• The Associated Press, Wednesday, April 22, 2009 9:31 AM

The Obama administration has rejected giving teetering newspapers new immunity from antitrust laws. Newspapers can adapt and ultimately conquer the threat posed by the Internet, the Justice Department's Carl Shapiro told a House panel on Tuesday.

Newspaper industry representatives maintain that they need more legal flexibility than current antitrust law allows. "Newspaper publishers need to explore new approaches and innovative business models without the delay, burdens and uncertainty of the competition laws," says Brian P. Tierney, CEO of Philadelphia Newspapers LLC. But some witnesses expressed fears that further relaxing controls on mergers could create monopolies and dilute the quality of journalism.

Specifically, the issue is whether to loosen laws governing joint operating agreements designed to save dying publications in two-newspaper cities. Under a JOA, two newspapers share business operations and costs with their in-town rivals while keeping separate, competing newsrooms.

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