It appears there has been a change in the relationship between San Francisco businessman and social commentator Clint Reilly and the MediaNews newspapers in the Bay area.

Reilly has been publishing a weekly column in the MediaNews newspapers for about the last six months as part of the settlement of an antitrust lawsuit. The column has appeared under a slug identifying it as a “Paid Advertisement.” But the column published today had a small italic slug at the top that says “Provided by MNG” (MediaNews Group.)

Also, biographical info about Reilly at the end of the column disappeared as of today. Instead, there is a copy block at the end of the column which says:

“Clint Reilly’s column appears weekly in 11 Bay Area Newspapers owned by MediaNews Group. MediaNews is providing the space at no costs according to the settlement terms of a public interest antitrust suit filed by Reilly to promote newspaper competition. The views expressed are Clint’s alone.”

This is a significant change, particularly considering the vehemence with which MediaNews Group Inc. President Jody Lodovic denied that the space in each member of the California Newspaper Partnership (CNP) would be free to Reilly. Lodovic was interviewed by Editor and Publisher magazine last April. At that time he insisted:

“This is paid space,” Lodovic said. “(Alioto—Reilly’s attorney is) running around telling everyone (Reilly’s) getting it for free. We haven’t got any terms for it yet, but it’s paid space.”

Lodovic also denied at that time that:

“Reilly has the right to sit on the editorial board of any California Newspaper Partnership (CNP) newspaper he chooses…”

Something has obviously changed and as soon as I get more details I will pass them along.

For those of you who need a refresher here is some background.

Last April MediaNews reached agreement on an anti-trust suit Reilly had filed challenging the sale of the former KRI newspapers to MediaNews and seeking to ban cooperation between the San Francisco Chronicle and MediaNews.

This is a graph from Pete Carey story on Mercury News.com at the time which summarized the settlement:

“A San Francisco investor’s lawsuit challenging the purchase of the Mercury News and Contra Costa Times by MediaNews was settled today with an agreement that Hearst and MediaNews abandon an earlier proposal to collaborate on national advertising and distribution in the Bay Area. The settlement was announced at a press conference by Clint Reilly, the investor who sued Hearst, MediaNews, the California Newspapers Partnership and Stephens Media to block the deal and Hearst’s involvement in it last July. He argued that the deal violated antitrust laws.”

I found all of this moderately interesting, although I did say at the time I thought MediaNews had won the suit.

It looks like I may have been premature in that judgment.