Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tucson | Judge to rule today on suit forcing print

A federal judge is expected to rule today in a lawsuit filed by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, seeking to to force Gannett Co. Inc. to continue publishing a printed newspaper in Tucson, or sell the Tucson Citizen to a company that will. The anticipated move by U.S. District Court Judge Raner C. Collins follows a hearing Monday in federal court at Tucson.

Gannett announced Friday it would no longer publish a print version of the Tucson Citizen but would continue a modified Web site of daily commentary and opinion with a weekly insert of editorial content appearing in the Arizona Daily Star. Goddard filed the suit late Friday, claiming Gannett, publisher of the Tucson Citizen, and Lee Enterprises, publisher of the Arizona Daily Star, were attempting to silence a news voice in a community in violation of the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970. The Citizen's near-shuttering resulted in about 65 layoffs of Gannett staffers, all in editorial.

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com].

5 comments:

  1. Gannett should at least be forced to let the name of the paper be sold.

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  2. I'm confused and would appreciate some clarification. I'm afraid I completely understand why Gannett or any company would discontinue business at a loss with no sign of hope or recovery. That said, if Gannett makes $10Mil per year via the JOA, why didn't they close the paper long ago, for example when operating revenue fell below $10Mil per year?

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  3. I'm hoping G loses and the Citizen sticks around in some meaningful way. But I don't know what standing the AZ AG has in this case since DoJ signed off on G's plans.

    The folks in Tucson, the first Gannett property in AZ, have been on the short end of the G stick for years now, every since the company bought the Republic.

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  4. http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/116726.php

    DENIED!

    How sad!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Something is fishy, Why would Lee pay Gannet profits if the JOA was canceled on Saturday and they are the only ticket in town? The ad rates will still be the same without the Citizen.

    ReplyDelete

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