Gee, thanks for that. --Deb ...road tripping this weekend and pondering hints
--- On Sat, 5/16/09, Richard de Give <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Richard de Give <[email protected]> > Subject: (media deadpool) Losing Citizen-ship, or, Goddard go > To: "World News Now Discussion LIst ABC's" <[email protected]> > Date: Saturday, May 16, 2009, 12:18 AM > Full disclosure: Tucson's remainng paper, the Arizona > Daily Star, is owned by Lee Enterprises, whose media empire > includes The Sentinel, which also happens to employ me. > > Tucson Citizen to cease print publication > By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN > Associated Press Writer > TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Arizona’s oldest continuously > published daily newspaper, the 138-year-old Tucson Citizen, > will publish its final print edition Saturday after its > owner failed to find a buyer. > The closure makes Tucson the latest two-newspaper town to > lose one of its dailies. The Citizen published in the > afternoon while the Arizona Daily Star has appeared > mornings. Both papers have a joint operating agreement. > The news prompted Attorney General Terry Goddard to file a > motion for a temporary restraining order and a lawsuit > alleging that the Citizen’s closure violates state and > federal antitrust laws. > “I believe serious questions must be answered about > whether this action violates the antitrust laws,” Goddard > said in a statement. > In a phone interview, Goddard said he believes his office > has a strong legal argument that what is being done isn’t > permissible under the antitrust laws. “And action would be > taken to put the pieces back together,” Goddard added. > It wasn’t clear when U.S. District Judge Raner Collins > could rule, but Goddard said he was told the judge wasn’t > available before Monday. > Kate Marymont, Gannett Co. vice president for news, said > late Friday company lawyers were studying the documents > filed by Goddard but declined further comment. > Earlier in the day, Marymont told the newspaper’s staff > that the Citizen will continue online with commentary and > opinion but no news coverage. A printed Tucson Citizen > editorial weekly will be distributed with the Star. > “Dramatic changes in our industry combined with the > difficult economy ... means it is no longer viable to > produce two daily printed newspapers in Tucson,” said Bob > Dickey, president of Gannett’s U.S. Community Publishing > Division. > Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the country, > announced in January that it would close the Citizen if it > didn’t find a buyer for certain assets by March 21. > Four days before the planned closing, Gannett announced the > Citizen would remain open while it negotiated with two > interested buyers. Those talks ultimately proved > unsuccessful. > “In the end, there were no buyers,” Marymont told the > Citizen staff. > Goddard’s complaint said that Santa Monica Media Co. > offered to pay Gannett either $250,000 immediately or > $400,000 over time for Citizen assets. Gannett demanded a > bid of $800,000 and broke off negotiations when the company > declined, according to the filing. > Profits for Gannett and Lee’s business partnership, > Tucson Newspapers Inc., were $16.5 million in 2008 and its > profit margins exceeded 19 percent. > The complaint said that Gannett and Lee Enterprises Inc., > publisher of the morning Arizona Daily Star, were closing > the Citizen to increase profits to both companies, and doing > so would “substantially lessen competition.” > The final issue of the Citizen will be a 40-page > commemorative edition, with 25,000 to 30,000 copies printed > and distributed to home subscribers, in vending machines and > by street vendors, editor Jennifer Boice said. > On its Web site Friday, the Citizen feature a multimedia > medley, from “Our Epitaph” written by Boice and photos > of historic front pages to other staffers’ memories and > comments, video farewells and photo slideshows. > “I’m really sorry to see it go,” Boice said. “We > served a function in this community. We made other news > media better.” > During its lifetime, the Citizen reported on Arizona’s > biggest stories, including Marshall Wyatt Earp’s fabled > 1881 shootout at the OK Corral and the 1934 arrest of bank > robber John Dillinger and three other gang members hiding > out in Tucson. > But the Citizen has struggled for years against the Star, a > 117,000-circulation newspaper. During the Citizen’s heyday > in the 1960s, circulation was about 60,000, but it had > fallen to 17,000. > The Citizen becomes the latest casualty of a newspaper > industry struggling to survive despite the economy, > dwindling advertising revenues and Internet competition. The > battle has been especially tough in two-newspaper towns like > Tucson. > Already this year, E.W. Scripps Co. closed the Rocky > Mountain News in Denver, and Hearst Corp. stopped printing > the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, making it online-only. The > Christian Science Monitor stopped daily publication in favor > of a weekly print edition with daily online news. > On Thursday, the Ann Arbor News in Michigan said its last > day of publication will be July 23, to be replaced by an > online-focused news operation with twice-weekly print > editions. > Other major newspaper companies, including publishers of > the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and The > Philadelphia Inquirer, have filed for bankruptcy protection. > Marymont said the Web site envisioned for the Citizen has > no existing model. She said Tucson residents may post to it, > but she didn’t have details on the extent of the > public’s involvement. > Marymont said she’s hopeful the site will draw > advertisers. “But this is first and foremost an effort to > preserve a voice in a community, the voice of the > Citizen,” she said. > Rick Edmonds, media business analyst for the Poynter > Institute, a nonprofit journalism organization in St. > Petersburg, Fla., said the model has possibilities. > Something similar to a local version of Slate.com, a > national Web site of commentary, might work, he said. > Such a Web site will not be extremely expensive for > Gannett, “so it might be worth a try,” Edmonds said. > David Nelson, director of the media management project at > Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, > agreed such a format might work. > He cited a similar two-newspaper joint-operating-agreement > situation in Madison, Wis., where Lee Enterprises publishes > the Wisconsin State Journal while the city’s second > newspaper went to a primarily online model last year. The > Capital Times still publishes twice-weekly free print > editions. > “If Lee is happy with the arrangement in Madison, > there’s absolutely no reason why they shouldn’t move > forward with a similar business arrangement with Gannett in > Tucson,” Nelson said. > Marymont said Gannett would honor severance pay > arrangements that had been announced in January after the > initial closure announcement. It was unclear how many of the > Citizen’s 65 employees would lose their jobs. > The Arizona Citizen was founded on Oct. 15, 1870, by John > Wasson, a newspaper man from California, with > behind-the-scenes help from Richard McCormick, the > territory’s governor and later territorial delegate to > Congress. > The newspaper changed ownership several times over the next > 100 years until Gannett bought it in 1976, just a few years > after a U.S. Supreme Court case involving the Citizen led > Congress to pass the Newspaper Preservation Act and new > rules for JOAs for competing newspapers doing business > together. Gannett also changed the name to the Tucson > Citizen. > The joint operating agreement Gannett has with Lee will end > Saturday. Under the JOA, Lee and Gannett shared costs and > profits; Tucson Newspapers Inc. handled all non-editorial > functions, including advertising and circulation. Marymont > said that partnership will continue outside of the legal > framework of a JOA. > ——— > On the Net: > http://www.tucsoncitizen.com > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World News Now Discussion List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wnndl?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
