Detroit News, Free Press to end joint operating agreement, will run independently

By Paula Washington

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    DETROIT, Michigan (WWJ) — The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, competitors in content who shared business operations for decades, are ending their joint operating agreement and will run independently of each other.

Both newspapers issued announcements on their websites Monday morning about the decision. The joint operating agreement will expire Dec. 31.

Gannett did not give a public reason in the reports for ending the business deal.

Such partnerships sprang up across the country after Congress first approved the Newspaper Preservation Act in 1970. At one time, there were 28 joint operating agreements supporting certain metro areas that had multiple newspapers. The last one remaining after this one wraps will be in Las Vegas.

Detroit’s joint operating agreement was last renewed in 2005 with a 20-year term.

History of Detroit newspapers

The Detroit Free Press was founded in 1831. The Detroit News’ history dates back to 1873.

The Detroit Media Partnership began in 1989 under conditions allowed for under the Newspaper Preservation Act, with the argument in court that the Free Press, then owned by Knight-Ridder, was at risk of shutting down.

Under the plan, production, distribution and advertising have been jointly run by the partnership.

The newspapers continued to have separate and competitive newsrooms.

The Sterling Heights production facility, where both newspapers have been printed, was part of that business cooperation. Layoffs will begin in July for a total of 109 Gannett Publishing Services employees at that facility, which has been sold, and the lease is ending. Newspaper production will be moved to other sites.

Newspaper industry changes Over the years, there have been ownership changes to the two newspapers along with changes and business consolidations in the U.S. newspaper industry.

Locally, The Detroit News was a Gannett newspaper at the time the joint operating agreement began. Then in 2005, Gannett sold The Detroit News to MediaNews Group and purchased the Detroit Free Press. The Knight-Ridder company no longer exists.

In the meantime, Gannett’s footprint in Michigan expanded to include several smaller newspapers such as The Monroe News and the Livingston Daily that were once independent or part of the former GateHouse Media company.

And MediaNews Group has acquired several other Michigan newspapers, such as The Oakland Press and Macomb Daily.

“The tale of the two daily newspapers in Detroit is one of those truly great American stories,” said Nicole Avery Nichols, editor and vice president of the Free Press said in her newspaper’s article. “It’s one that centers on how a tremendous challenge was overcome by an epic battle — in this case, it was a fight to sustain robust local journalism on behalf of metro Detroiters.

“The partnership did what it was intended to do – it preserved two great and distinct media voices during a time of great upheaval in our industry,” Gary Miles, editor and publisher of The Detroit News, said in his newspaper’s article. “We’re excited to return to a landscape in which we operate completely independently for readers and our many partners, producing more of the outstanding journalism they need and expect.”

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