U-T rumors continue*

Despite claims by MediaNews CEO Dean Singleton that buying more newspapers (and adding to the already-ludicrous debt behind the company's fiscal chemotherapy regimen of incessant layoffs and cutbacks) is not in the company's plans, it looks like that might be exactly what's happening after all.

According to this voiceofsandiego.org article, MediaNews is one of four companies interested in purchasing the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Although there's not too much in the way of details, the article does offer a rather trenchant analysis of the U-T's odds if a MediaNews purchase goes through.

The MediaNews newspapers tend not to be known for their quality, although its flagship paper -- The Denver Post -- won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Columbine High School massacre.

Several years ago, Singleton declared that he wanted to make The Denver Post one of the nation's premier newspapers and planned to hire 200 new newsroom employees, said Michael Roberts, who covers the media for Westword, a Denver alternative weekly.

But the economy's troubles spelled the end of Singleton's hopes, Roberts said. He added that the publisher's cost-cutting in the Bay Area could be a sign of the future at the U-T if MediaNews buys it.

* More on MediaNews' interest in the U-T here and E&P's take on a MN purchase here.