A drop in ratings

S&P further lowered the debt ratings for MediaNews Group and Freedom Communications. The companies now rate "CCC" for their respective secured lines of credit. The MediaNews empire includes nine daily papers in Southern California. Freedom owns the Orange County Register.

Tear down that wall

The Los Angeles Daily Journal has removed the Internet filter that kept its reporters from looking at anything management deemed inappropriate, including private email accounts. Now the editorial department can surf the whole World Wide Web just like the rest of us, and look at such naughty sites as YouTube and the L.A. Archdiocese, both of which had been blocked.