i L i n d . n e t

The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit earlier this month to force a roll back in changes made several years ago to the joint operating agreement between the Charleston Gazette and the Charleston Daily Mail. Here’s another story reporting on the case from the State Journal.

The government alleges that in 2004, the owners of the Gazette bought controlling interest in the JOA with the intention of eventually closing down the Daily Mail and claiming a monopoly in the area, reminiscent of Gannett’s 1992 takeover and rewrite of the Honolulu JOA that led to its 1999 attempt to close down the Star-Bulletin.

“The May 2004 transactions eliminated all remaining competition between the owners of the papers by consolidating the two papers under the ownership and control of the Gazette Company as part of a plan by the Gazette Company to terminate publication of the Charleston Daily Mail and thereby force upon consumers in Charleston a single newspaper,” the lawsuit states.

Click here to read the Justice Departments complaint as filed in U.S. District Court for the Souther District of West Virginia.

Meanwhile, in Seattle, the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town is continuing its push to force disclosure of details of the recent deal that keeps the Seattle JOA alive for another decade.