Wall Street Mixed on Newspaper Stocks

By: Jennifer Saba Wall Street was skittish this morning on fears related to the crisis at banking giant Bear Stearns. Bear's woes however are having a mixed affect on newspapers stocks.

Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) is trading up 22 cents to $28.65 despite weak February results announced last week.

The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) took one of the bigger hits this morning as shares are trading down 52 cents to $17.98.

Gatehouse could not hang on to Friday's lift on the news that it was cutting its dividend -- something that investors believe is more realistic, noted Goldman Sachs. Shares of the company (NYSE: GHS) are trading down 24 cents to $6.02.

Media General's (NYSE: MEG) stock is up 22 cents to $14.98 likely due to Friday's news that the Richmond, Va.-based company unloaded TV properties in Florida and Louisiana.

Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE) is trading up late this morning 14 cents to $10.04.

Wall Street?s distaste for pure-play newspaper companies continues. McClatchy (NYSE: MNI) is trading down 32 cents to $8.74 and A.H. Belo (AHC) is down 33 cents to $11.11.

E.W. Scripps* (NYSE: SSP) is trading down 39 cents to $41.34.


*Correction: A former version of this story implied the E.W. Scripps spin-off would consist only of newspapers. The new E.W. Scripps will include both its newspaper and broadcast TV stations.