Key elements in the JOA settlement

Q: What does the newspaper settlement say?

A: It says the Seattle P-I's owner, The Hearst Corp., will pay the Seattle Times Co. $25 million for the Times Co. to stop trying to end their joint operating agreement, or JOA, until 2016. Hearst also agreed to drop all legal claims against the Times Co. and will give up future profits it had stood to receive if it folded the P-I, in exchange for a $49 million payment from the Times Co.

Q: Who really won?

A: Both sides say each side won. They're focusing on working together in the future.

Q: What is a JOA, and why does it matter?

A: Under Seattle's JOA, the Times Co. provides key business services -- including advertising, circulation and printing -- for the P-I in exchange for a larger share of the joint profits. Hearst says it can't publish the P-I outside the JOA.

Q: Does this mean Seattle will have two newspapers forever?

A: Not necessarily. It prohibits the Times Co. from trying to exit the JOA until 2016, ensuring that the P-I has the support it needs to publish through that date. Many newspapers' circulation and revenues are declining, and it's unclear what the future holds for them.

-- Dan Richman

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

"The people of Seattle will be well-served, and the Times and Hearst will have an opportunity to prove that the JOA can be profitable for both newspapers."

-- Phil Talmadge, Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town

"I'm hoping we can have a new business relationship with The Seattle Times. From a news standpoint, we'll have the same competitive relationship we've always had."

-- P-I Managing Editor

David McCumber

"We've been operating under this assumption that we can't really survive under the JOA. Now, we are going to be operating under the JOA still, so it does raise a lot of questions."

-- Gene Balk, Seattle Times news researcher

"It gives us a longer period of time to see if we can make this model work. The huge $64 question for all of us is, are newspapers going to survive? ... I'm still very skeptical that it will work."

-- Times Publisher

Frank Blethen

Source: The Associated Press