We notice that the Arizona Daily Star is no longer being published by Tucson Newspapers,Inc. The new publisher is the Star Publishing Company, doing business at the same old stand…down there on South Park Avenue.

Back in the day, Gannett owned a piece of TNI under the “Joint Operating Agreement” and shared ad revenue with the Star. Even after the death of the Tucson Citizen newspaper, which they no longer jointly operated as part of Tucson Newspapers, Inc., Gannett continued to get a portion of the advertising revenues earned by TNI.

The notion that something could still be jointly owned after nothing was being jointly operated has always struck The Data Port as a flat out evasion of the intent of establishing joint operating agreements in the first place. The intent was to help maintain the existence of print journalism.

We’ve been told that former TNI employees (the same ones who are now working for the Star Publishing Co.) have turned in their ID cards and business cards to be replaced by ones that do not reference Gannett.

What exactly does this name charge mean? Does Gannett now own part of Tucson Newspapers, Inc? Did the fiction of a joint operating agreement finally seem to be skating too near a violation of the spirit and intent joint operating agreement legislation? Or has Gannett stopped “sharing” the Star’s revenue?

And where does the Star’s owner…Lee Enterprises…fit in this arrangement.

It’s a puzzlement.