Joint operating agreements (JOAs) between newspapers have been rare but apparently useful for struggling publications. In 1989, the Detroit Free Press signed a JOA with the Detroit
News, combining functions like advertising sales, printing and newspaper distribution, but not editorial.
That agreement ended in December 2025, when the Free
Press announced it would not renew. But in January, less than a month after it expired, Free Press owner USA Today Co., Inc. announced it was acquiring the News
from Alden Global Capital. So the two publications are linked once again.
It is not clear that the JOA between the Las Vegas Review
Journal and the Las Vegas Sun will end so harmoniously. The two papers have been tied up in court since 2019, when the Review-Journal sought to terminate
their agreement. As with the Detroit papers, the original JOA was reached in 1989.
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The escape hatch here is the fact that the 2005 JOA was not approved by an attorney
general, as legally required. The three-judge 9th Circuit panel wrote that “because it did not receive the required" prior written consent of the Attorney General," the 2005 JOA
was unlawful and unenforceable.
This is in line with the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, which says, “It shall be unlawful for any person to enter into, perform, or enforce a
joint operating arrangement, not already in effect, except with the prior written consent of the Attorney General of the United States.”
The purpose of the Act was to allow competing but
newspapers enter such agreements for their own economic benefit.
In the Las Vegas JOA, the Review-Journal handled business, production and distribution responsibilities
for a freestanding Sun insert that appeared in its pages.
The Review-Journal claims that this was the last JOA in the U.S.
“JOAs began at
a time when print newspapers had little if any competition other than each other,” said Keith Moyer, editor and publisher of the Review-Journal.“That’s why there have
been no new JOAs in 30 years.”
We hope they wrap this up soon so these publications can focus entirely on what they do best.