OTHER NEWS - Nov. 22, 1995

Detroit Papers Sued: Several prominent civic leaders filed suit against Detroit’s two largest newspapers, claiming the papers violated terms of their joint operating agreement when they published combined editions in the early weeks of a strike. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, alleges that the Detroit Free Press and News broke the terms of a special antitrust exemption granted in 1989. Specifically, the suit says that a May, 1992, amendment to the agreement, called a “Strike Publication Plan,” was never approved by the Justice Department or published for public comment. The suit argues that because the amendment is allegedly illegal, the papers lost antitrust immunity at that time.