Dean Singleton expanded his newspaper empire at the worst possible time, in the worst part of the country he could have chosen, and he has been paying the price ever since in plummeting advertising and shrinking papers. Yet somehow, even in today’s adverse climate, he professes optimism.

“In retrospect, the timing was not good,” said Mr. Singleton, the head of and a major shareholder in the company, which is privately held. “But in our business, you buy newspapers when they’re for sale. If we could have foreseen the current economic downturn in the state, it might have changed our views, but we couldn’t foresee that.”

The news about his industry seems to get worse by the day. Last week, the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection. And Moody’s Investors Service said that MediaNews was approaching the point where its debt, almost $1 billion, would be nine times its annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization , technically putting the company in default.

& #8226;

Read the full

New York Times

story.