Attorney General Terry Goddard
The office of Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard filed a federal lawsuit late today to prevent the closing of the Tucson Citizen, the state’s oldest newspaper, just hours after its parent company announced it would print its final edition tomorrow.
The lawsuit alleges the closure would violate federal antitrust laws. The Citizen is owned by the Virginia-based Gannett Co., which planned to shutter the newspaper but provide financial backing to and share profits with its largest competitor, the Arizona Daily Star. The lawsuit said the plan essentially amounts to an illegal agreement to end newspaper competition in Tucson.
“Newspaper readers and the Tucson community as a whole will be harmed by the elimination of the historic quality competition that has spurred the Star and Citizen to journalistic excellence,” the lawsuit said.
The attorney general’s complaint also names Lee Enterprises, the owner of the Star, claiming it is taking part in an effort to create a newspaper monopoly in the city. The lawsuit was filed just before 5 p.m. in Arizona’s U.S. District Court.
Earlier in the day, Gannett announced the Citizen would print its final edition tomorrow, and most of its staff would be laid off because “it is no longer viable” to continue printing two newspapers in the Tucson market. However, the 11th-hour lawsuit seems to dispute that notion, saying the newspapers made a combined $16.5 million in profit last year alone.
Messages to the corporate headquarters of both Gannett and Lee were not immediately returned.
Gannett has been threatening to shut down the Citizen since January if it could not find a buyer for the ailing afternoon newspaper. In reporting on its pending demise, the Citizen today revealed that a California company had stepped forward in recent months, offering to buy the newspaper and keep it alive. The offer fell below Gannett’s asking price, however, and eventually the nation’s largest newspaper chain turned it down.
Instead, Gannett decided to try to shut down the newspaper’s operations while remaining financially involved in a partnership with the Star. Gannett said it would help pay for the costs of producing the Star in exchange for some of the newspaper’s profits.
Goddard’s office alleged the unusual agreement is what amounts to a violation of the nation’s antitrust laws. “(Gannett’s) readiness to sacrifice cash in hand to prevent anyone else from publishing the Citizen confirms that its ultimate goal is to prevent competition and share in the Star‘s monopoly profits,” the lawsuit said.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Raner Collins in Tucson. There was no word as of 8 p.m. whether the judge would agree to block the newspaper closure or even hear arguments in the case.