The Virginian-Pilot 
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, October 27, 1995               TAG: 9510270606
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Digest 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Short :   26 lines

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT PROBING NEWSPRINT PRICES

The Justice Department said Thursday that it had begun an investigation into possible anticompetitive pricing practices in the newsprint industry.

Gina Talamona, a spokeswoman at the Justice Department, announced the antitrust investigation but declined to identify which companies or individuals had been under scrutiny, or to say how far the investigation had progressed.

The announcement followed complaints from newspaper publishers this year about the sharply escalating prices of newsprint. Sharp increases in the cost of newsprint have been cutting into newspaper profits, leading to layoffs, newsstand price increases and reductions in space allotted for news.

KEYWORDS: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION NEWSPRINT by CNB