If we don't tell you, who will?

By Shane Goodman shane@dmcityview.com

Like any Fortune 500 company with shareholders to please, Gannett is aggressively seeking new revenue sources at all of its operations, including The Des Moines Register. But rather than improving "the newspaper Iowa depends upon," The Register launched a series of new publications to compete with nearly all of Central Iowa's independent papers, including Cityview. We understand competition, and, quite frankly, we think it will make us and the other independent papers better, as long as we all play on a level field.

But along comes the tilt.

Our cover story this week is about a very important subject for those of you who appreciate having access to independent publications like Cityview. American journalist A.J. Liebling's quote, "Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one," has been uttered arrogantly for decades in newsrooms at daily papers across the nation. But with the advent of the Internet, greater access to printing presses and the rapid growth of free-distribution niche publications, that saying no longer holds true. Today, it would be better said that freedom of the press is limited to those who own the distribution system.

Gannett has learned this and is making overt attempts to dominate markets where it has daily newspapers by aggressively taking over the distribution systems. In several markets across the country, it is installing its own racks, charging outlandish fees to independent publishers and literally booting out papers as it sees fit. Early indications show that we can expect the same here in Central Iowa, although when and how remain to be seen. Cityview Editor Michael Swanger details the history of this struggle and the tactics of the media giant in an informative story that needs to be told. Is it self-serving? Sure. But we think you need to know. And if we don't tell you, who will?

Thanks for reading.

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