Let's hope that the Huntsman family can and will keep the Salt Lake Tribune a strong and independent voice in the Utah Church State. If history is any teacher, they need to be vigilant in that responsibility, given the Mormon Cult's previous efforts to essentially silence the Trib's much-needed presence as a counterweight to suppression of free speech and freedom of the press.
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--Freedom from the Press? Justice Deptartment Investigating LDS Church/Deseret News (excerpted from posts by Steve Benson, RfM, 3-5 July 5 2014)

"I recently spoke with Salt Lake Tribune editorial cartoonist, Pat Bagley (Pat and I drew political cartoons for BYU's Daily Universe campus paper back in the 1970s). Pat filled me in on his trip in the last few days back to Washington, D.C., where he was answering questions posed by Congressional staffers, as federal investigators hone in on matters involving the Mormon Church, the Deseret News and the role and flow of information behind the Zion Curtain.

"It appears that LDS Inc.--Navuoo Expositor style--may be attempting to kill bad press through disingenuous and devious attempts to strangle the Salt Lake Tribune--in order for the Mormon Church's compliant theocratic organ, the Deseret Snooze and Schmooze, to emerge as essentially the sole and uncontested source of "news" in Salt Lake City, where major independent newspaper counterweights to the Mormon Church-owned and -controlled press would be rendered extinct.

"It's a very fishy deal that the U.S. Justice Department is now looking into.

--"Extra, Extra, Read All About It Here--then spread the word (before the Mormon Church kills the word).

"From the Columbia Journalism Review:

"'A deal reached last fall between Salt Lake City’s two main newspapers is unraveling into an angry controversy as the Justice Department looks into allegations that the Salt Lake Tribune, in return for a lump-sum cash payment, is quietly ceding the market to the Mormon Church-owned Deseret News.

"'The deal, an amendment struck last fall to a longstanding Joint Operating Agreement, would give the News 70 percent of the print revenues generated by the two papers, in return for the payment, the amount of which is undisclosed. The one-time payment, critics claim, would benefit the New York parent, Digital First Media, owned by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, while choking off revenue needed to sustain the Tribune’s newsroom.'

[NOTE: Pat Bagley told me that the alteration to the JOA is not an "amendment" but, rather, a fundamantal reconstruction of the JOA itself].

“'"The hedge fund guys get what they want, which is a big pile of cash," says Jim Dabakis, a Utah state senator who this week started an online [effort] asking the Justice Department to reverse the deal. "And the Deseret News gets what it wants, its generations-long dream [fulfilled] to extinguish the other voice in the community. And they get a monopoly from now on."

"'Joan O’Brien, an ex-Tribune reporter who now teaches has taught media law and runs a local group opposed to the amended JOA, wrote a detailed letter to the Justice Department saying the pact will cripple the Tribune,"'drastically intensifying the media monopoly power of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Northern Utah."

"'Earlier this month, the Tribune reported that the Justice Department has begun reviewing the deal. Dabakis and O’Brien both say they’ve been contacted about the deal by DOJ lawyers. A department spokesman declined to comment.

"'The chiefs of both Digital First and the Deseret News reject the idea that the JOA will undermine the Tribune and said the opposite was the case.

"'In an email, Digital First’s chief executive, John Paton, declined to comment, but referred to recent remarks he made to the Tribune:

"'"We continue to believe the recent revisions to the joint-operating agreement are important to The Salt Lake Tribune’s continued success and are consistent with our strategy of controlling our digital future while limiting our exposure to legacy costs and practices. We are also confident that under the restructured JOA, The Tribune will continue to be a strong independent voice, which has been and remains the goal of both parties to the JOA."

"'Clark Gilbert, chief executive of the Deseret News’ parent, sent a statement saying that the deal was reviewed by the Justice Department last fall and includes substantial benefits for the Tribune, including the fact that the paper pays no rent for the use of the plant and presses bought by the Deseret News as part of the deal.

“'"The Deseret News is committed to the market’s demand for multiple editorial voices and the amended JOA upholds that commitment," the statement said.

"'The fierce struggle over the deal has deep roots in the history of the two newspapers, a rivalry that dates to 1873 when three Kansans bought the Tribune and promptly launched a campaign of anti-Mormon vitriol. While the language has tempered over the years, the Tribune has remained a formidable rival to the Deseret News and an important independent check on its owner, the powerful Mormon Church. In the 1950s, the papers, which had been fierce commercial as well as journalistic competitors, struck a deal under which they would share distribution and other business costs, an agreement later made into a formal Joint Operating Agreement and sanctioned under the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970. Traditionally, the Tribune has been the larger paper (and remains so today with 2012 circulation of about 107,000 to 76,000 for the Deseret News). As a result, the Tribune received the larger share of revenues, 58 percent, under the original JOA.

"'Despite the JOA, the editorial rivalry remained fierce. And for non-Mormons, the Tribune is a potent symbol of independence in a state where the media is dominated by church-owned outlets. A Church spokeswoman declined to comment on the dispute.

"'The larger backdrop behind the JOA amendment is the shifting landscape of the newspaper industry, which, after its dramatic plunge in the last decade, is gearing up for what insiders predict will be a year of consolidation as financial players who entered the business during the crash now seek to exit. Earlier this month, for instance, media analyst Ken Doctor reported that Digital First Media’s parent, Alden Global, was planning to put its newspaper holdings on the auction block. Representatives of Alden Global didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.

"'The amendment to the long-standing JOA was quietly reached last October when, according to the Deseret News’ statement, Digital First approached the paper to renegotiate the deal. The new agreement was sent, as is required under the Newspaper Preservation Ac, to the Justice Department for review.

"'Terry Orme, a longtime Tribune reporter and editor who was named editor and publisher around the time the deal was struck, says Paton, Digital First’s CEO, told him about the deal in general terms but wouldn’t discuss details of the new arrangement. "John Paton was pretty clear he wasn’t going to get into specifics," Orme said in a telephone interview.

"'After receiving a tip about the deal, Tribune reporters asked the Justice Department for the JOA, a public record, and reported the details shortly afterwards.

"'Orme says he expressed his concerns to Paton at the time. "When you get your revenue cut in half, that’s concerning," he says. "How can you not be concerned about that?" The new deal gives the Tribune the operation’s digital revenues, but that’s a much smaller number. Orme also says the lump sum, which he didn’t disclose, was used to pay down Digital First debt, but “to my knowledge, none of that debt was our debt. That grates as well.”

"'Orme says, though, that Paton has been very explicit about his strategy of moving away from print and toward digital revenue, and that the strategy should be given a try. He added that "we’re going to know soon, no later than June, what the impact is going to be."

"'In an email, Paton declined to comment on Orme’s remarks.

"'Opposition has built steadily lately. O’Brien, who is married to Tribune reporter Tom Harvey and is the daughter of the late Jerry O’Brien, a longtime publisher of the paper until his death in 1994, formed a group calling itself the Utah Newspaper Project, now numbering about 50 and including several ex-Tribune staffers. In February, O’Brien wrote a 14-page letter of complaint to the anti-trust division’s litigation chief, alleging that the deal violates both antitrust law and the Newspaper Preservation Act and 'threaten(s) an indispensable journalistic voice.' The new 70-30 split represents a dramatic reversal of the previous arrangement that, the opposition group says, 'denies the Tribune revenues sufficient to finance its essential editorial and newsgathering functions.' The group says the new JOA amounts to an 'acquisition scheme' by which the Deseret News can achieve what the group says is a longstanding goal: the elimination of the Tribune.

"'The controversy gained steam this week when a local radio station, KUER, broadcast a discussion of the deal that included Orme. In a segment quoted in a Tribune story on the discussion, Orme publicly expressed misgivings about the deal and said the smaller cut from print operations had made the paper’s financial future less certain:

“'"It doesn’t make it any better, let’s put it that way," Orme said. Print revenues continue to be “the biggest single source of income.”

“'"We’ve been relying on this stream of income for 60 years and to all of a sudden change it isn’t a small thing; it’s a big thing,' Orme said. 'You better know where you’re going and you better have a high level of confidence in where you’re going before you do that.'"

"'O’Brien says she pleased the Justice Department has begun what appears to be an extensive review. "I am a reluctant activist," she says. "But few people in Mormon-dominated Utah are in a position to challenge this publicly. I sort of have to."

("A Newspaper Deal Threatens Utah’s Main Non-Mormon-Owned Daily, Critics Say--And the Justice Department is Looking Into It," by Dean Starkman, "Columbia Journalism Review," 25 April 2014)


"From the Salt Lake Tribune's own reporting:

"'The U.S. Department of Justice is scrutinizing a deal between owners of Salt Lake City’s two daily newspapers, at least in part for its apparent similarity to a past attempt by the Mormon church-owned Deseret News to buy The Salt Lake Tribune.

"'Two sources confirmed the DOJ’s inquiry, which comes as Utah’s largest newspaper faces another round of budget cuts mandated by its corporate parent, New York-based Digital First Media.

"'The leader of a group of community members and former Tribune employees challenging the latest joint-operating pact between The Tribune and the News said she had been interviewed at length by a senior antitrust attorney.

"'Attorney Justin Dempsey also sought legal background from a nasty fight over Tribune ownership more than a decade ago, said Joan O’Brien, a former Tribune reporter and editor and daughter of the late Tribune Publisher Jerry O’Brien.

"'"I’m encouraged and gratified that they are looking at this deal," she said. "I hope they actually do something, but at least they’re looking at it."

"'A second source, who asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the federal review, also confirmed the DOJ’s interviews. A spokesman for the DOJ declined to comment on its review of the joint-operating agreement, or JOA, which took effect between the two newspapers Oct. 18, 2013.

"'Since last fall, the community group led by O’Brien has launched utahnewspaperproject.org and held several community meetings in an effort to draw attention to its cause.

"'One prominent Salt Lake City resident who joined the effort, retired University of Utah administrator Boyer Jarvis, said he welcomed signs the DOJ was getting involved.

"'"What’s at stake here is an institution that is one of the most significant, important and valuable organizations in Utah," said the 90-year-old community activist. "It would be a tragedy of the first order if The Tribune doesn’t continue to be independent."

"'Attempts by The Tribune in recent days to reach several Utah officials connected with the News and the JOA were unsuccessful.

"'According to an Oct. 15, 2001, court deposition by L. Glen Snarr, then-chairman of Deseret News Publishing Co., the plan involved the News buying additional shares of the newspapers’ revenue split and greater management control of joint operations.

"'The strategy was developed, Snarr testified at the time, because the Federal Communications Commission appeared likely to challenge the News’ purchase of The Tribune, given the LDS Church’s existing ownership of other Utah broadcast and print outlets.

"'The scenario came to light as former Tribune owners in the McCarthey family fought a protracted legal battle with newspaper magnate Dean Singleton, then CEO of the MediaNews Group chain, over The Tribune’s ownership. Singleton took over The Tribune after the News’ own efforts to buy the paper failed.

"'Beginning in 2010, The Tribune and other newspapers owned by MediaNews Group came under management by executives at Digital First, which controls some 280 daily and weekly U.S. papers on behalf of Alden Capital.

"'Considered an innovator in adapting to news industry challenges from the Internet, Digital First has struggled in recent years in the face of shrinking advertising revenues.

"'Last September, The Tribune, as a precursor to the renegotiated JOA, laid off nearly 20 percent of its staff, a loss of 17 full-time and two part-time reporters. Then-Tribune Editor Nancy Conway and editorial page editor Vern Anderson also stepped down.

"'Last week, Paton announced further cuts at Digital First, including closure of Project Thunderdome, a company initiative launched in late 2011 to centralize portions of national news gathering and production functions for the chain.

"'In addition to eliminating Thunderdome and its 52-member staff in New York, Digital First is seeking another 10 percent reduction in costs at its newspapers. Tribune Editor and Publisher Terry Orme said Tuesday managers were continuing to explore reductions in purchased content, newsprint and staffing to achieve those cost reductions.'

("Feds Scrutinize Salt Lake Newspaper Deal: New Pact Eyed in Light of Past Bid by LDS Church-Owned D-News to Buy Tribune," by Tony Semerad, Salt Lake Tribune, 9 April 2014, updated 5 June 2014)

"NOTE: A key lawsuit [was] recently been filed to stop this deal, as significant additional efforts are being made to save the Salt Lake Tribune from the press-destroying jaws of the Mormon Church.

"When Pat and I spoke by phone, it was clear from his vantage point that folding the Trib into the Desperate News like some kind of ad insert was tantamount to killing it. He had told me as much in a previous conversation we had had at a downtown Salt Lake bar during last year's Association of American Editorial Cartoonists national convention, held in SLC, where Pat demonstrated his impressive abilities as host. He has also told me that reducing the Trib's revenue stream to online ad dollars is a scheme deliberately and deceptively designed by Mormon Church interests to kill the Trib in a matter of a few short years and that no one is fooled by that ploy. Pat knows what's fundamentally at stake and he knows the propaganda from LDS Inc. that he is fighting against. He has been quite involved in efforts to save the Trib from the Morgue and has more things planned in that regard. (We, in fact, have discussed some possibilities that he is now considering).

"I have talked at length with a former Trib employee who emphasized repeatedly that the financial model being proposed by the Desperate News is indeed designed to kill the Trib, and that this death would most likely occur, given the extreme drop in revenues that it would entail, before this new plan's implementation time frame was even completed. That is why there are proposed efforts to convert the Trib into a publicly-owned, independent-run community newspaper in which shareholders would buy stock.

"Sucking the voice out of the Trib is what the Morgue is up to. It is a cult, powered by pyramidal, hierarchal control from the top down, which twists and redfines reality, replacing it with its sanitized, immunized brand of fiction. If you don't get that, then you don't understand what fiercely-practiced, accountability-demanding journalism is all about. Thank goodness there are those in this fight who do.

"[A]t the very least, the Mormon Cult [has wanted the Salt Lake Tribune] muzzled [and] neutered. An open society, on the other hand, cannot afford to put up with a cult masquerading as a source of reliable information.

"This is more than just a bad business plan. This is bad for the truth business. Watering down the Trib would kill the Trib. The financial model proposed by the Desperate News for amending the JOA would do exactly that--both by the revenue numbers as well as by the restricted news. It's a one-two punch: Rein in the Trib and drain out the Trib. If the Mormon Cult [ever] swallow[ed] the Trib, it's not chasing its own media tail- It's devouring the heart and soul of trusted, independent, community-centered journalism."
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)The following is excerpted from ""Re: Freedom from the Press? Justice Dept Investigating LDS Church/Deseret News," posted by Once More, RfM, 5 July 2014)

"Too many Mormons like to live [in] a Mormon bubble. Tamping down the voice of the Salt Lake Tribune would strengthen [that]bubble.

"Sure, there are sources of news on the internet, but many Mormons will still rely on local or regional sources for the most part. A stronger Mormon bubble will lead to further degradation in regional politics, educational policies, women's rights and other cultural issues.

"Also, it really irks me that it looks like LDS Inc. paid wads of cash to New York financiers to push this 'amendment' forward. The New York financiers used the wads of cash to pay off debts that were not related to the SL Tribune. Straight up bribe, if you ask me. At the least, it's a power play by the Mormon Church."

are SLTrib financials public information?