PBS: BUYING THE WAR 5 OF 5

PBS BILL MOYER'S JOURNAL: BUYING THE WAR 5 OF 5

-THE KNIGHT RIDDER TEAM (Now McClatchy)-

Reporters in the Washington Bureau for the Knight Ridder News Service were one of the few mainstream news operations that set out to test the case for war.

Knight Ridder, a media company that specialized in newspaper publishing, and owned 32 papers throughout the United States, until they were bought by The McClatchy Company in 2006. THE NEW YORK TIMES reported on the buyout and its aftermath in 2007. "Less than a year ago, Gary B. Pruitt, head of the McClatchy Company, was hailed as the white knight of newspapers. While others saw the industry headed for the dinosaur graveyard, Mr. Pruitt rode in to buy the Knight Ridder papers, or some of them anyway."

But McClatchy, who was the only bidder for Knight Ridder, is facing financial pressures and joining the ranks of those shedding newspapers. In December 2007, McClatchy's head, Gary B. Pruitt sold THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE, the biggest paper the chain for less than half of what he had paid for it. But even as THE BOSTON GLOBE, owned by The New York Times Company, and THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER and other papers have again made recent reductions in editorial staff, the Washington bureau of McClatchy is still intact and covering the story.