We just received this from Stephen Hadland, the CEO of the Santa Monica Media Company, the company whose offer to buy the Tucson Citizen was turned down by Gannett:

The Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard filed suit in Federal Court against Lee Enterprises and Gannett Corporation just before 5 PM Friday afternoon. The Attorney General is also seeking a Temporary Restraining Order preventing the shutdown of the Tucson Citizen.

The Judge assigned to the case is U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins.

The Judge has set a hearing in the matter of the closing of the Tucson Citizen. The hearing will be held in Tucson Federal Court at 9:30 AM Monday morning. Lee and Gannett are flying in their Chief Counsels.

They have both filed motions to dismiss the Case.

I understand the US Department of Justice is also flying in a representative.

I personally believe the Attorney General will prevail.

This article appears in May 14-20, 2009.

8 replies on “Prospective ‘Citizen’ Buyer Says Showdown Is Set for Monday Morn”

  1. “I personally believe the Attorney General will prevail.” Posted by Jimmy Boegle on Sun, May 17, 2009 at 5:46 PM

    Keeping in mind the problem of prescriptive and descriptive, can you tell your readers *why* you hold that belief?

  4. I think Gannett is evil and acted irreprehensibly–if not illegally–over the last five months regarding the Citizen. However, I hope they let the paper (in print, at least) rest in peace. The Citizen’s released its final issue. The employees have been let go and, from what I’ve been told, would not want to go back to limbo.

  5. “The employees have been let go and, from what I’ve been told, would not want to go back to limbo.” Posted by Jimmy Boegle on May 18, 2009 at 2:05 PM

    Would they want to go to Hadland?

    To do what? A paycheck?

    Interesting times for the judge…

  6. Most of the folks I’ve spoken to aren’t too wild about the prospect of Hadland’s company, based on the quality, or lack thereof, of his other publications.

  7. So, gently putting aside the issues of former employees, are you suggesting that these situations are pretty much business situations for all concerned?

    Did Hadland run to Goddard to try to get a lower price at the 11th hour?

    If the other bone in the newspaper wishbone is advertising revenue, might the judge be stepping into it and get overturned?

    What do you think?

  8. I have no idea what Hadland is doing this for. I know the Citizen ex-employees are spent and tired, for sure. As for what the judge is going to do, I have no idea. I know it’s interesting that Goddard stepped in after the U.S. Department of Justice basically signed off on everything.

Comments are closed.