The Sun is NOT the R-J

Saturday, July 1, 2000 | 2:27 a.m.

The Las Vegas Sun is an independent daily newspaper that emphasizes local news coverage.

It is not a sister publication of the Review-Journal. It is not the Review-Journal's afternoon edition.

As a separate newspaper, the Sun competes fiercely with the R-J and every day contains news, analysis and opinions the R-J does not have.

There is confusion about the relationship of the two newspapers because they share business functions -- when people call to subscribe to, or place an ad in, the Sun they get the R-J's circulation or advertising departments, which also handle the Sun's circulation and advertising. The Sun is printed on the R-J's presses.

The reason for this is that 10 years ago the Sun entered into a Joint Operating Agreement with the R-J. Under the agreement the two newspapers share business functions while maintaining separate news departments.

Such agreements are allowed by the Newspaper Preservation Act, passed by Congress in 1970. The law enables two newspapers in the same city to combine business functions -- normally a violation of anti-trust laws -- in order to be able to continue to provide the community with two distinct news and editorial voices.

The Las Vegas Sun has been owned by the Greenspun family of Las Vegas since 1950. The Las Vegas Review-Journal is part of the Donrey Media Group, which is based in Little Rock, Ark.

The agreement between the Sun and the Review-Journal requires the Sun to be published weekdays in the afternoons. The R-J is the morning paper.

On Saturdays and holidays the Sun has two independently produced pages, including one comics page, printed in the morning R-J. On Sundays, the Sun has an independently produced six-page section featuring news stories -- including investigative, interpretive and enterprise pieces -- as well as entertainment news, editorials and columns. It is packaged as one of the sections of the combined R-J / Las Vegas Sun.

Having the two newspapers share expenses while maintaining independent newsrooms enables readers to have more than one perspective in evaluating the day's news.

"Citizens in communities with two newspapers have a range in points of view and they have more of a voice," according to Bob Giles, former editor of the Detroit News and now senior vice president of the Freedom Forum. "Citizens have an option when they want to express their points of view on issues involving their communities."

While providing thorough reports of world and national news, the Sun emphasizes local news in all of its five sections. The Sun places a priority on explaining the implications of local news to its readers.

The Sun provides more than a different take on the news. In every section, every day, the Sun has original stories not found in the R-J or on local television news. And its editorial viewpoints on public affairs are very different from the R-J's.

The best way to remember the relationship between the Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun is this: In terms of news reporting, editorials and opinion pieces, there is no relationship.