Today marks a year since the parent company of the Daily News, the Inquirer and philly.com filed for bankruptcy - and no end is in sight to what sometimes has been a brass-knuckles brawl to control the leading news organization in the nation's sixth-largest city.
But the man at the center of this newspaper snowmageddon, Philadelphia Media Holdings' embattled chief executive, Brian Tierney, said in an interview that although he's frustrated by the delays, he also is excited by the fight.
Tierney said that the mood at the papers' offices is "oddly exhilarating, because what we are fighting for is real improvement, and I feel the papers are better today than in 2006 when we took over" from longtime and nowdefunct owner Knight-Ridder Corp. In particular, he cited the national award won last week by two Daily News reporters for their "Tainted Justice" series on police corruption.
Sounding at times like a populist candidate for political office, Tierney continues to argue that fighting for a local group to maintain control of the Philadelphia newspapers will keep the newsroom out of the hands of the Wall Street hedge funds.
Needless to say, the creditors who own the debt that once financed the 2006 purchase - and who now are fighting Tierney's faction for the right to take ownership of the papers coming out of bankruptcy - see things differently.
"The lenders are looking forward to the end of a bankruptcy case that has gone on for way too long," said Fred Hodara, attorney for the secured lenders. He said that legal decisions between now and the end of March should break the logjam, adding that "there's good reason to think the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News will be able to emerge from bankruptcy as vibrant newspapers finally, and the lenders are looking forward to being part of the successful conclusion of that process."
It already has been a long, strange trip for the newspapers and the people battling to control them since Philadelphia Media Holdings announced on Feb. 21, 2009, that it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Many saw a bold experiment when a group of local, wealthy newspaper novices, led by Tierney with real-estate and auto magnate Bruce Toll as chairman, bought the papers in 2006. But the new owners were hit immediately with the double whammy of a loss of readers and advertisers to the Internet and with the Great Recession, which dropped revenue below the amount needed to repay the $390 million in borrowing that financed the purchase.
