In the hopes of saving money while avoiding consolidation, MediaNews Group is introducing “digital-first Mondays” at six of its California newspapers. Of those papers, the three that have paywalls will make all web content free on Mondays, and print subscribers will no longer have to pay an additional cost for…

A group of eight newspaper publishers—Advance Digital, A. H. Belo Corporation, Cox Media Group, Gannett (NYSE: GCI), Hearst, MediaNews Group, The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), and The Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO)—have formed a joint venture to promote their individual daily deals efforts.

Journal Register CEO John Paton has been a vocal opponent of using paywalls to increase digital revenue for newspapers, as have his advisory board members Jeff Jarvis, Emily Bell and Jay Rosen. But what happens now that he is also the CEO of MediaNews Group, which already has more than…

John Paton, recognized for turning around the Journal Register Co., is now CEO of the considerably larger MediaNews Group as well—and will lead both via a new management company named for his own mantra: Digital First Media Inc.  The common thread between the two companies? Hedge fund Alden Global Capital,…

Some of the stories people are talking about this morning:»  Brightcove has filed a $50 million IPO (SEC) »  Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) to Subsidize Subscribers’ TV Device (NYT) »  MediaNews Group consolidates 11 Bay Area Papers Into Two, 120 jobs lost (paidContent) »  Digital Ad Growth Has Resumed And…

California’s Bay Area residents are a couple months away from losing many of their local newspapers, as the Bay Area News Group—a division of MediaNews Group—consolidates eleven newspapers, including the Oakland Tribune, into just two: The Times and the East Bay Tribune. In addition, the San Mateo County Times will…

Readers of MediaNews Group’s small- and medium-sized newspapers in California, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Massachusetts and Vermont will pay for online content under a metered model starting today, even if they are print subscribers. MediaNews publishes 57 daily newspapers in 11 states; its larger newspapers remain free.

Even in the close-mouthed world of hedge fund investment, Randall Smith, the principal of Alden Global Capital, gives new meaning to the euphemism “low profile.” Smith’s Alden bought out fellow hedge funds earlier this month and now owns Journal-Register Co. outright. It has gained the largest share of MediaNews, the…

Earlier this week, a Nevada federal judge dealt a major setback to copyright enforcer Righthaven. In the wake of that decision—which said that Righthaven didn’t have standing to sue in the majority of the 270+ lawsuits it has filed—a variety of forces have been pushing back against Righthaven.

Angered at Righthaven’s behavior, a Las Vegas federal judge unsealed the company’s heretofore confidential agreement with the Las Vegas Review-Journal late on Friday. The contract reveals that the controversial copyright-enforcement company and LV R-J parent company Stephens Media are splitting their net earnings from suing hundreds of bloggers on a…

Controversial copyright-enforcement company Righthaven was already catching a lot of flak for its lawsuit against Brian Hill. Denver alt-weekly Westword was eagerly reporting that its biggest competitor, The Denver Post, was trying to make extra cash off its photos and articles—by working with Righthaven to sue a 20-year-old, chronically ill,…

Sometimes it seems like Righthaven might run out of targets to sue for copyright infringement, but now it has tapped into a perhaps never-ending source: journalists covering Righthaven.

Ken Doctor is the author of Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get. He blogs at Newsonomics.com, where this piece initially ran. Dean Singleton worked the deals in corners of the U.S. for decades, building from scratch a major chain, that by circulation (though, not revenue)…

Some of the stories people are talking about this morning:»  Ad tech firms Cross Commerce MediaClickable, MediaMath, and TARGUSinfo are forming the Consortium for Accountable Advertising, which they believe will help startups create a balance of power to that will reduce the dominance of companies like Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and…

MediaNews Group is shaking up the ranks of its upper management, in what the big newspaper publisher is calling an effort to better handle the changing newspaper industry. Notably, company founder Dean Singleton will be stepping down as CEO, although he will stay on as executive chairman of the company’s…

Copyright enforcement company Righthaven is going after its biggest target yet—widely read news aggregator The Drudge Report. Righthaven is suing over a photograph The Drudge Report posted that originally was published in the Denver Post. That newspaper is owned by the MediaNews Group, which Righthaven started working with earlier this…

So far, Righthaven has been known more for the novelty of its business plan than the size of its client roster. In fact, nearly all the lawsuits it has filed were based on copyrights acquired from one paper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Now, Righthaven has added a bit more heft…

The Tribune Co. is expected to notify a bankruptcy court judge today that it has reached a settlement with its major creditors. That should clear the way for the company to emerge from 22 months of bankruptcy, and would mark the end of a two-year stretch that saw nine U.S.…

As it promised back in January, Affiliated Media, the holding company for newspaper chain MediaNews Group, has emerged for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The owner of the Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News was able to shrink its debt from a staggering $930 million debt to a more manageable…