King County (WA) Journal to close (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | Dec. 28, 2006 | Andrea James

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The King County Journal will put out its last issue on Jan. 21, the newspaper's new owners told employees at a meeting Thursday.

Black Press Ltd., a Canadian publisher, bought the Journal and its nine sister publications in November from Kent-based Horvitz Newspapers Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

Circulation of the Journal, which has been losing money since 1994, has fallen to 39,100. It is the region's fifth-largest daily paper.

Don Kendall, general manager of Black's newly created King County Publications Ltd. division, made the announcement in the newsroom in Kent, reading from a prepared statement. Forty full-time employees will be laid off.

Employees were encouraged in December to apply for about a dozen jobs at the Journal's weekly sister publications. The Journal Newspapers employ about 330 people.

"I am saddened by the closure of the King County Journal and by the loss of valuable employees," Kendall wrote in a letter that was handed to staff. "I wish you the very best in your pursuit of other job opportunities."

Doug Margeson, a 24-year veteran reporter at the paper, said before the announcement that he hopes to become a reporter at one of the sister publications. He will take a more than 11 percent pay cut.

"On the other hand it's either that or unemployment, take your pick," he said. "What can you say about the death of a newspaper? It's never good." Andrea James can be reached at 206-448-8124 or andreajames@seattlepi.com.

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GONE WITH THE WIND - 2006

"There was a land of Publishers and Editors called the Newspaper Business... Here in this pretty world Journalism took its last bow... Here was the last ever to be seen of Reporters and their Enablers, of Anonymous Sources and of Stringers... Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization Gone With the Wind..."

With apologies to Margaret Mitchell...

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Ping

[LdSentinal]

They endorsed Bush in 2004.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

I spotted this AP headline on the St. Paul Pioneer Press website......"Saddam lawyer seeks mercy; 5 troops die".

Pathetic and desperate by the MSM.

[SkyPilot]

Wasn't King County where the corrupt Govenor, Christine Gregoire (D), "found" a few boxes of ballots that gave her the election?

Didn't this newspaper cover up this crime, and even make excuses for it?

[cmsgop]

This sucks, it was almost a real newspaper. I liked it.

[gogeo]

This is a shame. This was the only alternative to the Seattle P-I and the Times. They were comparatively sane.

They reprinted a lot of NY Times stuff, and that didn't work so well in the more conservative East and South King County.

[trek]

I wonder if this is a descendant of the old Eastside Journal. There used to be the Eastside Journal (Kirkland's paper) and the Bellevue American (Bellevue's paper). They merged to become the Eastside Journal many years ago when neither could compete with the Seattle Times and the Seattle PI (which also eventually merged).

[stubernx98]

I have subscribed in lieu of the PI for 8 years or so. They were better than the PI or Seattle times. I got a re subscription notice a few days ago for $155, it went from $55 when I first subscribed. Good thing I didn't renew.

So now all the news from selected inter net sources.

[gogeo]

Yes, the King County Journal was the combined Eastside and South County Journals.

[rockrr]

This is unfortunate because the Journal represented the closest thing to a "middle of the Road" perspective. The other two rags are pathetic liberal & ultra-ultra-liberal pieces of shiite.

It's all for the best I suppose - no one who can read buys them anyway ;'}

[Fish_Keeper]

Yeah, the Journal was a pretty small player in a metro area with a population of a million or more. It was fairly mainstream (relatively speaking) as opposed to ultra-liberal like the two bigger Seattle rags. The Seattle P-I only continues to exist because it's lawyers worked out a parasitic relationship with the Seattle Times advertising bureau. Would so much rather see one of those two pathetic rags bite the dust.

[Lancey Howard]

They endorsed Bush in 2004

And in 2000.
I wonder what this paper had to say about the theft of the governor's race by the rats?

[boop]

Is this the same King County Journal that is routinely liberal and unreadable? I am stunned they would endorse Bush. The P-I is the worst for bias, closely followed by the Seattle Times. The only time I get the KCJ is when I need the movie times, and I only have a quarter to spend.

[sionnsar]

WA ping request.

This is sad news. For all the Journal-American/Eastside Journal/King County Journal has been slowly but steadily drifting leftward over the past quarter-century it's been a useful source of local news.

I will not even read the dishonest Seattle Times (free dome-on copies in my newspaper slot go straight to the landfill unopened), and the Seattle P-U isn't much better.

[sionnsar]

I wonder if this is a descendant of the old Eastside Journal. There used to be the Eastside Journal (Kirkland's paper) and the Bellevue American (Bellevue's paper). They merged to become the Eastside Journal many years ago when neither could compete with the Seattle Times and the Seattle PI (which also eventually merged).

It is. It became the Journal-American and then the Eastside Journal before becoming the King County Journal.

[sionnsar]

Would so much rather see one both of those two pathetic rags bite the dust.

[Sicon]

"What can you say about the death of a newspaper? It's never good."

I respectfully disagree...

[BADROTOFINGER]

WA State Ping...JFK

[I_like_good_things_too]

All I know is comparatively speaking, KC Journal was much more to the right (than the PI or Times).