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NPR Reports on VVM-New Times Anti-Trust Investigation

By AAN Staff
december 5, 2002  11:59 am
NPR Reports on VVM-New Times Anti-Trust Investigation
An anti-trust lawyer tells NPR's Laura Sydell that the VVM-New Times deal looks like a clear anti-trust violation: "It was very public what they did, and my only feeling is they could not have had any anti-trust advice." The Bay Guardian's Tim Redmond decries the deal and compares it to the monopolization of local dailies, which, he argues, was the reason the alternative press "sprung up" in the first place. But AAN's Richard Karpel says there weren't enough ad dollars to sustain two large alternative weeklies in LA and Cleveland, and U. of Maryland j-school dean Thomas Kunkel says he was surprised by the investigation: "Anyone who is looking at the Justice Dept.'s attitude towards this sort of transaction in the near past might wonder what the fuss is about." After all, he notes, Justice didn't seem terribly disturbed as cities around the country became one-newspaper towns.
View full article at NPR News "All Things Considered"