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Gannett Corp. Uses Questionable Tactics to Pressure Free Pubs

By AAN Staff
may 16, 2006  07:43 am
Gannett Corp. Uses Questionable Tactics to Pressure Free Pubs
In an article published May 9, Jackson Free Press Publisher Todd Stauffer describes how Lee Warmouth, circulation director of the Gannett-owned Clarion-Ledger, asked him to sign a contract in order to continue distributing at some of the Free Press' already-existing spots. Ostensibly designed to reduce rack "clutter," the contract gives Gannett exclusive control of the display, and merchants are asked to sign a contract that forbids racks or boxes other than Gannett's. "In the meeting with Warmouth, it became clear to me that this 'service' was, in fact, not really aimed at the needs of local publications, but more about promoting The Clarion-Ledger's own growing stable of free publications while punishing anyone who dares to compete with them," Stauffer writes. He also discovered that merchants were being misled that Jackson Free Press had already signed on for the service.
View full article at Jackson Free Press
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