Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Tucson Citizen is Arizona's oldest continuously publishing newspaper. It has recorded the history of Arizona since its earliest territorial days. It has been a fixture in the firmament of newspaper publishing in Arizona — until today.
Jennifer Boice, interim editor of the Tucson Citizen, writes in the final edition (vol. 139, no. 117) of the Tucson Citizen Our epitaph:
This is it. After 138 years, seven months and one day, this may be the last Tucson Citizen to be published. At press time, our ultimate deadline, this was our last gasp – our final edition. Efforts still are underway to keep the Citizen alive. We'll let you know if they succeed.
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It was a sad moment to learn the Citizen was worth more to its parent, Gannett Co. Inc., dead than alive.
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Newspapers don't just close, they die.
And death is personal.
It is touching how many readers wrote about their attachment to the paper. More than one questioned, "What will I do without my Tucson Citizen?"
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The Citizen helped shape Tucson's past and future.
We've dedicated this edition – our final one – to us and those who have worked here before us by celebrating our work.
It's been a great run. So long and thanks for the memories.
In a last ditch effort to save the newspaper from its parent Gannett Co., Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard shortly before 5 p.m. Friday filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Tucson to stop the closure of the Tucson Citizen. State AG seeking court order to keep Citizen publishing
A motion for a temporary restraining order is in the process of being filed, said Anne Hilby, spokeswoman for Goddard's office.
The case has been assigned to Raner Collins, Hilby said, "but we do not yet know if he will rule on it before tomorrow morning."
"The process has been initiated," Hilby said. "We will be notified by the court as how Judge Collins will rule."
Goddard was informed of the Citizen's pending closure when Stephen Hadland, CEO of the Santa Monica Media Co. and the final bidder in the sale announced by Gannett in January, wrote a letter Friday morning asking Goddard to intervene.
"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," Hadland wrote. "The Tucson Citizen has been systematically destroyed by its owners and I believe it remains a viable and popular newspaper in the community."
Hadland has contended from his first bid that Gannett was not serious about selling the paper because it was only offering the name of the paper, its Web site, archives and a subscriber list, but not the 50 percent interest in the joint operating agreement it has with Lee Enterprises Inc., owner of the Arizona Daily Star.
Lee Enterprises was most defensive in denying Goddard's allegations in today's Arizona Daily Star. AG sues to block closing of Citizen
Goddard contends that the Citizen's owners and the owners of the Arizona Daily Star are illegally conspiring to silence an editorial voice in the community.
He said Gannett, which has owned the Citizen since 1976, rejected offers to buy the afternoon paper to keep it operating in editorial competition with the morning Star, which is owned by Lee Enterprises Inc.
Goddard contends Gannett and Lee set up the closure so that no one would be competing with the Star, while Gannett would continue to benefit financially from that lack of competition.
"We're talking about an agreement between two media entities to extinguish one of them, to their mutual profit," Goddard said in an interview. "I'm just not satisfied that the public interest is being served here."
Lee denies the claims, said Dan Hayes, its vice president of corporate communications.
"Lee Enterprises vigorously disputes the attorney general's allegations, and we look forward to addressing them in court," Hayes said.
Tucson's JOA has existed between the two newspapers for several decades. The papers split the cost of printing, advertising, sales and circulation, while maintaining separate news-gathering and editorial departments. The papers also split profits 50-50.
In the legal papers filed Friday, Goddard said the joint operation, known as Tucson Newspapers, had more than $30 million in profits between 2004 and 2007.
Goddard said it would have been one thing if Gannett simply chose to close the Citizen, whose circulation had slid to about 17,000, and ended its financial agreement with Lee.
But by keeping a profit split, Gannett and Lee plan to share "the profits generated by the Star after it becomes the monopoly daily local newspaper," Goddard's complaint says.
The JOA ends Saturday under the terms of Gannett's announcement, but the two companies will continue splitting revenue through an ongoing business agreement.
Gannett had said Friday that the Citizen would continue an online edition — www.tucson citizen.com — to preserve a second editorial voice in Southern Arizona.
The new Citizen will feature "town hall"-style journalism with reader-produced content and links to government documents or other information sources, said Kate Marymont, the Gannett vice president.
You mean a blog? Like this one. Seriously?
Editors Mark Kimble and Billie Stanton write the Tucson Citizen's final editorial opinion Our Opinion: Seeking answers?
For those of you looking to this space for perspective on the Citizen's demise, for those looking for What It All Means – you are looking in the wrong place.
Excuse us, but we're a little too close to the situation right now.
Do you ask someone how it feels when a relative dies after a long bout with cancer? After all, we knew the end was coming for months.
But here's a revelation: When death comes, even if it's not supposed to be a shock . . . it's still a shock.
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Let's stick, then, to the few points we can make with a sufficient degree of conviction:
• If there's a way to spin the Citizen's closure into a positive for Tucson, we'd love to hear it. But one doesn't exist.
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[A] newspaper isn't just any company. It's a repository of the city's collective memory and of our aspirations and hopes.
Healthy journalism equates with a vibrant city. A dead paper is analogous to the city's libraries closing – a chilling prospect.
• To all those bloggers and "citizen journalists" who, if you believe the Internet, are this close to reinventing the industry, here's your opportunity.
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We're rooting for you. Public officials need vigilant scrutiny if our dollars are to be wisely spent and public policies are to be sane and progressive. So good luck with that.
• Finally, frankly, this paper's closing dissolves a colorful, creative cast of characters the likes of whom you'll never find in one place again. From sweet Mary Bustamante's long-time devotion to schools to Dan Buckley's vivid mariachi videos, from Ryn Gargulinski's bizarre takes of the macabre to Alan Fischer's scintillating science coverage, from Steve Rivera and Geoff Grammer's mastery of Wildcats basketball and high school sports, respectively, to Anthony Gimino's personal peeks at sports personas, we've had it all. And you had it, too.
But not now. With the loss of the Tucson Citizen, everybody in Tucson loses. And that's a fact. Goodbye.
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