Four Newspaper Chains Makes Moody's 'Bottom Rung' of Risky Debtors

By: Mark Fitzgerald Moody's Investors Service, the big credit rating agency, on Tuesday launched a new database and quarterly report of companies in the most serious danger of default -- and four newspaper companies are among those on the "Bottom Rung."

Each of the four -- Freedom Communications, GateHouse Media Inc. MediaNews Group Inc. and Morris Publishing Group Inc. -- has a "probability of default" ratings that indicate they are at "substantial risk" of missing repayments if a so-called default event is triggered.

On average there's about a 25% chance a company given those ratings will default within a year, going into bankruptcy or some other remedy.

Details and links to the Moody's report are posted on E&P's business-oriented blog Fitz & Jen blog.