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TUCSON Gannett Co., the largest newspaper publisher in the country, will close the Tucson Citizen if it does not find a buyer for certain assets owned by the paper by March 21.

Robert J. Dickey, president of Gannett U.S. Community Publishing, made the announcement in a brief meeting with employees Friday.

"The Tucson Citizen has been part of Gannett since 1976, and we deeply regret having to take this step," Dickey said. "But dramatic changes in our industry combined with the difficult economy — particularly in this region — mean it is no longer viable for our partnership with Lee Enterprises Incorporated to produce two daily newspapers in Tucson."

The Citizen, an afternoon newspaper, operates under a joint operating agreement with the Arizona Daily Star, a morning paper owned by Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises Inc. Print production, distribution, sales and other non-editorial functions for both the Citizen and the Star operate under the name Tucson Newspapers Inc.

Gannett and Lee Enterprises split any profits from TNI equally. Dickey told Citizen employees the paper as its own entity is losing money and the newspaper had become an increasing drain on Gannett operations over the last eight months.

However, through the JOA, Gannett received about $13 million in 2007, TNI President Mike Jameson said. He added that the profit split will be much less in 2009. He did not specify the amount.

Gannett spokeswoman Tara Connell said the company was selling "the softer assets" of the Citizen — "the name, the Web site, the url, the contact list, advertising list, contracting list, subscriber list."

Dickey declined to announce an asking price or the estimated value of the newspaper.

The Citizen and the Star maintain separate newsrooms and the editorial operations are independent. The Citizen, which publishes Monday through Saturday, is one of Arizona's oldest newspapers, operating since 1870. The Citizen's average daily circulation is about 17,000 newspapers, compared to the Star's 117,000.

Tucson becomes the latest city on the verge of losing its second daily newspaper as the industry suffers from the poor economy, falling retail advertising and circulation declines.

Denver's Rocky Mountain News, owned by E.W. Scripps Co., was recently put up for sale and could close if a buyer isn't found soon. Hearst Corp. put Seattle's oldest newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, up for sale last week and said it would likely close or exist only online if a buyer wasn't found by March.

Gannett, based in McLean, Va., publishes 85 daily newspapers in the United States, including The Arizona Republic and USA Today, and operates 23 television stations.

Earlier this week, Gannett announced that nearly all employees at all its publications and broadcast outlets would be furloughed for one week without pay during the first quarter of 2009 to avoid layoffs.