Exemption Miscellanea

The Newspaper Preservation Act In an attempt to keep newspapers from failing, especially if it would leave only one daily paper in a market, Congress passed NPA in 1970. (Title 15, Chapter 43 of the U.S. Code) The law creates a limited antitrust exemption, by allowing the creation of Joint Operating Agreements by newspapers, in situations where the Attorney General finds that "not more than one of the newspaper publications involved in the arrangement is a publication other than a failing newspaper, and that approval of such arrangement would effectuate the policy and purpose of this chapter."

In an article for the Columbia Journalism Review (Non./Dec. 1991), in which he calls the Newspaper Preservation Act The JOA Scam, law professor Stephen R. Barrett argues that the process of seeking approval for JOAs greatly threatens Freedom of the Press. Barrett also opines that, while it may have "preserved" a few newspapers, NPA has more likely destroyed more competition than it saved.

DOJ's Probe of Seattle JOA In a Seattle Times article, Bill Richards reports on the potential antitrust problems raised by the JOA and other arrangements between the owners of the Seattle Times and the Post-Intelligencer.

Collusion and Liner Shipping Conference Immunity This Report from the FTC Bureau of Economics is entitled "The Effectiveness of Collusion Under Antitrust Immunity: The Case of Liner Shipping Conferences," and is authored by Paul S. Clyde and James D. Reitzes (January 1996). The study analyzes whether ocean shipping rates are affected by the presence and practices of ocean liner conferences. The study provides some support for the conclusion that some aspects of the conference system may contribute to higher shipping rates, particularly when the conference has a sizable market share.