Pioneer Press logoFollowing the Pioneer Press’ inclusion in RealClearPolitics’ recent “10 Newspapers in Trouble” list, there’s more bad news for the St. Paul paper: Its parent company, MediaNews Group, is on a list by the corporate credit-rating agency Moody’s of companies most at risk of defaulting on their debt. The 283 companies in the “U.S. Bottom Rung” include 26 media companies, including Media News, the nation’s fourth largest newspaper chain which owns 54 dailies. The Wall Street Journal reports the list, begun a few months ago, is an attempt by Moody’s to better flag potential bankruptcies after being criticized for missing credit problems in the mortgage market. Combined, the listed entities have more than $260 billion in bond and bank debt, and 45 percent of Bottom Rungers are expected to default within the next year.

One MediaNews paper, the Los Angeles Daily News is trying to innovate its way to health. It’s testing out “individuated news,” or “I-news,” a plan (widely panned by media types) that allows readers to customize their newspaper content and print it out using a proprietary printer.