Journal Register Company files for bankruptcy

Poynter reporting:
The Journal Register Company will seek protection under Chapter 11 “and will seek to implement a prompt sale,” according to Digital First Media head John Paton.
Journal Register is one of the companies operated by Digital First Media; the others are MediaNews Group and Digital First Ventures. In a blog post, Paton calls the bankruptcy “Another Tough Step” and says the company “has a signed stalking horse bid” from an investment group affiliated with Alden Global Capital. Alden sold The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com to a group of local investors earlier this year.
Alden purchased Journal Register in 2011 and owns stakes in other newspaper publishing companies. In February, Rick Edmonds wondered whether Alden “may have concluded that the suburban cluster” of papers Journal Register operates in the Philadelphia region “has the better business prospects.”

Journal Register last filed for bankruptcy in 2009. James W. Hall, the CEO at the time, promised it would emerge “stronger, leaner and more financially viable in the current environment.”
Digital revenue is up sharply at JRC, Paton writes, “But also from 2009 to 2011 Journal Register Company’s print advertising revenue declined 19% and print advertising represents more than half of the of the Company’s revenues.” What this means for Digital First Media is a little unclear. Paton says in his post the filing “will have no impact on the day-to-day operation of Journal Register Company, Digital First Media or MediaNews Group during the sale process.”
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/187531/journal-register-company-files-for-bankruptcy/