The financial health of Denver’s two largest newspapers has improved since they signed a joint operating agreement in 2000, but the pact has brought consequences good and bad.
That was the consensus of four Denver media executives who examined the 5-year-old agreement Thursday evening at a panel discussion on the University of Denver campus.
The event, hosted by the Society of Professional Journalists and attended by 50 people, posed this question: Five years after The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News entered into a joint operating agreement, do the newspapers still compete?
“I see us in a tooth-and-nail struggle for dominance,” said Greg Moore, Post editor.
Moore was joined by William Dean Singleton, whose Denver- based ap publishes The Post; John Temple, News editor and publisher; and Kirk MacDonald, chief executive of the Denver Newspaper Agency, which handles the business operations for both.
The two papers are able to share business operations – including marketing, printing and distribution costs – under the Newspaper Preservation Act, a four-decade-old law that grants limited antitrust immunity to newspapers to preserve newspaper competition.
The Post-News partnership, which is scheduled to last until 2051, will continue to work largely because both papers maintain virtually the same circulation numbers, Singleton said.
Temple said his initial reaction to the JOA was “I hated it. I felt like the Rocky was stronger” journalistically.
Soon, however, Temple said, he realized the agreement would “give us the opportunity to do better journalism.” The News is owned by Cincinnati- based E.W. Scripps Co.
The agreement, announced in May 2000, has helped both papers increase their editorial staffs and streamline production and distribution methods. They’ve also both launched interactive, Internet-based offerings.
At the same time, the pact has caused advertising rates to soar and has created confusion among some readers who question the papers’ independence.
When pressed by an audience member, MacDonald declined to say how much advertising rates had increased.
MacDonald called the increase “substantial,” but noted the rates remained below those charged in comparable markets.
Some audience members complained about inaccuracies in news coverage and how the two papers are marketed jointly.
One audience member criticized both papers for publishing inaccurate information about the number of victims who survived a recent coal mining accident in West Virginia.
Moore responded that the way a newspaper handles those stories are influenced by deadlines, the makeup of the newsroom and the credibility of the person providing the information.
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-820-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.
