Saturday, July 25, 2020


Chatham gets McClatchy with -- Ha! -- no-layoffs promise

New Jersey-based Chatham Asset Management hedge fund, McClatchy’s biggest debt holder and shareholder, purchased McClatchy’s 30 newspapers for $312 million. A federal bankruptcy court approved the sale.

Chatham promises no layoffs for a year. The same Chatham that laid off 1,600 employees after taking over Postmedia, Canada’s largest newspaper chain. The hedge fund run by Anthony Melchiorre also owns American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer.

McClatchy employees better be sending out their resumes now!

The Miami Herald, once the flag newspaper of Knight Newspapers, will be included in the eventual newsroom bloodbath.

Chatham beat out Alden Global Capital, another hedge fund that buys and guts newspapers through its MediaNews Group subsidiary.

McClatchy bought Knight-Ridder Inc. for $4.5 billion in 2006 at the worst possible time, just before the newspapers financial freefall, and slid into financial woes and bankruptcy rapidly after 163 years of owning newspapers. McClatchy went from an 1857 California Gold Rush start to down the toilet, dumping $1.4 billion in pensions onto the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

Previously, Knight Newspapers merged with Ridder. The Knight success story began with the Akron Beacon Journal and grew to more than 30 newspapers.

Hedge funds buy newspapers for the assets, decimate the staffs, suck out all the money they can and leave a shell of a newspaper.

Newsroom employees, like at the BJ and the Kansas City Star, have ownership bounced around like a pinball machine. This will the Star’s 5th ownership. The BJ isn’t far behind.

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Leona Allen named deputy publisher in Dallas

Former BJ staffer Leona Allen has been promoted to deputy publisher responsible for diversity and inclusion at the Dallas Morning News.

Leona Allen
It sounds like the job Ben Maidenburg handed to Al Fitzpatrick at the BJ decades ago. Eventually, Al advanced to promoting diversity for Knight Newspapers out of Miami.

Allen is a Dallas native, Dallas Skyline High School and University of North Texas graduate.

She was at the BJ during the “Question of Color” project and articles that won the Beacon a Pulitzer Prize.

She returned to the Dallas newspaper in 1994. She was acting Metro editor, deputy managing editor and on the Morning News’ editorial board.

For the Dallas Morning News article about her promotion, click on


 

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Another award for Cathy Strong

Cathy Strong, 1970s BJ reporter and on the Massey University faculty in Wellington, New Zealand, won the Dalton-Landon Foundation Service Award.

Cathy Strong
Cathy has been editor of the Teaching Journalism & Mass Communications journal of SPIG (Special Primary Interest Group) for three years.

The award is named for SPIG founders Terry Dalton and Kim Landon.

In 2013 Cathy got first prize in the Great Ideas For Teachers competition at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication at its conference in Washington, D.C.

Cathy’s career has included work for the BJ, South Pacific Television, Television New Zealand, Radio New Zealand, Solomon Islands Broadcasting, National Business Review,  Energy Source TV (USA & New Zealand) and teaching journalism in Dubai.

She visits America from time to time to visit family and friends. Cathy’s daughter, Rebecca, and sister, Janet Mullins, live in the state of Washington. Pamela and Penelope also are Cathy’s daughters.

 

Cathy had a reunion with former BJ co-workers Pam McCarthy, photographer Don Roese and former TV Editor John Olesky.

Don and John visited Cathy separately in New Zealand. Don met John and former BJ reporter Paula Tucker at Auckland Airport when Don and wife Mary Ann were leaving after visiting Cathy and John and Paula were about to have a reunion with Cathy.

Cathy, Pam, Don and John had another reunion in Ohio in 2017 when Cathy was visiting in America.

Cathy also does a lot of snowboarding and water skiing.

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Ann & Ott Gangl on wedding day, skiing all over the world, and birthday flowers


Ann Gangl spending birthday in hospital
Ann Gangl, retired BJ photograph Ott Gangl’s wife, is spending her July 19th birthday in the hospital.
Ott explains:
“Ann has to celebrate her birthday in the hospital this time but she should be coming home in a day or two. Rapid heartbeat, not virus related. No dinner with family this time but it will get better eventually.”
 
Ott once told me the story of how he met Ann:
 
John, I came over on the same converted liberty boat from Germany as her cousin on April 20, 1952.
 
“So while visiting I was introduced to the family with three young and beautiful daughters. I dated the older one for a while and then went to the middle one, Ann, to whom I got enamored while sitting in their living room waiting for Mary to fiddle with her makeup.
 
“After Mary dumped me I didn't miss a beat to date Ann. We got engaged in 1954 and a year later we got married.”
 
Ann is 87. But Ann and Ott have the hearts and vigor of 67-year-olds! Or younger!
 
She’ll bounce back. Gangls always do.

  •  

    Saturday, July 11, 2020

    Mitch Allen
    Latest pitch

    By Mitch

    Former BJ advertising vice president Mitch Allen just gave birth to the Medina Weekly News, which says it will stress community rather than conflict.

    He posted:

    “I’m keeping my name out of the masthead so there’s less confusion with Mimi Magazine,” whose more expansive name began as Mimi Vanderhaven’s Fabulous Buys.

    But the Medina masthead lists Michael Mast (Mast in the masthead!) as president, Medina native and Medina High graduate Kevin McManusm who worked for The Post Newspapers, as editor, Karl Gerhard as senior marketing consultant and Rick Festi as circulation manager.

    None is listed among in the BJ Alumni Directory that former BJ reporter and Guild chapter chair Paula Schleis compiles. Mitch is.

    The 20-page first issue dealt with racial equity, former Chippewa Lake amusement park becoming a public parkland and a food/restaurant column by Karl Gerhard.

    Kevin McManus wrote an article about the coronavirus situation for the food service industry.

    Medina County Fair director Stuart Neal writes a Garden Gate column about gardening and flowery plants.

    Carole Liney, FDN-Practioner in Medina, writes a column about Healthy Lifestyles.

    Howard Hanna Realtor Janet Gommel, Medina County Board of Realtors president, wrote about the Medina Fiber broadband network.

    The publication is loaded with ads and classifieds. Natch. That's Mitch's life and career to a T.

    Mitch teamed up with the best food writer in BJ history, Jane Snow, almost a decade ago for her See Jane Cook Internet newsletter.

    Mitch’s ancestry is English/Irish/Scottish.

    To check out the Medina Weekly News, go to

    Friday, July 10, 2020

    Great Scott! Another BJ blogger!

    Dave Scott, BJ regional issues reporter and deputy Business editor before the April 2014 BJ buyouts exodus, is among those who once worked at 44 E. Exchange Street who have turned their journalism talents to a blog.

    Dave Scott
    Dave and wife Jane Gaab Scott, manager of the Fairlawn-Bath Library, live in Copley, where Jane was on the Copley Zoning Board for 11 years.

    His blog lives on the Internet.

    When I check into his blog it is obvious that he is a lifelong baseball fan and a member of the Society for American Baseball Research for decades.

    Jane and Dave have been married 41 years and have three children. Jane’s sister, Katie Gaab-Shaw, married to former staffer Webb Shaw.

     

    Killer stalks in the hedges

    Hedge funds are the bane of good journalism.

    They take over newspapers, siphon away their journalists, suck out what money is left and move on to their next cadaver.

    Alden Global Capital, described as “the hedge fund that bleeds newspapers dry,” is one of the financial corporate cannibals with the McClatchy newspapers within reach of its fangs.

    It plucked the Pottstown (Pennsylvania) Mercury, which despite its small circulation had two Pulitzer Prizes, for its blood-sucking vandalism.

    The first thing hedge funds do is pillage the staff of employees. They’re not interested in having newspaper pursue the truth and hold corrupt politicians and businesses’ feet to the fire.

    They only want to extract every penny they can and then toss the Fourth Estate on the garbage pile.

    Pottstown is only 40 miles from Philadelphia but it might as well be on Mars. Its iron and steel industries are gone. So are all but 23,000 of its population.

    Alden Global Capital makes $160 million a year shredding newspapers.

    If you want to read the story told too often in America today, this one about the mercurial rise of Alden at the expense of those who gave their lives to journalism in Pottstown, go to


    Former BJ editor Paul Poorman’s widow, Sylvia Elizabeth Powers Poorman, passed away Saturday, July 4.

    They had eight children: Pamela Poorman Phillips of Hudsonville, Michigan, Cynthia Poorman Paul of Northville, Michigan, Peter Poorman of Plano, Texas, Stephen Poorman of Akron, Thomas Poorman of Zanesville, Ohio, Andrew Poorman of Mundelein, Illinois, Robert Poorman of Franklin, Tennessee and William Poorman of Peoria, Illinois.

    Sylvia and Paul had 17 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

    Paul passed away in 1992 at the age of 61. He retired from the BJ in 1986.

    As managing editor of the Detroit Free Press he got President Nixon to utter the legendary quote to answer a Poorman question: “I am not a crook.”

    Nixon was, of course.
    And Republican Senators persuaded him to resign and avoid an Impeachment Trial that would kick him out of the Oval Office.

    Paul and 3 of his reporters won a libel lawsuit filed by Akron Police Chief Robert Prease, who was unhappy over articles about him published in the BJ. Court ruled no unearned damages were proven.

    Born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, Paul was a Penn State graduate. He met Sylvia when both were State College, PA campus students.

    Paul began his journalism career at the State College Centre Daily Times. Next came the Harrisburg, PA Patriot and the Philadelphia Bulletin before the Detroit Free Press famous moment.

    After a stint as Northwestern University journalism professor, Paula came to the BJ in 1976.

    He left the BJ in 1986 to lobby for Kent State and later became a faculty member. There have been a lot of Kent State to BJ and BJ to Kent State traffic over the years.

    Sylvia’s obituary:

    Sylvia Elizabeth (Powers) Poorman passed away on July 4, 2020 after enjoying a long and full life. She was 88. Mrs. Poorman was born on February 16, 1932, in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, and had lived in State College, PA, Harrisburg, PA, Philadelphia, PA, Detroit, MI, Winnetka, IL, Copley, OH, Akron, OH, Stow, OH and South Lyon, MI. Most recently Sylvia resided in Spring Lake, MI while receiving excellent care at Heartwood Lodge.

    She was preceded in death by her husband, Paul A. Poorman, of Akron, Ohio; brothers, William, Edward, and David Powers; and sister, Elouise Connors. She is survived by her loving children, Pamela (Bob) Phillips of Hudsonville, MI, Cynthia (Don) Paul of Northville, MI, Peter (Stephanie) of Plano, TX, Stephen (Barbara), of Akron, OH, Thomas (Tara) of Zanesville, OH, Andrew (Sherri) of Mundelein, IL, Robert (Cassi) of Franklin, TN, and William (Margaret) of Peoria, IL; sisters-in-law, Mary Powers of Whidbey Island, WA, Cheryl Poorman of Markleville, IN, Noreen Poorman of Rica, GA, and Patricia (Jim) Scheid of Douglasville, GA; 17 grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and her beloved extended family members assimilated over the years.

    Nothing was more important to her than family, and she and her husband incorporated into their family innumerable friends, always treating everyone as a valued member of the family.

    Sylvia earned a bachelor’s degree from the Pennsylvania State University and master’s degree from Kent State University. She was a whirlwind of positive energy and traveled widely, visiting all seven continents. This earned her the nickname 'The Travelling Grandma.' She took great joy in showing and discussing the photographs that she took in many exotic locations. In taking care of a large family she bought everything in quantity and never passed a sale by. Her Master’s degree was in history which joined with her love of genealogy and f il Th th i f h

    Continued next column

    From previous column

    family. The thesis for her degree included original research into the early 1800s in Ohio when members of Sylvia’s family were influential in the development of that state. Music was also particularly important to Sylvia. She was a regular audience member of the Cleveland Symphony for many years while remaining active in Tuesday Musical in Akron. Sylvia was a Nittany Lion through and through, graduating in 1953. Much of her youth was spent in State College where her father was the Dean of Chemistry at Penn State. She attended as part of an early class of female students following World War II and was enormously proud of being part of that cohort. She met Paul while in college at Penn State and they lived in State College for the first 10 years of their marriage She will be deeply missed and fondly remembered for the positive impact on the lives of everyone she met.

    A private service and burial will be held at Holy Cross Cemetery in Akron, OH.

    Memorials may be made to the Paul A. and Sylvia P. Poorman Memorial Scholarship at Kent State University, which is awarded to outstanding newspaper majors. Gifts may be made through the Kent State Foundation at P.O. Box 5190, Kent, OH 44242-0001 or online at https:// www.kent.edu/ advancement/ kent-state-university-foundation. (Press the 'Give Now' button in the upper right. Press 'Make Your Online Gift' in the center of the page. Under 'Designate Your Gift', check the box for 'I would like to enter my own designation'. Type in 'Paul A. and Sylvia P. Poorman Memorial Scholarship'). To share a Memory, Send a Condolence, Light a Candle or Send Flowers, visit the Tribute Wall at www.billowfuneralhomes.com . (Billow FAIRLAWN Chapel)

    Thursday, July 09, 2020

    Student-housing empire buys BJ


    Capstone Development in Birmingham, Alabama bought the 44 E. Exchange Street BJ building from Black Press for less than $3 million.


    Capstone will convert the 1929 building into downtown office spaces.


    Capstone has developed properties with 200-bed minimums for lodging college students throughout the south and in Ohio. It has 1,897 buildings that bring in $69.6 million in rentals each year.  

    Black Press sold the BJ to Gatehouse in 2018 but kept the building and real estate.

    The BJ moved last year to the AES Building on South Main Street.

    Herbert Hoover was President and the Great Depression was barreling down on America that August when Scripps Howard built the East Exchange structure in 1929 for its Akron Times-Press, which was absorbed by the Beacon Journal in 1938.


    McClatchy paid $4.5 billion in 2006 to buy Knight-Ridder’s newspapers but said the BJ would be one of 12 KR papers it would sell off. Black Press bought the BJ from McClatchy that same year.

     To read the BJ article, go to

      
    After this article was posted I got this communication from Chasm, aka Charles Montague:

    Hi, John

    In my nearly 40 years at BJ, I was known for, among other things, for responding to Copy Desk Chief’s Kathy Fraze’s question, Where are we?, meaning where were we in terms of moving copy to composing room, with mh response of “44 East Exchange Street.”

    When I took buyout and retired on 10/09/08, I never thought I would not be able to return to 44 E Exchange and did indeed return for many goings-away, including Doug Oplinger’s.

    Time moves on and gracious Katie Byard gave me a tour of new BJ offices on South Main. 

    Now I see that 44 E Exchange will be torn down.  I am tough guy, but will not be able to watch the house that John S Knight and Ben Maidenburg built come to the ground. 

    For me, whatever takes its place, 44 E Exchange will always be the home of one of America’s great newspapers.

    Chas Montague 

    ABJ 4-20-70 to 10-09-08


    John Olesky note:

    Announcement said the building would be converted into office buildings. It didn’t say torn down. But it won’t be the same. It is a historic landmark so tearing it down might be tough to get an approval.
     
    Gutting the inside and keeping the shell might be the only permitted event. We'll see.
     
    But, as Chuck posted, it is a sad day for all BJ folks to see something other than the pressroom running, the wire machines clanging away and friendly faces all around in the newsroom.