Opinion ID: 2576158
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: history of joint operating agreements

Text: ¶ 3 This is the not uncommon story of the struggle of two newspapers in one town. In many cases, two newspapers have survived in one town by sharing expenses under what is called a JOA. As with any two-newspapers-in-one-town story, the history of JOAs is a good place to start. A JOA is a government-sanctioned contract that allows competing newspaper companies to combine some operations and share profits while distributing separate newspapers. ¶ 4 Beginning during the Great Depression, some newspaper publishers negotiated agreements with local competitors to reduce production costs by combining operating expenses, while maintaining separate and independent reportorial and editorial operations. See Comm. for an Indep. P-I v. Hearst Corp., 704 F.2d 467, 473 (9th Cir.1983). In Citizen Publishing Co., the United States Supreme Court held that such arrangements constituted illegal price-fixing and conspiracy to monopolize in violation of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1-7) and the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12-27). Citizen Publg Co. v. United States, 394 U.S. 131, 89 S.Ct. 927, 22 L.Ed.2d 148 (1969). In response, Congress enacted the Newspaper Preservation Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1801-1804. [1] The Newspaper Preservation Act creates a process by which parties to a JOA can gain limited antitrust immunity. Id. JOAs require the prior written approval of the Attorney General of the United States. 15 U.S.C. 1803(b).