Restraint of Funnies
“For instance,” says the suit, “the Tribune and the Sun-Times have exclusive licenses to the 12 most popular comics. . . . A newspaper such as the Daily Herald that is denied access to the most popular comics . . . is at a severe disadvantage if it attempts to compete in any market . . . with newspaper companies such as the Tribune and the Sun-Times that are able to publish such popular comics.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Paddock claims the Herald’s disadvantage runs even deeper than the syndicated comics (and columnists such as Dave Barry and Paul Greenberg) it can’t touch. Even the news the Herald gets to print is second-rate. The Tribune enjoys exclusive access to the New York Times News Service, the Sun-Times to the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Service. The Herald must make do with the AP.
In 1986 a New Jersey paper outside Philadelphia went to court seeking access to the LA Times/Post service. That suit challenged the Philadelphia Inquirer’s exclusive license to the wire on grounds that the license was unreasonably broad and the plaintiff didn’t compete with the Inquirer anyway.
“The only supplemental news services and features available to the Daily Herald,” says the suit, “are those that are available to all newspapers on a non-exclusive basis or are not popular enough to interest the Tribune or Sun-Times.” Whatever the legal merits of this observation, in its spirit it is suspect; what Paddock’s asking for here is a greater right to imitate.
Sleeping in Washington
