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CANADIAN BUYS BEACON: Mogul Stresses to Staff a Belief in ``Good Community Journalism,' Starts 3-Day Visit Monday

Posted on: Thursday, 8 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Gloria Irwin, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Jun. 8--Akron will be biggest of chain's 110 papers by far

The Akron Beacon Journal, the first of John. S. Knight's newspapers, will become the largest newspaper in a private, family-owned media company.

Sound Publishing Holdings Inc., a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Black Press Ltd. of British Columbia, Canada, emerged from nearly three months of bidding as the surprise winner and future owner of the Beacon Journal. Black Press is paying $165 million for the paper and its Web site, Ohio.com.

The transaction is part of McClatchy Co.'s purchase of Knight Ridder Inc. and is expected to close about June 27. It will be the first time in more than three decades that the Beacon Journal is privately owned.

Beacon Journal Publisher James Crutchfield announced the sale shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday in a companywide meeting.

David Black, president and CEO of Black Press, was not present. In a letter read to employees, he stressed his belief in "good community journalism" and emphasized the awards won by his newspapers in Canada and Hawaii.

"Under the direction of the Knight family and Knight Ridder, the Akron Beacon Journal has been a good community newspaper for a long time," he said in a news release. "We believe in the same focus on local journalism of high quality."

No immediate changes in the newspaper's leadership are expected, and no layoffs are planned, Crutchfield said. Black Press will honor existing union contracts, employees were told. The newspaper has about 720 full- and part-time employees.

Black will be an operator who balances profit versus long-term gain, Crutchfield told employees.

"The new owner will have a lot to say about how we go forward," Crutchfield said.

Black will delve into Beacon Journal operations starting Monday, when he and three associates begin a three-day visit, Crutchfield said.

Black is a newspaper owner "who has a reputation for figuring out how things work," Crutchfield said.

Reached in Canada, Black said he doesn't know the Beacon Journal well enough to say what changes readers may see in six months.

He acknowledged the Beacon Journal is a much larger newspaper than he's accustomed to running. The Beacon Journal, with a Sunday circulation of about 179,000, is about twice the size of Black Press' largest paper, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

The Beacon Journal is "a big daily for us," Black said, "but it's all the same business."

"Quality writing is quality writing, and all the rest of it is very similar."

Black, a relative unknown on the U.S. media landscape, toured the newspaper May 1 as part of his bid preparations.

"David Black was very impressed with our journalism," said Debra Adams Simmons, editor of the Beacon Journal.

"We believe he shares our commitment to high-quality local news. The entire newsroom is looking forward to a bright future."

Simmons said that of all the non-local bidders, Black showed the most interest in journalism quality.

"I look forward to sharing more about our focus and mission," she said. "The strength of the BJ lies in the people who create it."

Black Press was an unknown at the beginning of the bidding process, Crutchfield said.

Nevertheless, he said he feels good about the sale. "The company believes in strong local newspapers," he said.

Aggressive pursuit

Black, who recently lost bids to buy Knight Ridder's two Philadelphia newspapers and a group of weeklies being sold by the Boston Herald, said he aggressively pursued the Beacon Journal. "I wasn't going to lose a third time," he said.

Black outbid New York-based Advance Publications Inc., owner of the Plain Dealer in Cleveland. Advance had long been rumored to be the leading contender for the Beacon Journal.

Among the other bidders was a private equity firm allied with The Newspaper Guild. Yucaipa Cos. of Los Angeles had been recruited by the union to help it bid for 12 Knight Ridder papers and turn them into employee-owned companies. It has not bought any of the papers.

Yucaipa did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The official sale announcement ended speculation that began March 13 after McClatchy, a chain based in Sacramento, Calif., announced it was buying the Beacon Journal's parent in a cash and stock deal then valued at $6.5 billion.

McClatchy said it would immediately sell a dozen of the 32 daily newspapers -- including the Beacon Journal -- because they are not in fast-growing markets.

Deals for 4 other papers

That effort is nearly complete, as McClatchy also announced the sale of four other newspapers Wednesday. They are the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, Aberdeen (S.D.) American News, Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune and Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel, all to private companies. McClatchy is to be paid an additional $285 million for those papers.

The sales were announced after regular Wall Street trading ended. McClatchy shares closed down 8 cents at $44.72, and Knight Ridder shares dropped 7 cents to $61.94.

McClatchy had previously reached agreements to sell six other newspapers -- in Northern California, St. Paul, Minn., and Philadelphia.

Of the original 12, McClatchy now has agreements to sell all but the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

San Jose-based Knight Ridder was forced to put itself up for sale after three major stockholders pressured the company.

Plusquellic surprised

The announcement of Black's winning bid surprised Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, who returned from the U.S. Conference of Mayors' annual meeting in Las Vegas on an overnight flight Wednesday morning.

"I don't know that much about them," Plusquellic said. "A lot of people anticipated this going a different direction."

Plusquellic, University of Akron President Luis Proenza and Dan Colantone, president of the Greater Akron Chamber, wrote to McClatchy after it announced it would sell the Beacon Journal. They expressed concern that the new owner keep the community's need for quality journalism in mind.

"I have not heard from the Black Press folks," Plusquellic said. He indicated he expects a meeting will be arranged.

"What we need to look at is what is their commitment to the news operation and their commitment to the community," Plusquellic said.

Knight's link to city

Black said he was unaware of the legacy of fabled newspaper owner and editor John S. Knight 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."

Black said his company jumped into McClatchy's auction because good newspapers don't often come up for sale. "We didn't have a shot at most of them," he said.

Black partnered with Onex Corp. to bid on the Philadelphia papers, but lost out.

The Beacon Journal, he said, was a different story. "Here was one that we could afford, and it's a really good paper and a really solid city," Black said.

Gloria Irwin can be reached at 330-996-3720 or at girwin@thebeaconjournal.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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