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Show Clipper to fight battle for advertising rights By GARY R. BLODGETT Editor Davis County Clipper and Reflex Re-flex Journal is entering into a "battle "bat-tle to save the small daily and weekly newspapers." Publisher John Stahle Jr. announced today that there is an attempt by the U.S. Congress to revise the Newspaper Preservation Preserva-tion Act of 1969 that would give larger "Joint-Operation Newspapers" Newspap-ers" even more power than they now have to establish advertising rates that could eventually squeeze small publications out of business. Attorney George Paul, of Lewis and Roca Law Agency in Phoenix, Ariz., will represent the Davis County newspapers as well as other rural publications throughout through-out Utah. ' Atty. Paul and his firm recently won an anti-trust suit of a similar nature while representing the Wick Family-owned newspapers of Green Valley, Ariz. Atty. Paul said several rural newspapers -- small dailies, twice-weekly twice-weekly and weekly have joined in the fight to preserve rights of smaller smal-ler newspapers to advertise at a fair-market without being "undercut" "under-cut" by joint-operation newspapers newspap-ers and larger daily publications. He said the most serious problem prob-lem has been with "shoppers" -publications of newspaper size but which contain no news or very little lit-tle news - that are mailed to unsolicited unsoli-cited customers. These mailers contain only low-cost advertising, the attorney explained. "In addition to advertising, a newspaper should include local and regional news, features and editorials," Atty. Paul explained. "Advertising should be of fair market mar-ket value and there should be competitive com-petitive advertising rates by larger single or joint-operation newspapers." news-papers." The amendment proposal in Washington is being prepared by Utah Senators Orrin Hatch and Jake Garn. If approved, the Preservation Preser-vation Act amendment would have a serious economic impact on most small newspapers not only in Utah but throughout the United States, the Arizona attorney stressed. A hearing was held in Congress recently at which publishers of the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribute Tri-bute supported amendment of the proposed bill. Atty. Paul suggested that the bill amending the Newspaper Preservation Preser-vation Act might be attached to another bill and be passed "in disguise." dis-guise." The Arizona attorney also indicated indi-cated that larger daily and joint-operation joint-operation newspapers, such as the Newspaper Agency Corporation of the Deseret News and Tribune, feel free about inserting editions of surburban areas into the daily newspaper on a weekly basis. "We feel this is a vioation of the anti-trust law and should not be allowed," he said. "Under the current cur-rent law, these larger publications are exempt from anti-trust violations viola-tions and the proposed amendment would give them even more advantages." advan-tages." Following is a letter from Senator Sena-tor John P. East, who died earlier this month, but was a strong opponent oppo-nent of the proposed amendment. |