Beacon Journal founder John S. Knight once said that “there is no higher or better title than editor.” That quote is scrawled across the wall of the paper’s John S. Knight room, where the editor would often address the staff.
That legacy is forever gone.
Last week, the Beacon eliminated the editor position, following the layoffs of 85 other staffers in past three months.
Debra Adams Simmons held the position — the highest rank at the paper after publisher. Some of her duties will be handed down to managing editor Mizell Stewart, who already has the large responsibility of the newsroom’s day to day operations.
Looks like David Black, the paper’s new owner, is continuing a different kind of legacy — the one of Tony Ridder, the former corporate owner who managed to turn a former Pulitzer Prize winning paper into the coupon circular Akron residents now find on their doorstep each morning. — Denise Grollmus
This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2006.
The Beacon Journal was the paper that I turned to when the Bush propaganda machine was in full-tilt during to the run up to the war. The reporters in the Knight-Ridder Washington bureau were actually reporting the breadth of what was going on. I could not get that from “the other newspaper” in Northern Ohio, National Public Radio or television news.