By: E&P Staff Despite the legal complications of their on-going court case, The Seattle Times Co. and The Hearst Corp. are going ahead with their plan to settle their dispute over their newspaper joint operating agreement (JOA) in private binding arbitrations.
In separate announcements to their employees at The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Thursday, Hearst and the Times Co. said arbitration was the quickest way to resolve their differences.
The feuding JOA partner announced in late March that they would submit their dispute to binding arbitration, without possibility of appeal, by a retired judge. But they asked the judge overseeing their litigation to freeze all court proceedings until the arbitor made his decision.
A third-party in the litigation, the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town, objected to that request, and on April 27 King County (Wash.) Superior Court Judge Greg Canova sided with the committee. Since then, the Newspaper Guild local, which had been funding about 80% of the committee's budget, voted to withdraw from the group.
Neither Hearst nor the Times Co. said what action, if any, they would take against the Two-Newspaper committee in court.
The arbitrator will rule on the key dispute between the JOA partners. The Times Co. contends the JOA has lost money for at least three consecutive years, and wants to trigger a clause forcing the shutdown of either the P-I or the JOA. The company contends the expense of operating the P-I threatens the financial life of the Times and other Blethen family newspapers. The P-I, which does not own any of the production or distribution equipment in Seattle, argues that ending the JOA is tantamount to folding the paper.
Under the arbitration agreement, former King County Superior Court Judge Larry Jordan must decide the case by the end of May 2007.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here