After Long Battle, 2 Detroit Papers to Publish Jointly
The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, their 25-year battle ending in “a virtual draw,” will be published jointly under an agreement that officials of Gannett Co. and Knight-Ridder Newspapers Inc. said today will keep both newspapers alive.
The Free Press will be published as a morning paper and the News as an evening paper with the two combining editions on Saturdays and Sundays. Both newspapers, which have suffered substantial operating losses this decade, are to remain editorially independent.
Knight-Ridder has owned the Free Press since 1940. Gannett acquired the Detroit News from the Evening News Assn. last February.
The joint venture will be called the Detroit Newspaper Agency. The announcement was made by Knight-Ridder Chairman Alvah H. Chapman Jr. and Gannett Chairman Allen H. Neuharth, who said, “The demise of either newspaper . . . would be tragic.”
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