King County Journal

The King County Journal was a newspaper published in Kent, Washington. It was formed in 2002 as a combination of the old Valley Daily News of Kent and the Journal-American of Bellevue, which merged when they were bought by Peter Horvitz.[1] The newspaper had an initial combined circulation of 60,000.[2] The Journal-American was formed in 1976 from Bellevue and Kirkland weeklies, while the Valley Daily News was created from non-daily newspapers in Renton, Kent and Auburn.[3]

King County Journal
TypeDaily newspaper
Owner(s)Black Press
Founded2002
LanguageEnglish
Ceased publication2007
HeadquartersKent, Washington

In 2003 the paper eliminated zoned editions for the Eastside and South King County in an effort to reduce losses.[4] A restructuring in 2004 resulted in laying off 7% of its staff. Most of the cuts were from the editorial staff, and included editor Tom Wolfe, who had served on the job since 1995. Barbara Morgan, the executive editor, took over the newsroom.[5]

Sound Publishing, a subsidiary of Black Press of Canada, bought the paper in 2006, and closed the paper on January 21, 2007.[6] In the face of competition from the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspapers, the combined Journal papers had been losing money since 1994, while circulation had dropped to 39,100.[7] At the time it folded, the King County Journal was the state's eighth largest paper.[3]

Before its purchase by Black Press, the King County Journal also published nine community newspapers ranging from Bothell/Kenmore to Kent. Two were published weekly, while the other seven were published twice monthly. With the closure of the Journal, Black has announced increased frequency in the papers: all will be published either weekly or twice weekly beginning in early 2007. As of 2006, David Black become the largest publisher of community newspaper in the state.[8]

References
  1. Pryne, Eric (2006-06-20). "King County Journal up for sale". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2009-03-01.
  2. "Sound Publishing, Inc". Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  3. Pryne, Eric (2006-12-29). "Daily King County Journal to print final edition Jan. 21". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  4. Dietrich, Heidi (September 5, 2003). "Zoning out: King County Journal merges editions in bid to become profitable". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  5. McCarrell, Pat (March 24, 2004). "King County Journal restructuring, laying off 7 percent of staff". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  6. Richman, Dan (June 20, 2006). "King County Journal for sale". Seattle P.I. Retrieved 2007-11-15.
  7. James, Andrea (December 28, 2006). "King County Journal to close" (HTML). Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  8. Lamm, Greg (2008-06-13). "As dailies retrench, Black expands his newspaper empire". Puget Sound Business Journal. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
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