McClatchy Co., one of the nation’s largest newspaper publishers, filed for bankruptcy protection today, the Washington Post reported. The chapter 11 filing will allow the Sacramento-based company to keep its 30 newspapers afloat while it reorganizes more than $700 million in debt, 60 percent of which would be eliminated. If the plan wins court approval, control of the 163-year-old family publisher would be turned over to hedge fund Chatham Asset Management, its largest creditor. The filing foreshadows further cost-cutting and retrenchment for one of the biggest players in local journalism, at a time when most American newsrooms already are straining to cover their communities amid declining ad revenue and dwindling resources. Twenty percent of all U.S. newspapers have closed since 2004, according to a recent report from PEN America, and the sector has shed 47 percent of its jobs. The publisher of the Miami Herald, Kansas City Star and other regional dailies has been saddled with debt since its $4.5 billion takeover of a much bigger rival, Knight Ridder, in 2006. The combination coincided with a digital boom that disrupted the prevailing business model and transformed the way news is consumed.
