LAS VEGAS (AP) 鈥� The Las Vegas Review-Journal announced Friday that it will no longer print its rival the Las Vegas Sun for the first time in decades, sharpening their legal dispute over the nation鈥檚 last stemming from a 1970 law designed to preserve newspapers.
Readers 鈥渨ill not find a printed Las Vegas Sun insert inside,鈥� the Review-Journal wrote in an editorial, noting the Sun maintains a website, has a few hundred thousand followers across social media platforms, and is free to produce its own newspaper.
鈥淲e encourage them to do so. The Review-Journal competes with countless sources of news and entertainment, but we would welcome one more. We just don鈥檛 want to foot the bill. It is time the Sun stood up on its own two feet,鈥� the editorial said, without specifying the cost.
It was the first day in 76 years the Sun hasn鈥檛 been printed, Sun attorney Leif Reid said in an email.
鈥淭his does irreparable harm to our community, as no one benefits when a local newspaper is prevented from being published,鈥� Reid said.
The two publications will be in court Friday and the Sun hopes a judge will order printing to immediately resume. Employees are preparing print pages as always in hopes they will be able to publish Saturday, said Robert Cauthorn, chief operating officer.
The now-rare joint operating agreement required the Sun to be printed as a daily insert in the Review-Journal, the state鈥檚 largest newspaper. Both companies remained editorially independent with separate newsrooms and websites.
A lower court found the agreement was unenforceable because a 2005 update was never signed by the U.S. attorney general, and in February the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Sun’s appeal.
The Review-Journal editorial called the Supreme Court decision a decisive victory, saying that halting publication of the Sun on Friday was 鈥渁 result of 6陆 years of litigation between the newspapers, precipitated by the Sun.鈥�
Such agreements between rival publications have dwindled as part of a “long, slow goodbye of newspapers as we knew them,鈥� said Ken Doctor, a news business analyst. The Detroit Free Press and the Detroit 海角社区app ended a 40-year agreement last year. USA Today Co., which owns the Detroit Free Press, its plans to purchase the Detroit 海角社区app.
The two papers are longtime rivals
In 1950, the Sun was founded in response to the Review-Journal鈥檚 refusal to negotiate with typesetters from the International Typographical Union. The union started its own newspaper and reached out to businessman Hank Greenspun for financial backing. The Greenspuns still own the paper.
The Review-Journal has been publishing since 1909, first as the Clark County Review. It is owned by the , who are casino magnates and Republican megadonors.
The Review-Journal鈥檚 editorials lean more conservative, while the Sun鈥檚 lean liberal. The 1970 law signed by then-President Richard Nixon, called the 海角社区apppaper Preservation Act, was designed to save newspapers costs while maintaining competition and editorial variety.
The papers first entered into a joint operating agreement in 1989 when the Sun was struggling to stay afloat financially. The agreement made the Sun an afternoon newspaper during weekdays and a section within the Review-Journal on weekend mornings, while the Review-Journal handled production, distribution and advertising. The Review-Journal also collected all revenue and was the Sun monthly to cover the Sun鈥檚 news and editorial expenses.
In 2005 the agreement was amended to make the Sun an insert in the Review-Journal every morning.
Review-Journal owners sought to end the agreement in 2019, and in response the Sun鈥檚 owners filed a lawsuit alleging that ending the agreement violated antitrust laws.
Readers today have more options
The 1970 law allowing such agreements came at a time when news options weren’t as prevalent and there was more concern over news monopolies.
Las Vegas 鈥� and Nevada as a whole 鈥� today have more strong, independent news organizations compared with other places, said Stephen Bates, a journalism and media professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The Sun also publishes online. But it has argued in court that losing its print product could make it harder to recruit staff, cause a loss in readers, and even force it to close.
Genelle Belmas, a journalism professor at the University of Kansas who specializes in media law, said it would be disappointing if the last joint operating agreement in the country ends. During visits to Vegas, she’s enjoyed being able to pick up the Review-Journal and see the Sun folded inside, offering two differing points of view in one place. Online news outlets make it easier for consumers to stay in their echo chambers, she said.
鈥淓very local news outlet we lose 鈥� and that includes big towns, small towns, whatever 鈥� is a loss of perspective and a loss of a potential alternative view,鈥� Belmas said.
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Associated Press journalist Kathleen Ronayne contributed from Sacramento, California.
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