The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 was an Act of the United States Congress , signed by President Richard Nixon , authorizing the formation of joint operating agreements among competing newspaper operations within the same media market area. It exempted newspapers from certain provisions of antitrust laws. Its drafters argued that this would allow the survival of multiple daily newspapers in a given urban market where circulation was declining. This exemption stemmed from the observation that the alternative is usually for at least one of the newspapers, generally the one published in the evening, to cease operations altogether.
13-608: In practice two daily newspapers published in the same city or geographic area combine business operations while maintaining separate—and competitive—news operations. The first joint operating agreement was between Albuquerque Tribune (then the New Mexico State Tribune ) and the Albuquerque Journal in Albuquerque, New Mexico , signed on February 20, 1933. Their agreement became typical of
26-457: A chain. In fact, President Richard M. Nixon initially opposed the passage of the act (as had his predecessor, Lyndon B. Johnson ) as being antithetical to the essential practices and character of free market capitalism . He reversed himself upon receiving a letter from Richard E. Berlin, CEO of the Hearst chain of newspapers and magazines. In the 1969 letter, Berlin intimated that failure of
39-582: A series about human radiation experiments that took place at the Walter E. Fernald State School of Massachusetts, among other locations. The paper's logo and the logo of the entire Scripps-Howard newspaper chain, depicting a lighthouse, was inspired by founder Magee's original slogan: "Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way"; the slogan had been adopted from Dante . On February 20, 1933, The Albuquerque Tribune formed
52-617: A seven-month effort by the company to sell the paper, which had declined in circulation from 42,000 in 1988 to about 10,000 in 2008. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico declared the paper's last day "Albuquerque Tribune Day" in his state, to "celebrate the Tribune' s long and proud history and its honorable service to the state." Eileen Welsome of The Albuquerque Tribune won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1994 for her series entitled "The Plutonium Experiment",
65-575: The JOA when it attempted to sell the paper, something that Editor & Publisher noted was another factor in Scripps' inability to find a buyer for the Tribune . Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States . In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called
78-530: The internet, of which the former seems to be magnified by the presence of several 24-hour-a-day news operations on cable television . There have been 28 Joint Operating Agreements to date. The Chattanooga Times and the Chattanooga News-Free Press ' s joint operating agreement became the first to be terminated on August 27, 1966. The Newspaper Preservation Act was touted as a relief measure to allow multiple newspapers competing in
91-545: The joint operating agreement, the Tribune was to be a local newspaper only, focusing on issues in the Albuquerque metropolitan area. Although the JOA ended when Scripps shut down the newspaper, Scripps retained its stake (about 40%) in Albuquerque Publishing Company, giving Scripps a corresponding share in any future Albuquerque Journal profits. Scripps had not offered to sell its share in
104-583: The law to pass would carry political consequences and hinted that support from Nixon would conversely help the President and his allies. The Nixon Administration supported the Act's passage, and in the 1972 Presidential Campaign , every Hearst newspaper endorsed Nixon for reelection. Albuquerque Tribune The Albuquerque Tribune was an afternoon newspaper in Albuquerque, New Mexico , founded in 1922 by Carlton Cole Magee as Magee's Independent . It
117-779: The nation's first joint operating agreement (JOA), entitled the "Albuquerque Plan," with the Albuquerque Journal in response to the Great Depression of 1929 . The JOA established the Albuquerque Publishing Company and merged the Albuquerque Evening Journal with the Tribune (which at this point changed its name from the New Mexico State Tribune to The Albuquerque Tribune .) The Albuquerque Tribune and Albuquerque Journal merged presses, advertising and circulation while remaining as separate editorial entities. As part of
130-501: The same building. Arrangements similar to this allowed most medium-sized United States cities to have two daily newspapers until fairly recently. The number of joint operating agreements, as well as the number of evening-published daily newspapers, has declined considerably in recent years, due to the ongoing consolidation of the newspaper industry as a whole, and the decline in readership and interest in evening newspapers in particular, which many observers have attributed to television and
143-497: The same market to cut costs, thus ensuring that no one paper could have supremacy in the market by driving the other(s) out of business. However, mounting evidence suggests the passage of the Act was less about protecting editorial diversity within community newspaper markets than about inflating the profit margins of national newspaper chains. Large newspaper chains were able to sustain high profits while driving independent newspapers out of business, or forcing them to sell their stake to
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#1732772104421156-401: The type—both papers were printed on the same presses at different times of day. Classified advertising sales were consolidated, as were distribution agents . A joint entity to perform these functions was created, with equal representation on its board from both papers. Newsgathering and editorial operations remained completely separate, although located under one roof in different portions of
169-549: Was published in the afternoon and evening Monday through Saturday. Scott Ware served as editor from 1995 to 2001. Other journalists who worked at the Tribune include Ollie Reed Jr., Joline Gutierrez Krueger, and Terri Burke, who later served as the executive director of the Texas ACLU. On February 20, 2008, E. W. Scripps Company announced that the Tribune would close, effective February 23, 2008. The closure followed
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