Tucson Citizen to Cease Publication Saturday

Arizona's oldest newspaper, The Tucson Citizen, will roll the presses for the last time tomorrow while continuing with a modified website that will deal with opinions only.

Renee Schafer Horton of the Citizen has the details:

"There will be no news or sports reporting at www.tucsoncitizen.com," said Kate Marymont, vice president of news for Gannett Co., Inc., which owns the Citizen. The Citizen's recently revamped entertainment section, Metromix, will continue on a "provisional basis," Marymont said.

Gannett's joint operating agreement with Lee Enterprises, Inc. also will terminate Saturday, although the two companies will continue as equal partners in Tucson Newspapers, a subsidiary that handles all noneditorial operations for both papers. The JOA has been in effect since 1940.

The two companies will continue to share equally in the operating costs and profits of Tucson Newspapers, also known as TNI Partners, according to CEO Mike Jameson.

It will be announced later how many of the 60 employees will be retained. The Citizen was first published in 1859. It ran its editions Monday through Saturday afternoon, and had an average daily circulation of just under 20,000.

But Mark Fitzgerald of Editor & Publisher is reporting this afternoon that one bidder is going to court to try to acquire the newspaper:

California publisher Stephen L. Hadland, whose bid to buy the Tucson Citizen was rejected, asked the Arizona Attorney General's Office Friday to block Gannett Co. from shutting down the paper as a print publication on Saturday.

"I am requesting the Arizona Attorney General's office file a Temporary Restraining Order preventing The Gannett Corporation from closing the Citizen and require Gannett to continue printing the newspaper pending a sale to a qualified buyer," wrote Hadland, president and CEO of Santa Monica Media Company LLC and publisher of the Culver City (Calif.) Observer.

... "It was just a game," he said. "They never wanted to sell it, they just wanted to close it. They systematically destroyed this newspaper."

Hadland compared the Tucson JOA to the former partnership of Gannett and Liberty Newspapers in Honolulu in 1999. Hawaii's attorney general stepped in to block Liberty from closing the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, and to force it instead to look for a buyer. Hadland, an unsuccessful bidder for the Honolulu paper as well, said the sale and independent operation of the Star-Bulletin demonstrates that the Citizen need not shut down.

"This is a perversion of the Newspaper Preservation Act, no different from what they tried to do in Honolulu," he said.

Hadland also lashed out at Gannett for ceasing print publication when, he said, it demanded that bidders for the Citizen pledge to print the paper daily. “Now they’re trying to get around it by saying they’ll have some bloggers on a Web site,” he said. “Last time I looked that was not a daily newspaper.”

Tucson Citizen on Life Support Until Friday

Tucson Newspapers Inc. has informed employees at the Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen that the sale or closure of the Arizona newspaper won't occur before next Friday.

The Associated Press reports that staffers received a letter Friday notifying them that an announced closure was postponed to allow time for discussions regarding a potential sale.

Gannett had confirmed on Tuesday that it was delaying its original March 21 closure date because of ongoing negotiations with two potential buyers. Gannett and Lee Enterprises Inc., which owns the morning Arizona Daily Star, co-own Tucson Newspapers Inc. under a joint operating agreement. Tucson Newspapers Inc. handles all non-editorial operations for both papers. The papers share costs and profits.

On the right of this web page, the 60 employees of the Citizen are still on the newspaper layoffs list and will remain their until a definitive announcement is made about the paper's future.

Tucson Citizen Likely to Close on March 21

The Tucson Citizen is reporting that its own demise is most likely on March 21:

The deadline for bids on the Tucson Citizen has passed - apparently with no offers - which means the paper likely will cease publication March 21 after 138 years in business.

A spokeswoman for the paper's corporate owner described the Feb. 19 bid deadline as "flexible," leaving the door open for an 11th-hour purchase.

But national media experts say it is doubtful a buyer will come forward because Gannett Company Inc. is not selling its 50 percent interest in the joint operating agreement it has with the Arizona Daily Star.

The Citizen and the Star, owned by Lee Enterprises Inc., have had a JOA since 1940. Under the agreement, each paper produces independent editorial and news content, while production, distribution, advertising and other non-news operations are handled by a third corporation, Tucson Newspapers. The papers share equally in the profits from Tucson Newspapers operations.

The Citizen is an afternoon paper with a daily circulation of about 17,000. Its Linkedin profile says it has between 200 and 500 employees.

Gannett's Tucson Citizen to Close Unless Bought by March 21

Another newspaper is on the chopping block. Gannett's Tucson Citizen needs a buyer by March 21 or it will close.

Robert J. Dickey, president of Gannett U.S. Community Publishing, told employees on Friday:

"The Tucson Citizen has been part of Gannett since 1976, and we deeply regret having to take this step," Dickey said. "But dramatic changes in our industry combined with the difficult economy - particularly in this region - mean it is no longer viable for our partnership with Lee Enterprises Incorporated to produce two daily newspapers in Tucson."

The Citizen is one of America's last afternoon newspapers and has a circulation of about 17,000. There are 65 full-time and three part-time employees at the paper.