Newspaper Group Files for Bankruptcy

The holding company for newspaper publisher MediaNews Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday.

Affiliated Media Inc., the privately held parent company for the owner of The Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News and 52 other daily newspapers, had said Jan. 15 it would be making the move. It said it had a deal with creditors that will cut its debt to $165 million from $930 million.

Lenders led by Bank of America would get most of the company's stock. But the company has said its newspapers will not be affected and William Dean Singleton will remain chairman and CEO. Singleton and the company's president, Joseph J. Lodovic IV, will own all class A shares, allowing them to choose a majority of the seven-member board of directors.

"By aggressively facing the challenges of the newspaper business, we will continue to deliver high-quality journalism and will prepare our newspapers for a promising future," Singleton, who is also chairman of The Associated Press, said in a statement Friday.

A bankruptcy court in Delaware has to approve the plan.

The filing is one of at least 14 in the newspaper industry since December 2008. Publishers battered by the recession have struggled to manage debts left over from acquisitions they made in better times.