Singleton, MediaNews Group are no strangers to the JOA enviroment

William Dean Singleton and his Denver-based MediaNews Group, which announced Friday it is buying the Salt Lake Tribune from telecom giant AT&T, are no strangers to the world of the newspaper joint operating agreement (JOA), which exists in 13 American cities.

As owner of the Tribune, MediaNews Group would step into a competitive/cooperative environment where the newsrooms of the Tribune and the rival Deseret News compete fiercely while the two papers' non-editorial operations are combined to eliminate redundant costs. The competitors jointly own the Newspaper Agency Corp., which handles the printing, advertising and circulation for both papers. The News-Tribune-Agency trio functions under provisions of a joint operating agreement, or JOA.

Ironically, Singleton found the arenas of cooperation and competition backward when he arrived in Salt Lake City Friday to announce the purchase from AT&T: He was barred from the Tribune newsroom while the management of the News said it welcomed Singleton as a business partner in the JOA. The JOA requires that the News approve of any transfer of assets involving the Newspaper Agency Corp.

Tribune management is trying to block the paper's sale to MediaNews Group.

Newspaper executives in three other markets where MediaNews Group owns a newspaper that is part of a JOA have nothing harsh to say about Singleton — either as a partner or competitor.

Dennis Hetzel is the editor and publisher of the York Daily Record, the morning daily newspaper in York, Pa. The Record competes with, and is, a JOA partner with the MediaNews-owned afternoon paper, the York Dispatch.

"I've heard Singleton say this and I think he's right — I think this JOA works the way they're supposed to work," Hetzel said "Our newsrooms compete tooth and nail. On a business level, they've been honorable and cordial."

Singleton's paper is the larger of the two and has ongoing control of the York Newspaper Co., the jointly owned JOA agency.

There have been "bumps in the road," Hetzel said, "But a lot of the problems with JOAs is the simple problem of getting three companies to work together."

Somewhat unique in the operating agreement between the York papers is an option Singleton has to buy out his competition in 2004.