Antitrust and the newspapers a comment on S. 1312

The American newspaper industry, often called "The Fourth Estate," apparently believes it has fallen on hard times. The aristocrats of the Fourth Estate, the daily newspapers, came to the Ninetieth Congress seeking a boon: relaxation of the rigors of antitrust policy as applied to mergers and joint agency operations by otherwise competing newspapers. A bill has been introduced, S. 1312, which is sponsored by fifteen Senators of diverse political and economic views, all save one having one thing in common-the presence of newspaper joint agency operations in their home states.'