Clarion-Ledger Buys, Renames ‘JFP’ (April Fools)
[Jackson, Miss.] The Jackson Free Press and The Clarion-Ledger announced the acquisition of the Jackson Free Press, Inc., by Gannett River States, Inc., the holding company of the Jackson-based Gannett property.
The new publication will be named "The Jackson Ledger."
"We're very excited by the opportunity," said Jackson Free Press publisher and co-founder Todd Stauffer. "We've felt a little like an Ole Miss sorority girl without a date, particularly ever since the C-L bought VIP. I mean, as if."
The Clarion-Ledger purchased VIP Magazine for an undisclosed sum in 2007. Since that time, the VIP has slowly been rolled into the C-L stable, primarily by increasing the number of automotive and Chinese buffet ads in the high-society publication.
"Let's face it," said Ronnie Agnew, executive editor of the Clarion-Ledger. "[The JFP is] kicking our butt on city reporting. We bought the damn thing just to get Adam Lynch. We've tried to hire him away before, and he wouldn't budge."
"Between you and me," Agnew continued,"...and this is off the record...I can't stand Donna Ladd. The second I find out we're on the same advisory board or panel discussion, I walk.
"But I will say this...and don't tell anyone I said this...at least she's no (Clarion-Ledger Metro Editor) Grace Simmons," Agnew said, laughing heartily.
The purchase of the Jackson Free Press fits the overall Clarion-Ledger strategy of "hyperlocal" free publications and acquisitions, aimed largely at cornering the market on print advertising, while persistently cutting the resources devoted to news gathering and enterprise reporting. The goal is to maintain the high profit margins that buoyed Gannett's stock price in the 1990s.
"Quite frankly, I'm just stopped here on my way to a group presidency," said The Clarion-Ledger's newest publisher, whose name wasn't available at press time. "I'm sure I approved this acquisition, but that's because I rubber-stamp pretty much anything that seems to fit this year's corporate strategy for remaining relevant."
Although plans are still sketchy, the renamed Jackson Ledger will remain a weekly, but will replace The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson households, where circulation is down. The Clarion-Ledger will concentrate largely on untapped exurban markets such as Morton, Miss., and Vaiden, Miss., where crime coverage, in particular, requires less nuance.
Editor-in-chief and co-founder Donna Ladd seemed surprised by the news.
"He did what?!" said Ladd, who also shares a home with Stauffer. "He sold the %$^# paper? He told me he was going to a damn MIPA meeting!"
"He is sooo dead!" she continued.
The Jackson Ledger will also forgo using the Gannett-sponsored "Pluck" for its Web presence, in favor of an in-house solution developed previously for the Jackson Free Press. Rollout on that new site was expected within days.
Reaction from the staff was mixed.
"Oh great," said Maggie Burks, assistant editor. "There's goes our Christmas bonus next year."
© Jackson Free Press, Inc.
