Bay Area Democrats want closer look at MediaNews Deal

BAY AREA DEMOCRATS WANT CLOSER LOOK AT MEDIANEWS DEAL
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle 5/6, AUTHOR: Carolyn Said]
Six Bay Area members of Congress wrote to the Justice Department on Friday, asking it to carefully consider the antitrust implications of McClatchy Co.'s proposed acquisition of Knight Ridder. Specifically, the representatives questioned the impact on Bay Area readers and advertisers of a key related transaction -- the transfer of three Northern California Knight Ridder newspapers to Denver's MediaNews Group and the involvement of New York's Hearst Corp. in that complex arrangement. Those papers are the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and Monterey County Herald. The letter was signed by Reps. Zoe Lofgren, George Miller, Anna Eshoo, Ellen Tauscher, Barbara Lee and Mike Honda, all Democrats. MediaNews, which already has a string of Bay Area dailies and nondailies, would have 43 papers extending across the Bay Area with the addition of the Knight Ridder dailies and associated weeklies, the letter said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/06/BUGUCIMG7A1.DTL