{"id":11744,"date":"2010-01-20T15:10:08","date_gmt":"2010-01-20T22:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=11744"},"modified":"2010-01-20T15:10:16","modified_gmt":"2010-01-20T22:10:16","slug":"newspaper-chain%e2%80%99s-holding-company-plans-bankruptcy-filing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2010\/01\/newspaper-chain%e2%80%99s-holding-company-plans-bankruptcy-filing\/","title":{"rendered":"Newspaper chain\u2019s holding company plans bankruptcy filing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

The Las Cruces Sun-News offices. (Photo by SpecialKolin\/flickr.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

The holding company for MediaNews Group<\/a>, the newspaper chain that is the owner or majority stakeholder in nine New Mexico newspapers including the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a> and Farmington Daily Times<\/a>, plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.<\/p>\n

The company claims that the move will allow it to eliminate a great deal of debt without affecting operations at its newspapers, The Associated Press<\/a> is reporting.<\/p>\n

The news about one of the nation\u2019s largest newspaper companies \u2013 MediaNews\u2019 papers include the Denver Post<\/a> and San Jose Mercury News<\/a> \u2013 is the latest blow to an industry that has been crippled by readers\u2019 moves to the Internet and the economic downturn. And it follows a series of changes at the company\u2019s New Mexico newspapers.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, the company has brought on a new publisher<\/a> at the Daily Times, and hired a new vice president<\/a> for its New Mexico operations so the Sun-News publisher \u2013 who previously oversaw all New Mexico operations \u2013 can focus on being more active in the Las Cruces community.<\/p>\n

Last year, the company eliminated a number of jobs<\/a> at its Las Cruces newspaper, moved the Sun-News copy desk to El Paso \u2013 the company also owns the nearby El Paso Times<\/a> \u2013 and furloughed all employees companywide for a week without pay.<\/p>\n

The bankruptcy filing by MediaNews\u2019 holding company, Affiliated Media Inc., is a \u201cprepackaged\u201d plan that\u2019s already been approved by lenders, the AP reported. Affiliated Media says that will allow the company to more quickly come out of bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

From the AP:<\/p>\n

\u201cMediaNews\u2019 management and newspaper operations, employees and vendors won\u2019t be affected by the holding company\u2019s restructuring, MediaNews Group Chairman and CEO William Dean Singleton said. He is the chairman of The Associated Press board of directors.<\/p>\n

\u201cA date for the filing hasn\u2019t been announced, but the company said it would be in the near future. The reorganization plan was expected to be filed in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the plan, the company\u2019s debt would fall from about $930 million to $165 million. Senior lenders would swap debt for stock, the company said. The group of 116 lenders, led by Bank of America, would hold a majority of stock but not voting control.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the context, also from the AP:<\/p>\n

\u201cAffiliated Media\u2019s bankruptcy filing illustrates the uncertainty facing major newspapers publishers as their main source of income \u2013 print advertising \u2013 has plunged during the past four years. Since 2005, the industry\u2019s annual ad sales have dropped by more than $20 billion, a decline of about 40 percent, based on figures from the Newspaper Association of America.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublishers are hoping the slump will ease this year as the economy recovers from the worst recession in 70 years. But newspapers still must figure out how to support their operations as more readers and advertisers migrate to the Internet, where ads sell for dramatically less, many news articles are free, and the competition is much greater.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In a letter<\/a> to MediaNews employees, Singleton called the news of the bankruptcy filing \u201cimportant and positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect all of our daily operations to continue without disruption, with employees receiving normal salary and benefits, suppliers being paid, advertising being placed and newspapers being printed and delivered as usual,\u201d he wrote. \u201cNo layoffs, sale of newspapers, facility closings or consolidations are anticipated as a result of the financial reorganization announced today.\u201d<\/p>\n

In New Mexico, MediaNews owns the\u00a0Ruidoso News<\/a> and\u00a0White Sands Missile Ranger<\/a>. In addition to the Daily Times and Las Cruces Sun-News, it is the majority stakeholder in the\u00a0Alamogordo Daily News<\/a>,\u00a0Carlsbad Current-Argus<\/a>,\u00a0Deming Headlight<\/a>, the\u00a0Four Corners Business Journal<\/a> in Farmington and the\u00a0Silver City Sun-News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The holding company for MediaNews Group, the newspaper chain that is the owner or majority stakeholder in nine New Mexico newspapers including the Las Cruces Sun-News and Farmington Daily Times, plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[134],"class_list":["post-11744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}