Newspaper Agency Corporation

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The Newspaper Agency Corporation (or NAC) is a printing, delivery and advertising company jointly owned by the Deseret Morning News and The Salt Lake Tribune, the two major daily newspapers in Salt Lake City, Utah.

[edit] History

Starting in 1948 both the Deseret News and The Salt Lake Tribune, long-time rivals, were experiencing financial troubles. The News had begun an aggressive plan to win new subscribers, including improving content as well as offering prizes to new readers. The Tribune had been floundering for years also. Rising printing costs also contributed to this decline.

In 1952 the two papers worked out a 30-year agreement, known as the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA). The agreement, founding the NAC, combined the expenses of press, advertising, circulation and mechanical departments, while still maintaining separate newsrooms. It was decided this plan was better than both papers falling into ruin and leaving the city with no major dailies. The agreement also allowed the Tribune to sell its failing afternoon paper, the Salt Lake Telegram to the News, which was then an evening paper. The Telegram promptly ceased publication.

There was much confusion early on; many people confused joint presses with joint newsrooms. Adding to this confusion, beginning in 1952 the Deseret News stopped printing a Sunday edition. News subscribers would receive a Sunday copy of the Tribune instead.

The NAC was the subject of congressional antitrust investigations during the 1960s, but in 1970 Richard Nixon signed the Newspaper Preservation Act, protecting the NAC.

The JOA was renewed in 1982 upon which the Deseret News began to print a Sunday paper again. The new agreement is in effect for another 30 years, until 2012.

In a move thought to be an embrace of the "convergence" of newspaper, radio, television and the Internet, NAC is planning to change its name to "Media One," thereby ridding itself of the notion that it is solely dedicated to the production of only newspapers.

[edit] References

  • Woodward, Don C., ed. (1999), Through Our Eyes: 150 Years of History as Seen Through the Eyes of the Writers and Editors of the Deseret News, Salt Lake City: Deseret News Publishing Co. ISBN 1573456608
  • Malmquist, O. N. (1971), The First 100 Years: A History of the Salt Lake Tribune, 1871-1971, Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society.
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