By: E&P Staff The new owners of The Akron Beacon Journal declared after the sale of the Knight Ridder paper (via McClatchy Co.) was announced Wednesday, that there would be no major changes in the near future.
It will become by far the largest newspaper owned by Black Press Ltd. of British Columbia, Canada. Right now that distinction belongs to its Honolulu, Hawaii, daily, the Star-Bulletin. Black Press will pay $165 million for the paper and Ohio.com.
In a letter to employees, David Black, president and CEO of Black Press, said he favored``good community journalism'' and mentioned awards won by his newspapers. Black will begin a three-day visit to the paper on Monday, an article in the newspaper revealed today. He admitted that he did not know about the paper's legacy, as John S. Knight's first paper, before a recent visit to the city.
No immediate changes in the newspaper's leadership are expected, and no layoffs are planned, the newspaper reported. Black Press, it said, will honor existing union contracts. The newspaper has about 720 full- and part-time employees.
Black will balance profit versus long-term gain, Publisher James Crutchfield told employees, according to the Beacon Journal's article. "The new owner will have a lot to say about how we go forward,'' Crutchfield said. Black "has a reputation for figuring out how things work,'' Crutchfield said.
Reached in Canada by the Akron paper, Black said he doesn't know the Beacon Journal well enough to say what changes readers may see in six months. He outbid the presumed frontrunner, Advance, after losing out in the recent sale of the two Philadelphia dailies (grabbed by MediaNews Group).
According to the newspaper, Black was unaware of the legacy angle when he first visited Akron. ``I didn't realize until I started to drive around town... this is where the Knight Newspapers started,'' he said. "I just wasn't up to speed on all of that.''
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