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82 Harv. L. Rev. 319 (1968-1969)
Antitrust Problems in the Newspaper Industry

handle is hein.journals/hlr82 and id is 353 raw text is: DECEMBER 1968 F HARVARD LAW REVIEW ANTITRUST PROBLEMS IN THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY Keith Roberts* The small number or absence of competing daily newspapers in most cities has aroused both accusations that news is controlled and counterassertions that newspaper monopoly is ofien desirable or economically compelled. Mr. Roberts believes that the prevailing scarcity of new entrants into the industry is undesirable and can be attributed in large part to a variety of anticompetitive practices, ranging from vertical restrictions placed by newspapers on distrib- utors, to refusal by wire and feature services to accommodate new newspapers, and horizontal agreements to share physical plants and management departments. He concludes that opportunities to com- pete will benefit greatly from vigorous enforcement of the antitrust laws and from recent advances in printing technology, which can substantially reduce publishing costs and enhance circulation. I. THE NEWSPAPER MARKET T HERE are approximately 175o newspapers in the United States,' located in almost as many cities.2 Although a few papers, such as the Wall Street Journal, have nationwide circu- lation, most are read primarily by people living in or near the city of publication. Thus, for newspapers to compete with one another they generally must publish within the same local area. Since i9oo, competition among daily newspapers - that is, the publication in one community of two or more separately owned, edited, and printed papers - has dwindled to the point of dis- appearance.' Whereas 689 cities enjoyed competing newspapers * A.B., Harvard, ig65, LL.B., i968. ' The figures vary with the source. See N.W. AYER & SON, INC., 1967 DIRECTORY Or NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICAI.S xx--xi (1967) (1782, excluding foreign language newspapers); EDITOR & PUBLISHER, INTERNATIONAL YEARBOOK 1967, at 13 (1967) (1754, including foreign language dailies). 2 1461 in xg6o. Nixon & Ward, Trends in Newspaper Ownership and Inter- Media Competition, 38 JOuRN. Q. 3, 5 (i96i). 3 A general statistical picture of the industry can be garnered from the follow- ing table, compiled from Nixon, Trends in Daily Newspaper Ownership Since z945, 31 JOURN. Q. 3, 7 (1954) and Nixon & Ward, supra note 2, at 5: VOLUME 82 NUMBER 2

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