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Article: Daily medicine. (joint operating agreement of Detroit Free Press, Detroit News)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- August 20, 1988
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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DETROIT
CHAMPAGNE corks popped on August C 8th tit the Detroit Free Press when the newspaper learnt that it had been saved by a decision by Mr Edwin Meese, the now-departed attorney general. Mr Meese had ruled that the paper and its competitor, the Detroit News, could merge their business operations, while maintaining separate news staffs, under a joint operating agreement.
The ruling saved the 157-year-old Free Press; its corporate owners, Knight-Ridder, had said that they would otherwise close the paper. But not everyone was pleased. Some critics worry that Mr Meese's decision could spell the death of truly competitive newspapering in the 20 or so ...