BY RAUL HERNANDEZ
Notebookventura@gmail.com
What Newspaper Bid?
“The goal of the antitrust laws is to protect economic freedom and opportunity by promoting free and fair competition in the marketplace,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division’s website.
Okay, so I asked the Antitrust Division if they are aware of Gannett making a serious bid to buy the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and other major Tribune Publishing Corp. newspapers?
Why might this be construed as antitrust?
Earlier this year, Gannett purchased the Ventura County Star and 14 other newspapers including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Star is located in Ventura County, California, which is next to Los Angeles.
Gannett, a major newspaper chain that owns USA TODAY, recently offered to pay $15 a share to buy the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and other major Tribune newspapers.
Specifically, I asked the Department of Justice if Gannet can buy the Los Angeles Times since it just purchased a newspaper in a county next to Los Angeles County?
They respectfully declined to comment to this and other questions about Gannett’s bid.
The Department of Justice alleged in its lawsuit that the Tribune Publishing’s purchase of the Press Enterprise, which is located in Riverside County, and the Register, which is located in Orange County, would eliminate competition.
“If this acquisition is allowed to proceed, newspaper competition will be eliminated and readers and advertisers in Orange and Riverside Counties will suffer,” Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division wrote in March 16, press release.
Adding, “Newspapers continue to play an important role in the dissemination of news and information to readers and remain an important vehicle for advertisers. The Antitrust Division is committed to ensuring that competition in this important industry is protected.”
The Department of Justice successfully stopped this sale.
“We’re looking for the board to … move forward so that we can get in and start our due diligence,” said Robert Dickey, president and chief executive of Gannett was quoted. “We’re ready to go tomorrow, if they give us the heads-up.”
Tribune Publishing confirmed receipt of the higher bid and said in a news release that its board will “thoroughly review” Gannett’s revised proposal.
They should all check with the Department of Justice first.
What Killed Newspapers?
Michael Moore best summed it up a few years ago about why newspapers are on the decline. It’s corporation greed, slashing of newspaper coverage and the gutting of newsrooms. Moore said newspapers are now peddling “shorter stories, smaller words, bigger pictures in color.”
“They’re slight their own throats,” Moore said, adding that the illiteracy rate has made matters worse.
American Illiteracy
Many Americans simply can’t read a newspaper because they are illiterate.
There are 32 million people in the United States who can’t read, according to Illiteracy Statistics. Seventy percent of the inmates in prison can’t read, and 19 percent of high school graduates are illiterate.
For more information click here: Illiteracy Statistics
Ferguson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Resigns
The city of Ferguson’s prosecutor recently resigned. She said it was with a “heavy heart” and her decision was “thoughtfully deliberated” with family and colleagues. But most say pressure from critics expedited prosecutor Stephanie Karr’s exit.
Karr was the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of Ferguson’s courthouse: She worked in Ferguson since 2004 and had conflicting roles as the city’s attorney and prosecutor.
As attorney, she was involved in working with Department of Justice negotiations to reform the city’s criminal justice system.
But as city prosecutor, Karr gained a reputation for crusading against Ferguson arrestees.
Yet Karr remained, even though the Department of Justice documented some of her unfavorable actions in the report, including retaliating against attorneys who challenged her and dismissing friends’ tickets, according to the Department of Justice report.
At least five protesters have been acquitted in recent weeks, with private lawyers acting as prosecutors for Ferguson, including Karr, having billed the city more than $11,000 for those cases.
To read the entire report click here: City of Ferguson DOJ report
Ferguson Has Managed to Make Substantial Improvements
In 2014, several officials stepped down, including the city manager, court clerk, police chief, municipal judge and police officers.
The city has a new police chief, a new city manager and a new municipal judge — all blacks who replaced white leaders.
All Ferguson officers wear body cameras. The city council has new members, too, several of whom are black. And the business district that was at the center of last year’s sometimes-violent protests is slowly rebuilding.
Although Karr’s exit is definitely another positive step forward. There are many more Stephanie Karrs throughout the nation.
Prosecutors who aren’t interested in justice but are only there to appease their masters, in most cases, district attorneys or the city councils.
These are prosecutors who will hide evidence, allow cops to lie on the stand to get convictions and participate in official shakedowns of minorities or poor people to fund a broken criminal justice systems and maintain public corruption.
In the 18 years I covered the criminal justice and the courts, I can name a few of them.
But there will always be people who will do anything for a fat paycheck, an official title and a little power including putting a For Sale sign around their integrity.
That’s really sad.