'Knoxville Journal' Reporter, Editor, Owner Ronald McMahan Dies at 70.

By: E&P Staff The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that Ronald D. McMahan, former paperboy for and copy boy, reporter, editor and owner of The Knoxville Journal, died this morning in Naples, Fla., at age 70 after fighting cancer since last year.

The Gannett Co. named McMahan editor when it acquired the afternoon paper from the Lotspeich family in 1981. Five years later the Knoxville native bought the paper from Gannett, and in 1988 he and a partner sold it to Persis Corp. Published since the 1870s, the Journal closed three years later.

"While we were competitors, there certainly was respect for his vigorous leadership at the Journal and for the role his newspaper played in the development of our community," retired News Sentinel Editor Harry Moskos told his paper.

In his years as a reporter, McMahan also worked for the then-separate Chattanooga Times and the Chattanooga Post. The News Sentinel related that McMahan's reporting in Chattanooga on police parties that included gunfire led to death threats that originated at a police station, according to an FBI investigation. At the Journal, his hidden-camera expose of all-night bootleg liquor sales contributed to changes that allowed by-the-drink sales in Knoxville.

In 1969 McMahan was named information director of the Appalachian Regional Commission. The next year he became press secretary to Sen. Howard Baker Jr. When he returned to the Journal as editor, he helped it recover from years of circulation loss to become the state's fastest-growing paper, emphasizing investigative reporting and putting color on page one to boost single-copy sales.

After selling the Journal, McMahan and his partner, former reporter Bill Vaughn, owned a public and government relations firm, which survives as a lobbying firm owned by a son.

McMahan is survived by his wife, Wanda, three children and five grandchildren. Contributions may be made to the University of Tennessee's Ronald D.McMahan Journalism Scholarship Fund.