One of the less attractive characteristics of our capitalistic system is the modern corporation's obsession with capturing every niche it can without regard for the folks occupying the niche and irrespective of whether it makes much of a difference to the bottom line. I've watched it over and over again with a number of friends being nudged out of a business when a large corporation took an interest.

The Clarion-Ledger is now trying to run free publications in Jackson out of business by offering merchants a stand holding a number of free publications, most of them published by the Clarion-Ledger. The catch: the merchant has to sign a contract not to allow any other magazine stands on his premises for the duration of the contract (1 year) and anyone wanting permission to put their magazine in the rack has to pay the Clarion-Ledger $8.00 per location, either per issue or per month, a prohibitive sum.

It's unethical and probably illegal, but the small publishers could be out of business before the matter could be resolved in the courts.

Here's an article in the Jackson Free Press on what's happening.