James B. McClatchy was a journalist and publisher. He was a journalist at McClatchy Company newspapers including The Fresno Bee

The Fresno Bee

The Fresno Bee is the daily newspaper serving Fresno, California and surrounding counties in that U.S. state's San Joaquin Valley. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and ranks fourth in circulation among the company's newspapers....

and The Sacramento Bee

The Sacramento Bee

The Sacramento Bee is a daily newspaper published in Sacramento, California, in the United States. Since its creation in 1857, the Bee has become Sacramento's largest newspaper, the fifth largest newspaper in California, and the 25th largest paper in the U.S...

. He was publisher of The McClatchy Company

The McClatchy Company

The McClatchy Company is a publicly traded American publishing company based in Sacramento, California. It operates 30 daily newspapers in 15 states and has an average weekday circulation of 2.2 million and Sunday circulation of 2.8 million...

 from 1987 to 2005, having been chairman since 1980. He served as president of the Inter American Press Association (1991–1992).

He was the great-grandson of the nineteenth century publisher James McClatchy

James McClatchy

James McClatchy was an American newspaper editor.Although he is thought of as founder of The Sacramento Bee, which grew into The McClatchy Company, James McClatchy was actually the newspaper's second editor, taking over just days after the newspaper began publication as The Daily Bee in February...

.