P. M. Briefing : $68 Million Bid for Free Press

An investor group has offered to buy the Detroit Free Press for $68 million as lawyers prepared for oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving a joint operating agreement with the Detroit News.

William D. McMaster, head of the Michigan Investor Group, made the bid to buy the Free Press in a letter Sunday to James K. Batten, president of Knight-Ridder Inc., which owns the newspaper.

“The Michigan Investor Group, if successful in purchasing the Free Press, will continue the 158-year-old Detroit Free Press as an ongoing enterprise and will convert the editorial format to a ‘statewide community newspaper,’ ” McMaster said in a news release.

The owners of the two newspapers, Gannett Co. Inc. and Knight-Ridder, have said the joint operating agreement would trigger layoffs and a price increase. Knight-Ridder has said it will sell the Free Press or close it if the agreement is denied.