Negotiations Hit Snag on Keeping Miami News Open

MIAMI — Negotiations for keeping the Miami News open hit a snag when Cox Newspapers rejected a proposal to buy the daily, while a dozen community newspapers asked a federal judge to block the scheduled closing Saturday.

Cox Newspapers officials and Miami News executives waited today for the investors, represented by Chicago newspaper consultant John R. Malone, to meet conditions that would allow the city’s oldest daily to remain open.

On Wednesday Atlanta-based Cox rejected Malone’s proposal that Cox support the paper’s losses for six weeks while the potential buyers obtain a loan.

“We absolutely rejected that concept,” said David Easterly, president of Cox, owner of the 92-year-old newspaper.

Also Wednesday, a lawsuit filed by a dozen Dade County community newspapers, six News distributors and two readers asked a federal judge to block Saturday’s planned closure of the newspaper, contending that Cox and Knight-Ridder Inc., owner of the Miami Herald, “conspired to monopolize the market” for daily newspapers in Miami.

Easterly said Cox will contest the lawsuit.

Under a Dec. 23 agreement, the newspaper will remain open through early February if Malone comes up with escrow deposits to cover operating losses during the period.

Cox officials estimate the News’ operating costs in 1988 were nearly $9 million, or $750,000 a month.