Colorado Daily Miffed by Camera-CU deal

BOULDER — Tension between the independent newspaper, Colorado Daily, and the Un

iversity of Colorado at Boulder continues following an announcement last month t

hat the Daily Camera and the Campus Press plan to join forces to market and dist

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ribute CU’s student-run newspaper.

The Daily, which was CU-Boulder’s student newspaper until 1972 when it broke awa

y from the school over censorship issues, is considering filing a lawsuit agains

t the Camera and CU for possible infringements of antitrust and copyright laws.

The Daily, which targets student readers at CU and depends on advertising dollar

s from businesses surrounding the CU-Boulder campus, is concerned that a joint C

U-Camera publication would cut into its established business.

Pamela White, editor of the Daily, said CU and the Camera are intentionally coll

uding to put the Daily out of business by creating a monopoly, which would be in

violation of federal antitrust laws.

She also accused the Camera of violating copyright laws by using the name “Buff

Stampede” on its college football special section, which is very similar to the

name “Stadium Stampede” that the Daily has been using for almost a decade on its

special football section.

“There is some question to (the Daily Camera’s) motivation,” White said.

“And CU has a questionable motive. It wouldn’t be the first time (CU) has attemp

ted to hurt our business.”

White said the Daily also is looking into a possible copyright violation

concerning its “Stadium Stampede” special section, which it distributes at CU h

ome football games. The Camera has created a similar section called “Buff Stampe

de.”

“They are trying to derive income by imitating a product that we have be

en putting out for almost a decade,” White said.

The Daily filed its complaints on Aug. 10 with Colorado Deputy Attorney General

Ken Lane and said that his office is looking into the situation. Meanwhile, the

Daily Camera is moving full-steam ahead with the new agreement.

Mike Madigan, general manager at the Daily Camera, said the effort is an

outgrowth of continued discussions the newspaper has had with CU’s journalism d

epartment.

“It’s a way for us to be a supporter of college journalism and a good neighbor.

We’re not doing it out of total philanthropy, though. It gives us a chance to ex

pose some of our advertisers to the campus by selling them into the Campus Press

. I don’t think it’s unfair or illegal. We made them a proposal. We talked throu

gh it and agreed it was beneficial. There was nothing prohibiting the Colorado D

aily from doing the same thing.”

Russell Pols, the Daily’s interim publisher, said any agreement between a public

institution and private industry must be placed for open bid, which never occur

red in the CU-Camera deal.