Black press tackles succession

June 18, 2004
Times Picayune
Planning discussed at N.O. convention

By Ronette King Business writer

The National Newspaper Publishers Association convention in town this week is emphasizing a problem common for small businesses: the importance of succession planning.

The association, also known as the Black Press of America, is a 62-year-old federation of more than 200 African-American-owned community newspapers across the United States. It is meeting at the Wyndham New Orleans through Saturday.

About 80 percent of the association members represent family-owned newspapers. Therefore, the failure to put a succession plan in place, to groom a successor, jeopardizes not just a business, but a unique voice for the community where the paper is located, said Sonny Messiah-Jiles, chairwoman of the association.

Family-owned businesses often don't survive from one generation to the next because they don't plan for succession, said James Herbert, professor of management and entrepreneurship at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga., who will address the group Saturday. Two other major reasons businesses often falter at the second generation are family conflicts and estate taxes, he said.

"As small-business owners, African-American and other minority owners in particular are under the gun all the time," Herbert said. "So, the focus is always survival as opposed to giving a vision and having a growth strategy. There's no luxury to pause and think about the legacy."

One notable succession battle took place over the Chicago Defender, the nation's only black-owned daily newspaper. First published in 1905, the defender holds an important role in the nation's history. Its reporting on the job and social climate in industrialized Northern cities helped feed the "Great Migration" of black people out of the South between the two world wars.

The Defender plunged into a five-year legal battle that began when the paper's publisher and majority owner, John Sengstacke, died in 1997. Sengstacke had placed the newspaper chain - the daily and four weekly papers - in a trust with instructions that it be sold to the highest bidder after his death.

Members of the Sengstacke family opposed several buyout offers because they said the new owners wouldn't let family members have any involvement in running the Defender. The newspaper finally was sold early last year.

In New Orleans, the Louisiana Weekly survived a second-generation legal battle in the 1980s over control of the paper. That fight landed in the state Supreme Court as members of the second generation tussled for control of the paper. Constance "C.C." Dejoie won the legal fight. But his brother, Henry Dejoie, assumed control after his death.

Two of Henry Dejoie's children are now the third generation at the helm. Daughter Renette Dejoie Hall is executive editor, and son Bertel Dejoie is business manager. An older brother has worked there off and on through the years as well, she said.

The paper has never missed a publication date in 78 years, Hall said.

"The third generation was determined to make sure our grandfather's legacy and his wish to provide news for African-Americans continued," she said. "It's just a commitment that we have as African-Americans to provide a service to the African-Americans because the black press is definitely needed."

New Orleans has three black-owned newspapers: the Louisiana Weekly, Data News Weekly - both members of the association - and the monthly Tribune, which is an associate member of the group.

"The black press of America is the voice of black America, " said Jiles, publisher of the Houston Defender, a 74-year-old weekly with circulation of 17,000.

Ronette King can be reached at rking@timespicayune.com or 504/826-3308.

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