With a banner headline saying "Goodbye, Dallas!" the Dallas Times Herald put out its last edition Monday, making this the nation's largest city with just one daily newspaper.
The Times Herald agreed to a $55 million buyout by The Dallas Morning News, ending a bitter rivalry that lasted 106 years. The newspaper's 900 full-time employees were laid off with two months' pay."I'm sad for myself, I'm sad for the newspaper," reporter Marty Sabota said. "But mostly I'm sad for the people of Dallas who have lost the advantages and the benefits of a two-newspaper town."
Mounting debt and the poor economy made the closing inevitable, said publisher John Buzzetta.
"This recession has been especially difficult for media companies and particularly hard on the second newspaper company in a market," Buzzetta said.
"We weren't losers as journalists," said Roy Bode, the newspaper's editor. "We lost in the end to the market and the economy."
The newspaper had been sold twice in the past five years.
The Times Herald was a morning newspaper, having stopped publishing its afternoon edition in April. The Morning News will not add an afternoon edition.
Buzzetta approached A.H. Belo Corp., owner of The Morning News, which agreed to the deal in October. The U.S. Justice Department, which reviewed the agreement for antitrust violations, approved it over the weekend.
Robert Decherd, Belo's chairman and chief executive, said the Time Herald's demise reflects the difficult economy and conditions in the newspaper industry.