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UA's Paul Jacoway makes film on newspaper excellence, empire
By Rich Heldenfels
Beacon Journal popular culture writer
Published on Sunday, Oct 25, 2009
In 2006, the McClatchy Co. bought the Akron Beacon Journal's parent company, Knight Ridder, folded its holdings into McClatchy and got rid of properties including the Beacon Journal.
Those events caused considerable pain in the Akron area. The Knight Ridder communications empire had deep roots here. For more than a century, the Knights — including patriarch C.L. Knight and sons John S. and James L. Knight — had supported the community in the pages of the newspaper, in direct involvement with local causes and through the family's Knight Foundation. While other communities suffered as newspapers retrenched and even went out of business, the end of Knight Ridder was a death in the Akron family.
But even from acts of corporate destruction, opportunities arise. Filmmaker and part-time University of Akron instructor Paul Jacoway was working on an academic paper about the Knight brothers and their news
philosophy in 2006. The idea of making a profit but also investing in newsgathering — as the Knights so often did — became a novelty as money men controlled companies and changing technology put even modest profits at risk.
So with the sale of Knight Ridder, and the turmoil in the news business generally, he suddenly had a subject that looked very topical, especially to those groups providing grants for research projects.
The paper — for a history of journalism course at the University of Akron with Dr. Kathleen Endres — proved the foundation for a documentary.
''She knew I wanted to make films,'' Jacoway said, ''and to investigate grant writing, and she said, 'You should do this.' ''
Three years later, with help from a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council, he has.
Final Edition: Journalism According to Jack and Jim Knight, an hourlong documentary, will be shown in the auditorium of the main Akron-Summit County Public Library at 6:30 p.m. Monday. A panel discussion will follow. The production will then air at 10 p.m. Tuesday on WNEO/WEAO (Channels 45/49), with several subsequent replays.
The program draws on documents, audio recordings, archival footage and extensive interviews, including with current and former Beacon Journal staffers — all to explain how the Knights saw the news business and how that business has changed since their deaths.
Portions of the story have made it to the screen before, notably in Reinventing Akron, a 2001 documentary by David Lieberth, who hosts and narrates Final Edition. But Jacoway, who directed Final Edition and co-wrote it with Endres, does not know of a program this detailed.
''I was amazed that it had not been done yet,'' he said. ''I know there are only so many documentary makers and documentary subjects in a certain size of a town, but you would think this would have been done already.''
And, while the Knight name adorns numerous local buildings and a foundation that continues to spend millions in the Akron area, Jacoway thinks this is a story that needs to be told again.
''People who are my age or younger, that aren't in the [news] industry, don't have a clue as to who Jack Knight is,'' said Jacoway, who is 50. He also heard echoes in the way technology and financial pressures are transforming the news business.
''I was in the record business,'' he said. ''The same thing happened to us.''
Although Jim Knight is in the title, he is much of the time to one side, taking care of the company's finances, while the blunt and outspoken Jack Knight strode among the powerful and influential.
Jim ''was just a really low-key guy,'' Jacoway said. ''When I hit a pocket of photos of him, they were all with his family. . . . He was the normal one, I used to call him.''
Final Edition ''started out as just a straight biography of [Jack Knight] and his family,'' Jacoway said in a University of Akron editing room as a revised version of the documentary was being processed. (A couple of profanities had to be removed for the TV airing.)
But it became more and more focused on the journalism issues. As Jacoway began his research in the Knight archives at the University of Akron, he found plenty of personal information that he put aside. More than once he told himself, ''Stick to your premise, which is journalism.''
The graduate of Kenmore High School and Kent State University was also aware that he could make only an hourlong program. Funding came only after he had begun the program, and did not cover all the costs involved; although Jacoway has made other films, he said, ''this one got a little out of control.''
About five minutes of historical footage in the program cost him $7,000 — and he got that low a price only by agreeing to very limited showings.
In general, personal incidents in the program had to have journalistic significance. The murder of John S. Knight III, Jack's grandson, is included not only for its effect on the newspaperman but because it deprived the company of the person most likely to carry the Knight philosophy into another generation.
Final Edition strives to be fair to the Ridder family, whose company was merged with Knight's and who ultimately controlled the company. But the program makes clear there were clashes between the Knight overseers and the more profit-conscious Ridders.
''It's not that they didn't care about news,'' Jacoway said. ''They just didn't care as much as the Knights did.''
But the program focuses on the Knight legacy. Jacoway said former employees were ''more frank than I ever thought they would be.'' But he said a combination of factors created that frankness — the speakers are retired, the Knights are dead and ''they know it's a good story. They know it's very current.''
In the end, he had so much material that the first cut of the program ran about 21/2 times as long as the final edit. And, after several years immersed in the topic, Jacoway admitted, ''this has been a long haul.''
Asked what he will do next, he said, ''Let the dust settle.'' And then, he added, ''Get another idea. That's the hard part.''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
In 2006, the McClatchy Co. bought the Akron Beacon Journal's parent company, Knight Ridder, folded its holdings into McClatchy and got rid of properties including the Beacon Journal.
Those events caused considerable pain in the Akron area. The Knight Ridder communications empire had deep roots here. For more than a century, the Knights — including patriarch C.L. Knight and sons John S. and James L. Knight — had supported the community in the pages of the newspaper, in direct involvement with local causes and through the family's Knight Foundation. While other communities suffered as newspapers retrenched and even went out of business, the end of Knight Ridder was a death in the Akron family.
But even from acts of corporate destruction, opportunities arise. Filmmaker and part-time University of Akron instructor Paul Jacoway was working on an academic paper about the Knight brothers and their news
philosophy in 2006. The idea of making a profit but also investing in newsgathering — as the Knights so often did — became a novelty as money men controlled companies and changing technology put even modest profits at risk.
So with the sale of Knight Ridder, and the turmoil in the news business generally, he suddenly had a subject that looked very topical, especially to those groups providing grants for research projects.
The paper — for a history of journalism course at the University of Akron with Dr. Kathleen Endres — proved the foundation for a documentary.
''She knew I wanted to make films,'' Jacoway said, ''and to investigate grant writing, and she said, 'You should do this.' ''
Three years later, with help from a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council, he has.
Final Edition: Journalism According to Jack and Jim Knight, an hourlong documentary, will be shown in the auditorium of the main Akron-Summit County Public Library at 6:30 p.m. Monday. A panel discussion will follow. The production will then air at 10 p.m. Tuesday on WNEO/WEAO (Channels 45/49), with several subsequent replays.
The program draws on documents, audio recordings, archival footage and extensive interviews, including with current and former Beacon Journal staffers — all to explain how the Knights saw the news business and how that business has changed since their deaths.
Portions of the story have made it to the screen before, notably in Reinventing Akron, a 2001 documentary by David Lieberth, who hosts and narrates Final Edition. But Jacoway, who directed Final Edition and co-wrote it with Endres, does not know of a program this detailed.
''I was amazed that it had not been done yet,'' he said. ''I know there are only so many documentary makers and documentary subjects in a certain size of a town, but you would think this would have been done already.''
And, while the Knight name adorns numerous local buildings and a foundation that continues to spend millions in the Akron area, Jacoway thinks this is a story that needs to be told again.
''People who are my age or younger, that aren't in the [news] industry, don't have a clue as to who Jack Knight is,'' said Jacoway, who is 50. He also heard echoes in the way technology and financial pressures are transforming the news business.
''I was in the record business,'' he said. ''The same thing happened to us.''
Although Jim Knight is in the title, he is much of the time to one side, taking care of the company's finances, while the blunt and outspoken Jack Knight strode among the powerful and influential.
Jim ''was just a really low-key guy,'' Jacoway said. ''When I hit a pocket of photos of him, they were all with his family. . . . He was the normal one, I used to call him.''
Final Edition ''started out as just a straight biography of [Jack Knight] and his family,'' Jacoway said in a University of Akron editing room as a revised version of the documentary was being processed. (A couple of profanities had to be removed for the TV airing.)
But it became more and more focused on the journalism issues. As Jacoway began his research in the Knight archives at the University of Akron, he found plenty of personal information that he put aside. More than once he told himself, ''Stick to your premise, which is journalism.''
The graduate of Kenmore High School and Kent State University was also aware that he could make only an hourlong program. Funding came only after he had begun the program, and did not cover all the costs involved; although Jacoway has made other films, he said, ''this one got a little out of control.''
About five minutes of historical footage in the program cost him $7,000 — and he got that low a price only by agreeing to very limited showings.
In general, personal incidents in the program had to have journalistic significance. The murder of John S. Knight III, Jack's grandson, is included not only for its effect on the newspaperman but because it deprived the company of the person most likely to carry the Knight philosophy into another generation.
Final Edition strives to be fair to the Ridder family, whose company was merged with Knight's and who ultimately controlled the company. But the program makes clear there were clashes between the Knight overseers and the more profit-conscious Ridders.
''It's not that they didn't care about news,'' Jacoway said. ''They just didn't care as much as the Knights did.''
But the program focuses on the Knight legacy. Jacoway said former employees were ''more frank than I ever thought they would be.'' But he said a combination of factors created that frankness — the speakers are retired, the Knights are dead and ''they know it's a good story. They know it's very current.''
In the end, he had so much material that the first cut of the program ran about 21/2 times as long as the final edit. And, after several years immersed in the topic, Jacoway admitted, ''this has been a long haul.''
Asked what he will do next, he said, ''Let the dust settle.'' And then, he added, ''Get another idea. That's the hard part.''
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com, on Facebook and on Twitter. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 and rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Green, Ohio
Posted 09:44 AM, 10/26/2009
hhhmmm, not one comment on this article. Seems to me the writer mistaken this article to be POPULAR CULTURE, where most find it not.
hudson, oh
Posted 11:41 AM, 10/26/2009
OBVIOUSLY NOBODY CARES!!!!
hudson, oh
Posted 02:07 PM, 10/26/2009
We're trying to scrape food together to make it to pay day...I have no interest in rich people, except to hope they get what they deserve on their judgement day.
Akron, OH
Posted 02:44 PM, 10/26/2009
Today's ABJ is a checkout tabloid (as are most Black Publishing offerings) compared to the once great and nationally acclaimed newspaper of John S. Knight. The editors and reporters under Mr. Knight's watch would be selling pencils if they even appeared to be in a politician's back pocket.
Back when Saturday news appeared in print Sunday morning.
Posted 03:10 PM, 10/26/2009
I'm sure Charles and John Knight would be rolling over in their graves if they knew what a rag their paper has become.
Cuy Falls, OH
Posted 06:08 PM, 10/26/2009
I agree with Jon, the Knights would roll over in their graves if they only knew what had happened to some of the best newspapers in the country. And to some extent the Ridder family bears some responsibility for the demise of the chain, the biggest responsibility falls with ONE greedy investor who forced the Knight-Ridder board to put the company up for sale. Jack Knight would be apalled at how a greedy individual destroyed the Knight-Ridder empire.
