Publisher may close 13 Conn. newspapers

The clock is ticking at The Herald of New Britain and The Bristol Press, which will be shut down if a buyer doesn't emerge by Jan. 12. Other Connecticut papers might close, too. (Jessica Hill/Associated Press)

Journal Register Co. plans to close up to 13 newspapers in Connecticut if it can't find a buyer for them.

Employees of The Herald of New Britain and The Bristol Press were told Monday that those newspapers, published daily, will close if a buyer is not found by Jan. 12.

The company owns three other daily newspapers in Connecticut: The New Haven Register, The Middletown Press, and The Register Citizen of Torrington. They will continue to publish, The Hartford Courant said on its website, citing an employee familiar with company operations.

But some of Journal Register's 17 weekly newspapers could also be closed if a buyer is not found.

Publisher Edward Gunderson delivered the news in a memo to employees at the New Britain and Bristol papers, as well as to staffers at 11 of the weeklies.

The company has suffered as sagging revenues and massive debt pushed its credit rating into junk status. Its stock, as high as $23.87 a decade ago, goes for about a penny now.

If the newspapers are closed, employees would "not have the right to displace other employees" with less seniority at other Journal Register papers, Gunderson's memo said.

Gunderson declined to comment yesterday, and a call from the Associated Press to Journal Register's Yardley, Pa., headquarters was not returned.

Journal Register has said a forbearance agreement it reached in July with lenders has been extended to Jan. 16, after which the lenders could prompt a default if the company misses payments.

The Jan. 12 deadline indicates lenders are exerting pressure on the company to shed unprofitable assets, said Ken Doctor, an analyst at Outsell Inc.

Bristol, population 60,000, is headquarters of the sports network ESPN, while neighboring New Britain has about 70,000 residents and is home to toolmaker Stanley Works and to Central Connecticut State University.

The Herald, which began publication in 1881, has a Monday-to-Saturday circulation of 8,940; circulation at the Press, founded in 1871, is 8,047 Monday through Saturday, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

A combined Sunday edition of the papers, The Herald Press, has a circulation of 19,016.

Nationwide, Journal Register owns 22 daily newspapers and about 300 nondaily publications, including Connecticut Magazine.