WASHINGTON — Attorney General Janet Reno approved the partial merger Friday of the Denver Post and Denver Rocky Mountain News to preserve two independent editorial voices after the News lost $123 million in a circulation war during the 1990s.

        Accepting a recommendation made last fall by the Justice Department's antitrust division, Ms. Reno concluded that persistent operating losses would probably force the News to close unless she allowed it to merge printing and commercial operations with its competitor. Their reporting and editorial staffs will remain independent.

        The News is owned by Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps Co., while the Post is owned by MediaNews Group Inc.

        Since the Newspaper Preservation Act was enacted in 1970, attorneys general have approved every application for the partial exemption from antitrust laws that bars competitors from working together. Ms. Reno's decision was the ninth such approval.

        The Cincinnati Enquirer, owned by Gannett Co. Inc., and the Cincinnati Post, another Scripps paper, are published under a joint operating agreement.

        The law “was enacted explicitly to prevent where possible the closure of papers like the News,” Ms. Reno said. “With this joint operating agreement, Denver will remain a two-newspaper city with independent editorial voices.”

        “In the past 100 years, more than 1,000 newspapers have closed, driven off by a range of competitive forces including the introduction of radio, then television and now the Internet,” Ms. Reno said. . “Today, Denver is one of only five major American cities served by independently competing daily newspapers of general circulation.”

        The others are Boston, Chicago, New York and Washington.

        The partial merger will take effect Jan. 22.

        Penny-a-day subscription prices and other aggressive strategies backfired for the News, forcing it to seek a truce with the Post in an application filed with the Justice Department last May.

        The Denver newspapers had fought a vigorous circulation war for more than a century. The Post switched from publishing in the afternoon to publishing in the morning in 1984 to face the News head-on. By the 1990s, the newspapers were slashing subscription costs.

        Despite its edge in circulation, the News lost $123 million in the past decade.

Fewer jobs created
What you read may land you in the red
Local experts' picks for 2000 were a little bit off target, too
The dart portfolio
Firms address increased expenses
Money mistakes
Comic book talks investing to children
Frisch's closing on Fourth Street
HIGGINS: Personal finance
High-definition TV part comes from Clermont Co.
Pact saves Denver newspaper
Savvy strategies
Synchrony lets go 14% of work force
The Sophisticated Investor
Business Digest
Tristate Business Summary
What's the Buzz?