From the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture...

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Interesting that the paper was purchased by Gannett in 1981, which appeared to be the beginning of the end.

'Twas a dark and stormy day in Knoxville.

Those of us who worked at the Journal hated that picture.
HATED it.
HATED IT X infinity.
We were conscripted against our will, with our severance payment hanging in the balance.

I'm a little blob in red way back in the very back, fourth from the left, as far away from the photographer as I could get.

We all resented that picture.

It was staged by editor/publisher Gerald Garcia, who wanted to try to make readers think that the weekly paper he was launching, "The Weekend Journal," was simply a continuation of the Knoxville Journal, when in truth, it had little to nothing to do with any of us in that picture.

Garcia brought this on when he violated the Joint Operating Agreement by purchasing the Maryville Times, triggering a lawsuit by the News-Sentinal's owner, Scripps-Howard, which ended in a negotiated settlement that included closing the Journal.

We were put on notice Dec. 1 that this was happening, and we were forced to write feature stories that Garcia intended to use in the "Weakened Journal," (as we called it). He wanted to try to fool people into thinking that his new rag had the same staff as the real paper.

He assigned me a big hit job on Jim Haslam, which I had no interest in completing and slow walked to the point of never turning anything in. I faked it. Went through the motions and never wrote the first word. I was a pretty adept muckraker in those days, but I wanted no part of that story or of having my name appear in the new rag.

The Weakened Journal lasted about a minute, then folded – actually, it probably lasted longer than that, but I don't think it saw the spring. It was merely Garcia's attempt to save face. Those of us on the staff went our separate ways, but many of us have stayed in touch. We have a Facebook page. I had lunch with Anna Garber a week ago; Journal editorial page editor Barry Henderson and I both ended up at Metro Pulse together for awhile.

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Raw WHOIS Record
Domain Name: THEKNOXVILLEJOURNAL.COM
Registry Domain ID: 100845789_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registry Tech ID: Not Available From Registry
Tech Name: Steve Hunley
Tech Organization: The Knoxville Focus
Tech Street: 4109 Central Avenue Pike
Tech City: Knoxville
Tech State/Province: Tennessee

returning to the pre-hijack topic:

The NS had 120-plus reporters, including sports.

We had about 70-plus, including sports.

The two papers were highly competitive, and took great pride in our reporting, which kept TV reporters watchful, too.

Kind of chilling to think about what's getting past the very few gatekeepers these days.

It seems like the infighting among the declining stakeholders increases. It's hard to trust media when it's own members are constantly throwing mud at each other.

Plus it makes media consumers wonder why they even pay attention.

I still have a copy of that last daily issue.