By: Joel Davis JOA Partner Wants To Protect Interests
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- In the latest twist in the legal wrangle
involving Salt Lake City's jointly operated dailies, The
Deseret News has filed a motion to become party to a lawsuit
between The Salt Lake Tribune's managers and its past and
present owners.
The News, the smaller of the two papers, previously did
not want to be part of the Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co.'s
action in U.S. District Court against its former owner, AT&T
Corp., and its current owner, William Dean Singleton's MediaNews
Group Inc.
But the News contends that its 49-year-old joint operating
agreement with the Tribune gives it the right to veto any
sale of the Tribune and that recent amendments in the
lawsuit could jeopardize that right.
"We really tried to stay out of the lawsuit," Deseret News
Publisher Jim Wall told E&P. "But [the Tribune Publishing
Co.'s] expanded complaint began to include issues that have
implications on our joint operating agreement. I don't want to be
a part of their fight, but we've been forced into it."
Tribune Publishing Co. Chief Operating Officer Randy Frisch told
his paper, "There is virtually no difference in the filing
between the original and the amended complaints."
The two papers are also locking horns over which ownership will
pick up the tab for the News' plan to convert to morning
publication. Wall said the flap has put the change in his paper's
cycle on hold until at least spring of next year.
Joel Davis (jdavis@editorandpublisher.com) is West Coast editor for E&P.
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.
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