Gannett Co., the nation's largest newspaper company has decided to take over the Detroit Free Press from Knight Ridder Inc. and MediaNews Group Inc. will take possession of The Detroit News from Gannett.

Gannett and Knight Ridder has also announced an exchange of newspapers in Florida, Washington and Idaho. But the terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gannett said that the Detroit News will become a morning publication by 2006. The Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News each will publish a separate Saturday edition, although the Detroit Free Press will become sole publisher of the Sunday newspaper.

At the moment, the Saturday and Sunday editions are a joint publication of the News and the Free press, which have been run as a joint operating agreement since 1989.

Knight Ridder will lose its interest from the joint operating agreement, known as the Detroit Newspaper Agency. The 1989 agreement kept the newsrooms separate, but combined most business functions between Gannett and Knight-Ridder.