• Editor & Publisher, Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:30 AM

William Dean Singleton, whose MediaNews Group owns nearly every daily newspaper in the Bay Area outside of the San Francisco Chronicle is in the spotlight as Hearst announced this week that it may sell or close the newspaper.

From an operational standpoint, with his Bay Area News Group papers successfully implementing many consolidation programs, from news coverage to centralized business operations, Singleton's chain is poised to take over the Chronicle easily. But financially, the chain is struggling like the rest of the industry.

The two companies have a history of joint partnerships, most recently with four Connecticut papers that MediaNews had managed for Hearst. That arrangement ended last year when Hearst took control of the papers. Even if MediaNews could not purchase the Chronicle, it could be part of any variety of deals to keep the paper going, through shared content, circulation or other opportunities. "Hearst is a valued partner of MediaNews," Singleton says. "But this is a situation that they are playing out on their own. We will be watching with interest."

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