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A prominent state senator voiced optimism Monday that Utah's largest newspaper will survive with the help of prospective new owners.
After meeting with a top official from the U.S. Department of Justice, Sen. Jim Dabakis said "a serious proposal" had emerged to ensure The Salt Lake Tribune's status "as a professionally run, financially secure and independent voice for many generations to come."
The outspoken Salt Lake City Democrat declined to elaborate, saying only that the plans were "very complex" and involved a group of "prominent, civic-minded Utah community leaders" negotiating to buy The Tribune.
The latest talks, Dabakis said, are unrelated to a stalled proposal to buy the newspaper from Utah industrialist and philanthropist Jon Huntsman Sr.
"There are a lot of moves on this Rubik's Cube," Dabakis said Monday morning after an hourlong meeting with David Kully, chief of the Justice Department's civil antitrust enforcement over the newspaper industry.
"But," Dabakis said, "everyone understands how important a healthy, strong, independent, professionally run Tribune is to our state."
A DOJ spokesman declined to comment Monday.
Dabakis has been among the high-profile critics of a renegotiation in fall 2013 of The Tribune's longstanding business partnership with its chief rival, the LDS Church-owned Deseret News.
Those changes cut in half The Tribune's share of ongoing profits from the partnership and sold the paper's stake in West Valley City printing facilities.
The revisions are the target of a Justice Department investigation as well as a federal lawsuit brought by a group of former Tribune employees and community members, who allege the deal threatens to put The Tribune out of business. The paper's current owner, New York-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital, and top executives at the Deseret News have countered that the deal — crafted without the knowledge of local Tribune managers — was meant to strengthen The Tribune as it converts to a more digitally focused future.
Recent court filings also mention that active talks of a possible Tribune sale are underway.
Lawyers for The Tribune and the News are seeking tight restrictions on business documents they are being compelled to hand over in the federal lawsuit, brought nearly two years ago by Citizens for Two Voices.
In seeking to convince U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish that the documents are "sensitive" and deserve confidentiality, newspaper lawyers also described their contents in general terms.
In one late-March court motion, the attorneys sought protections for 26 documents which they maintain were related to The Tribune's sale to "potential purchasers." Those included "internal valuations" of the newspaper and other properties up for sale, the lawyers said, and a letter disclosing offer terms from a prospective buyer.
Lawyers for the two dailies also said they have handed over financial data on The Tribune's operations and future projections. Documents included details on talks with the News amid "a dispute about digital advertising revenues," they told the judge, as well as "internal email discussions regarding strategies and targets for improving the financial performance of The Tribune."
Attorneys said three other documents covered by their motion dealt with possible termination of the Tribune-News partnership before its current 2020 expiration date.
Parrish has yet to rule on the documents motion.