Philadelphia papers miss an interest payment again

The owners of Philadelphia's two major daily newspapers missed an interest payment once again as they seek a new agreement with lenders to account for the continuing decline they expect in advertising revenue. The latest move appears aimed at forcing lenders to renegotiate, something many have been doing with newspaper companies as the worsening economy puts additional pressure on an advertising market that — long before the current downturn began — already was suffering from a migration of readers and ad dollars to the Internet. Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, which owns The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, said it had enough cash on hand to make its Oct. 1 payment, but was awaiting completion of the renegotiations to release the money. Although the company made a reference to "the chaos, volatility... [read full story]