LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — A 36-year partnership that kept both the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News in print will dissolve at the end of 2025, ending one of the nation’s last remaining newspaper joint operating agreements.
No renewal.
The Free Press, owned by Gannett, confirmed on June 16 that the partnership—which merged business operations like printing, advertising, and distribution while keeping newsrooms separate—will not be renewed.
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In addition, The Free Press says it will maintain seven-day print delivery and continue to grow its digital platform. The Detroit News, owned by MediaNews Group, has not announced its plans beyond 2025.
“The joint operating agreement between the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News is set to expire at the end of this year, and the partnership will not be renewed,” Lark-Marie Anton, Gannett’s chief communications officer, said in a statement.
The joint operating agreement.
Originally forged in 1989 to save both publications from financial collapse, the joint operating agreement (JOA) was authorized by Congress under the 1970 Newspaper Preservation Act. Though the two papers shared business operations, they remained editorially independent and competitive.
Only one such joint operating agreement will remain in the U.S. after Detroit’s ends: the arrangement between the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun.
The evolution of the partnership.
The JOA, originally planned to last a century, was revised multiple times as the industry evolved.
In 2005, Gannett acquired the Detroit Free Press and majority control of the business partnership, while MediaNews Group took ownership of The Detroit News, a 5% stake in the Detroit Media Partnership, and a share of its revenue.
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Observers say the JOA helped preserve competition but could not halt industry decline.
“It worked in that we still have two newspapers,” Tim Kiska, a former reporter and now professor at UM-Dearborn, told the Detroit Free Press. “But it didn’t delay anything else.”