West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has asked a Putnam County judge to require the Daily Gazette Company to turn over information about the joining of the Gazette and the Daily Mail newspapers.
Morrisey's office filed a petition last week in Putnam Circuit Court asking that a judge require the company to comply with an investigative subpoena about the newly formed Charleston Gazette-Mail.
The Attorney General's office is looking into whether any antitrust violations occurred under state law when the newsrooms combined.
Attorneys for the newspaper argue Morrisey has no probable cause for the subpoena and said they welcome an independent judicial review. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Phillip Stowers.
"The Charleston Gazette-Mail is disappointed in the actions taken by the Attorney General as his actions will only serve to distract from the mission of providing quality news coverage to the State of West Virginia," the Gazette-Mail said in a statement. "Our attorneys have been working with the Attorney General to address his request. Based upon the advice of our counsel, The Charleston Gazette-Mail objected to the Attorney General's subpoena."
Michael Callaghan, one of the attorneys representing the Gazette-Mail, stated, "For the Attorney General to have legal authority to issue a subpoena to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, he must meet the standard of establishing probable cause to warrant investigating whether a violation of West Virginia law occurred. The facts and circumstances surrounding the issuance of the subpoena bring into question the existence of probable cause.
"We are pleased to have an independent judicial review to determine whether the Attorney General possessed probable cause to issue the subpoena to the Charleston Gazette-Mail," Callaghan said.
The two newspapers operated independently for readers and advertisers until Jan. 1, 1958, when the owners merged the business, advertising, circulation and production departments into a single corporation.
On July 19 of this year, the two newspapers combined newsroom functions with the exception of editorial page content.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1723 or @KateLWhite on Twitter.