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Updated: Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Published: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 |
Contact:
NABJ Communications
(866) 479-NABJ
NABJ Scrutinizing Sale of Knight Ridder to McClatchy; Concerned About Impact on Members
The National Association of Black Journalists is monitoring the impact on its members working for Knight Ridder newspapers, as employees learned Monday that the nation's second-largest newspaper group would be acquired by the McClatchy Company in a cash and stock deal worth about $4.5 billion.
McClatchy, with headquarters in Sacramento, Calif., also announced they would be selling off 12 of the Knight Ridder papers, including some of their largest properties in Philadelphia and San Jose.
More than 100 NABJ members are employed by Knight Ridder from papers as small as the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune to as large as the Philadelphia Inquirer and San Jose Mercury News. Two senior members are also on their corporate staff -- former NABJ board member Larry Olmstead is vice president for staff development and diversity, and NABJ president Bryan Monroe is assistant vice president for news. It is unclear what will happen to those at the papers being sold or on the corporate staff.
McClatchy has been recognized as an industry leader in diversity and NABJ hopes that record will only continue to improve, said Ernie Suggs, NABJ vice president/print and a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. However, if we begin to see any erosion in that commitment, we will be there to put them on notice.
According to a Knight Foundation analysis of newspaper industry diversity numbers, McClatchy had the third best representation of journalists of color among their staffs, behind Gannett and Knight Ridder. The two companies are known for excellence in journalism in print and online.
Both Knight Ridder and McClatchy have enjoyed strong relationships with NABJ, through programs, financial support and through the efforts within both companies to support the participation of their employees in the organization, said Suggs. Former NABJ president Will Sutton was a senior editor at McClatchys (Raleigh) News and Observer and the current NABJ executive board has four members working at Knight Ridder properties.
It is our hope that that commitment expands with this historic acquisition, said Suggs.
An advocacy group established in 1975 in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization of journalists of color in the nation, with more than 4,100 members, and provides educational, career development and support to black journalists worldwide.
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