To goose profitability of their joint operations, Gannett killed The News’ morning edition, causing the newspaper to lose more than half its readers and giving the Freep circulation supremacy. They alienated advertisers by jacking up rates three-fold and provoked a bitter strike in the most union-supporting town in the country. Even with a monopoly, Gannett and Knight Ridder struggled to make their joint operation profitable. Journalism companies have never been run by the brightest bulbs in corporate America. JOAs are effectively a monopoly, but were allowed if they would preserve a failing newspaper, which the Freep supposedly was. The agreement, based on questionable arguments that were challenged by local business and civic leaders, allowed the Freep and the News to merge their business operations while maintaining separate newsrooms. In 1986, Gannett acquired The Detroit News, once Michigan’s most prominent newspaper with statewide circulation, and forged a so-called joint operating agreement with the Detroit Free Press, then owned by another chain, Knight Ridder. The ailing and rudderless media conglomerate has been a cancer in Detroit from the moment it washed ashore.
If the Detroit Chamber of Commerce gave a lifetime achievement award to the company that has most harmed this city, Gannett Co., owner of the Detroit Free Press, would be the most deserving recipient.
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