I have been reading this forum for the last few weeks because I recently retired from the newspaper and I was a proud member of the Guild for 14 years while I worked in Circulation. I continue to care about many people who depend upon the newspaper for their health and welfare. As I read the hysterical comments made about the potential buyers I wonder when the Guild lost that pride. To suggest that "we don't want a bidding war" is to suggest that the potential buyers don't recognize the value of the people and property at the Journal Star. Yes, we do want a bidding war. We want the new owners to see the great value the Journal Star has to offer. We want them to see the employees who perform their duties with pride, everyday. We don't want them to see that we are afraid of the challenges that come with being part of a public company or the challenges of doing more work with less resources. I suggest that we stop running around worrying about what might come and do what we can to sell an ad or sell a subsription. It is unlikely that the Journal Star will ever see another owner with the generous spirit of Henry Slane or David Copley. However, the Journal Star will remain a great newspaper if the employees and community resolve to make it happen. The future is what you make it.

Hi Paul,

You're most welcome to post on this forum. One of the chief functions of the newspaper is to inform; another is to encourage debate. This forum does both.

That said, forgive us if we don't quit telling the public what can happen to their newspaper if the wrong buyer gets hold of us.  The "resources" you'd like us to be happy without have families and mortgages and are part of this community. The readers you want us to sell subscriptions to want local content, with depth and analysis. The advertisers you mentioned pay for our tremendous reach -- which we'll lose if the newspaper becomes a shallow shell of its former self.

Hysterical? That implies without thought or reason, and we have plenty of both. What's more, we're educated. We've watched newspapers in Bloomington, San Jose, Monterey, Philadelphia, Sheboygan and elsewhere suffer at the hands of people more devoted to profits than news. I will never quit saying the people in this community deserve better. I too, want every employee at the newspaper to do their job with pride. In order to do that, we have to have pride in our product. So yes, we're too proud to smile and say "Thank you, sir" to editorial decisions made with axes.   

Jennifer Towery