both lost their fathers in less than a month. Terrible double loss for them.

Halley’s obituary:

Halley F. Shaffer, 86, went home to be with his heavenly father on Friday, January 6, 2023. "Absent from the body, present with the Lord" - 2 Corinthians 5:8.

He was born on Monday, April 13, 1936 in South Charleston, WV to the late Hobert and June Shaffer. Halley proudly served as a Fireman with the West Virginia Air National Guard and retired from the Akron Beacon Journal after 28 years.

Throughout his Christian life Halley was a Sunday School Teacher, deacon, and usher at the former Akron Baptist Temple and currently was a member of Chapel of Prayer Baptist Church. Halley enjoyed traveling with the Goldenagers and a good cup of "hot" coffee, but most importantly he loved his family.

He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Anna Ruth Shaffer; daughters, LaDonna (Ron) Russell, LeAnna (Scott) Burdett; grandchildren, Caleb Burdett, Hunter Burdett, Lindsay (Jesse) Miller, Lucas (Rylie) Russell; great-grandchildren, Colton, Presley, Malia, and Nova; and other family and friends who loved him dearly.

The family will greet friends at Bacher-Moore Funeral Home, 3326 Manchester Rd., Akron, OH 44319 on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 from 5 to 7 p.m., where a funeral service will be held on January 11, 2023 at 11 am., with Rev. Sherman Bailey and Rev. Ernie Kemppel officiating. Interment will be at Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Chapel of Prayer Baptist Church, c/o Missions Fund, 1811 Brittain Rd., Akron, OH 44310, in memory of Halley Shaffer.