Feds sue Gazette, MediaNews; want Daily Mail purchase rescinded

By Greg Collard with Scott Finn and Anna Sale
Charleston is a unique newspaper town. It’s the smallest in the country to have two competing newspapers – The Charleston Gazette and The Charleston Daily Mail – operate under what’s called a Joint Operating Agreement, or JOA.

The Department of Justice approves JOAs. They allow newspapers to share business functions while competing against each other in covering the news. The goal is to preserve competing newspapers.

But this week the Justice Department sued the company that owns the Gazette. The lawsuit accuses the Daily Gazette Company off illegally trying to shut down the Daily Mail. The federal lawsuit says the problems started three years ago after the Daily Gazette Company purchased the Daily Mail. Now the Justice Department wants a federal court to rescind that purchase. Greg Collard reports.

• Read story DOJ sues Gazette, MediaNews Group

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• Read federal lawsuit Anti-trust complaint

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