The Gannet Co., owner of the Tuscon Citizen, a 138-year-old newspaper, is in court today to determine whether the newspaper must reopen after closing its doors on May 15.
The paper had bids from several potential buyers but Gannett decided to close the paper anyway, leaving just a small web operation dedicated to opinion and commentary but without any news or sports coverage.
Among several interested buyers, according to Newspaper Death Watch, was the Santa Monica Media Co., but they were unable to meet Gannet's price and couldn't get Gannett to come down in price. They may be behind the move by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard to block the sale of the newspaper. The suit claims that Gannett Co. and Lee Enterprises violated antitrust laws by closing the newspaper. If the court rules in the Attorney General's favor, the newspaper could reopen but it seems unlikely.
Meanwhile, the website for the Arizona Citizen, proclaims that today "begins a new chapter in the history of the Arizona Citizen and tusconcitizen.com. Call it tusconcitizen.com, version 2.0, if you will." Hmmm. There's other things you could call it too but let's not go there.
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