TUCSON (AP) — Arizona’s oldest continuously published daily newspaper, The Tucson Citizen, will publish its final print edition Saturday after its owner failed to find a buyer.
Kate Marymont, Gannett’s vice president for news, told the newspaper’s staff on Friday that The Citizen would continue with a Web edition providing commentary and opinion, but no news or sports coverage. She said the paper’s 60 employees would know by the end of Friday if they would be laid off, kept on short term or be hired long term.
The 138-year-old paper had a circulation about 17,000 today. The Citizen has a joint operating agreement with Lee Enterprises, which publishes the competing Arizona Daily Star.
Comment by DL:
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard filed for a restraining order 5/15. Joint operating agreements are allowed where they preserve two editorial voices in a community. Gannett will continue to share in the revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities of the JOA but will only publish a web edition and an insert in the Arizona Star. In other words, Lee Enterprises, owner of the Star, will be paying Gannett to essentially go out of business as a competitor.
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