As final fate of 126-year-old The Cincinnati Post hangs in the balance, the debate over the impact of its folding is one centered on newspaper competition and the changing field of media.

In a news release in 2004, E.W. Scripps Company announced that the newspaper joint operating agreement (JOA) that existed since the 1970s between Gannett Co. Inc - the owner of The Cincinnati Enquirer - and E.W. Scripps - the parent firm of the Post - would not be renewed at its expiration Dec. 31, 2007.

According to Tim Stautberg, vice president of corporate communications and investor relations with the E.W. Scripps Company, his company received a letter of notification prior to the posting of their press release signed by The Enquirer and the Gannett Company explaining that they would not be renewing the agreement.

Stautberg added that while the operating agreement is not being renewed, the fate of The Post has yet to be determined.

"Scripps is exploring alternatives for The Post beyond expiration of the Joint Operating Agreement," Stautberg said.

He said that a decision regarding the fate of The Post is expected from senior management at the Scripps Company sometime before the end of the year.

Should The Post close operations for good, The Cincinnati Enquirer would remain the sole newspaper distributed throughout Cincinnati.

Bob Kraft; former copy editor, news editor and managing editor for The Post; said the closing of The Post would be a huge loss for the Cincinnati area.

He noted that through the years, The Post has served the community in a manner that has given citizens multiple voices from which to receive information. Kraft added that the more voices that exist from which to gain information, the better informed the community becomes.

Kevin Obsorne, former city hall and local politics reporter for The Post, agreed that The Post closing would be bad for Cincinnati and journalism as a whole.

He said it is a bad trend for a city to have only one paper, but added that as of late, most cities can no longer support two papers, due to lower readership and the extensive use of the Internet for information.

Kraft said he believes this change with The Post has actually been occurring for five or six years, saying that circulation has been continuously declining. For instance, The Post discontinued circulation in Butler County since 2004.

John Lowery, Miami associate professor of English and former copy editor of The Post, echoed Kraft's remarks explaining that The Post has been declining for several years.

"I don't think it's very significant today," Lowery said. "I think the Cincinnati Post has been dead for a long time. I think it has been a loss, but there's not going to be a major change because circulation is so small. It's been on life support for a long time."

This decline in publication is a result of many factors, Kraft explained. He said post-World War II and the movement of people to various suburbs made it harder for The Post to reach the population. He added that it was hard to deliver to these areas.

Other factors that Kraft said contributed to declining publication of The Post include the development of television, the evening news becoming a larger source of information, and a shift in the job market. Kraft said the decline in factory work has impacted readership, in that people used to get off work early and go home to read the newspaper.

If the paper says its final farewell at the end of the year, Kraft does not believe it will significantly affect readers.

"Readers have already said goodbye to (The Post)," Kraft said, "so by the time it leaves, not many will notice."

Osborne disagreed, saying that the potential closing of The Post would only be a detriment to readers.

"Readers will have less information as opposed to more, and that is always a bad thing," Osborne said.

One huge factor that Kraft believes will be missing should The Post close is the competition that exists among newspapers. He said that competition between newspapers is necessary to keep papers honest.

"If I had competition, it would make me better," Kraft said. "Competition will make papers better."

Osborne agreed, saying he believes that competition benefits the quality of papers. He said that whenever the public is given more choices, they gain a more complete picture of events and are better informed.

Patricia Gallagher Newberry, lecturer in Miami University's journalism program and former reporter of The Enquirer, said that The Post provided good competition for the staff at The Enquirer.

"Everyday (The Post) gave The Cincinnati Enquirer a run for its money," Newberry said. "They scooped us as often as we scooped them."

She said that competition is good for democracy and that she hoped there would be more voices chasing the news than fewer. She added that even as The Post decreased circulation, the paper was "not to be ignored."

Newberry mentioned that it's not unusual for junior partners of JOAs to close, but that she is upset that The Post might be ceasing circulation in the Cincinnati area.

"I think it's a sad reality that junior partners in JOAs usually fold," Newberry said. "I think it's a sad event in Cincinnati because we will lose a feisty newspaper that cared about its readers."

However, Miami assistant professor of English and journalism Cheryl Heckler commended The Post for sustaining the business as long as it has.

"It's always disappointing when a newspaper folds," Heckler said. "But it's kind of cool that The Post was able to hang in there as long as it did."