The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio's only four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, and Ohio.com, four-time winner of Ohio's Best Website Award, serve readers in Summit, Portage, Stark, Medina and Wayne counties. Founded in 1839 as the Summit Beacon, the newspaper took its current name when the Summit Beacon merged with the Akron Journal in 1897.  

The oldest continuously operated business in Summit County, the Akron Beacon Journal is the major newsgathering force in our community, and Ohio.com is the leading online source for breaking news, sports and entertainment in Northeast Ohio. The combined reach of that print-online partnership is unrivaled in Greater Akron, with nearly 85 percent of area adults regularly reading the newspaper in print, online or via an e-mailed link to Beacon Journal Digital. 

Now owned privately by Canada-based Black Press Ltd. since 2006, the Akron Beacon Journal is rich in history as the flagship newspaper of Knight Newspapers, a family-owned dynasty that spanned six decades, three wars and 10 presidents from 1903 to 1974, and of Knight Ridder from 1974 until 2006.

Andrea Mathewson, a 33-year veteran of the newspaper, is the 10th publisher and first woman to hold the post in the newspaper’s history. She was appointed by David Black, president of Black Press Ltd. of Canada, a privately held company that owns and operates more than 100 newspapers in western Canada and the states of Washington, Hawaii and Ohio.