The latest it's-a-done-deal obituaries hang on a non-denial comment by a Lee Enterprises spokesman, concerning the fate of Gannett's Tucson Citizen, which is almost certainly a goner by a GCI-imposed March 21 deadline: Saturday.The afternoon Citizen is published alongside Lee's morning Arizona Daily Star, under a joint operating agreement. Star publisher John Humenik said he couldn't comment on the Citizen's closure because of pending legal issues related to the JOA, the Associated Press says. But Lee spokesman Daniel Hayes said, "it's always unfortunate when a community voice is lost."
Within Gannett, the Citizen will be the first casualty of many across the broader newspaper industry, struggling to survive despite the tough economy, dwindling advertising revenues and Internet competition. The battle has been especially tough in two-newspaper towns like Tucson and Detroit, where Gannett is in a money-losing JOA with MediaNews Group.
[Image: yesterday's Daily Star, Newseum]
E&P reports the Citizen will print its final edition on Saturday, March 21.
ReplyDeleteI believe the Tucson Citizen had published more than 150 years. It is a sad day in Arizona.
ReplyDeleteRIP Citizen -- where I got my start in journalism as a summer intern.
ReplyDeleteTucson will be a lesser community without this editorial voice.
138 years - since 1870. The paper that reported the shootout at the OK Corral is hanging up its spurs.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003951837
ReplyDeleteJOA will continue and Gannett will just take their 1/2 of the profits!