Gannett Not Talking About Tucson Citizen Talks
Will they close? Will they be sold? No one, not even the staff of the Tucson Citizen, knows for sure. On Tuesday Gannett announced that the local paper would be publishing on a day-to-day basis as they negotiated with “very serious” parties on a sale.
Tucson Citizen itself reports, Gannett had officially planned to shutter the newspaper if there was no viable sale by Saturday March 21st, but since they announced their plans to sell in January, the company has been lenient about their dates. Initially Gannet wanted all bids for the paper in by February 19th, but as that date came and went with no buyers, the group decided to extend the deadline.
Interim Editor Jennifer Boice was informed on Wednesday by Robert J. Dickey, president of Gannett’s U.S. Community Publishing, that the deal would not be completed by Saturday. Unfortunately Gannett will not discuss why there is a delay in the purchase, nor would they comment on rumors that U.S. Justice Department’s investigation of the sale of the Citizen is what prompted the delay.
