Minneapolis Star Tribune in bankruptcy filing

By Robert MacMillan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Minneapolis Star Tribune has filed for bankruptcy, becoming the latest newspaper to financially flame out under a heavy debt load and a punishing decline in advertising revenue.

The 15th-largest U.S. daily based on circulation, which McClatchy Co sold to private equity firm Avista Capital Partners for $530 million less than two years ago, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after missing payments to lenders, it said on Thursday.

"With the significant deterioration in our revenue in 2008 and the challenging outlook for our industry for 2009, we simply could not wait any longer to take this step," Star Tribune Publisher and Chairman Chris Harte said in a statement.

The newspaper has said it will continue to publish.

"Our plan is to use the court-supervised process to reduce our costs, strengthen our balance sheet and create a financially viable business," Harte said.

The Star Tribune's bankruptcy filing comes about a month after Tribune Co, publisher of two of the largest papers in the United States -- the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune -- filed for bankruptcy.

Tribune Co, with $13 billion in debt, is a far larger filing, but the bankruptcy of the Minneapolis paper is a sign that publishers large and small are facing an uncertain future as they try to pay off debt with ever-diminishing amounts of cash.

Lee Enterprises Inc, publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, faces a Friday deadline to work out its debt problems with its lenders. The company's auditor in December voiced doubts about whether it could continue as a going concern, despite its profitable operations.