What You Read
On my to-do list: research Media News Group.

In Southern California alone, Media News Group has the following media properties:

Los Angeles Daily News - Los Angeles, CA
LA.com - Los Angeles, CA
LA Daily News - Los Angeles, CA
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin - Ontario, CA
Long Beach Press Telegram - Long Beach, CA
San Gabriel Valley Tribune - San Gabriel Valley, CA
Pasadena Star-News - Pasadena, CA
Whittier Daily News - Whittier, CA
The Sun - San Bernardino - San Bernardino, CA
Redlands Daily Facts - Redlands, CA
U-Entertainment - Los Angeles, CA
U-Daily News - Los Angeles, CA
U-Daily Bulletin - Ontario, CA
U-SGV Tribune - San Gabriel Valley, CA
U-Pasadena Star News - Pasadena, CA
U-Whittier Daily News - Whittier, CA
U-The Sun - San Bernardino - San Bernadino, CA
U-Redlands Daily Facts - Redlands, CA
U-Press Telegram - Long Beach, CA

Based in Denver, Colorado, Media News Group is controlled by (William) Dean Singleton.

Singleton's name has surfaced in the recent David Dreier outing:

Mark Cromer, [Hustler's] features editor in charge of its outing of Dreier, is a former reporter for a string of Valley newspapers in Dreier’s district, including the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and the Pasadena Star-News....And he accuses the papers in Dreier’s district, all of which spout a conservative, anti-gay editorial line, of having a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy toward the congressman and his relationship with Smith. These papers are all owned by Media News Group (MNG), whose CEO, Dean Singleton, is a major contributor to Republican campaigns. Opinion pages editor Steve Scauzillo said he could not comment on the Dreier matter without the approval of MNG higher-ups.

His biography appears to be dotted with significant episodes:

Who is the real Dean Singleton? Is he a mass murderer of newspapers, or is he a man whose hardheaded pragmatism has enabled him, in a difficult period for the industry, to preserve many more newspaper jobs than he has eliminated?...

A few weeks ago, on a trip through Texas, Singleton took me to his hometown, Graham, which sits ninety miles west of Fort Worth, and which is surrounded by oil fields and ranchland in every direction. It's a superconservative, superreligious place, mostly white, with more than fifty churches serving a population of nine thousand....

After a series of small-town newspaper jobs in Texas, Singleton landed at the Dallas Morning News in 1970, and worked in the newsroom at night while attending the University of Texas at Arlington by day. But he already knew that he wanted his own newspapers, so he quit school and moved to a small town in the Texas Panhandle, Clarendon, where he bought a tiny weekly....

The [Fort Worth Press] folded after eighty-eight days. "It was a total disaster," says Singleton. "I knew nothing about the business of newspapering." He lost a million dollars in the demise of The Fort Worth Press, and he had to sell his weeklies to pay his debts. The experience put him in the hospital for depression and exhaustion. "In twelve weeks it closed, and he lost his ass," says David Burgin....

Burgin knew that some readers would be interested in the Camp David peace talks then under way between Jimmy Carter, Menachen Begin, and Anwar Sadat. On the day they reached the accord, Burgin, laying out the front page, made Camp David the top story. Singleton came in and peered over his shoulder. "Damn it!" Singleton shouted in his thick drawl, "this is a local paper! We don't sell no fucking papers in Cairo! Get that thing off there, right now!"...

In the mid-1990s, Singleton made a major push into Southern California as well, again following the "clustering" strategy, buying half a dozen papers, most notably the Los Angeles Daily News. These acquisitions gave Singleton control over a huge swath of suburban Los Angeles. He was eager to keep expanding, and in 1997 he made an offer for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, located in a fast-growing suburban zone. When the owners, the Stephens Media Group, declined his request, Singleton came back with a proposal that revealed the full range of his business acumen. Could MediaNews and Stephens, he suggested, combine their papers in a partnership, and divide the profits accordingly? Stephens found the offer attractive (largely for tax reasons) and agreed to contribute twelve dailies to the consortium. Thus was born the California Newspaper Partnership, which also includes Gannett, which added two papers. MediaNews currently [March/April 2003] controls 55 percent of CNP....

Before Singleton came in, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin was owned by the Donrey Media Group, as noted in this June 1999 article:

Mike Ferguson, publisher of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario, Calif., has been appointed vice president and chief operating officer of the newspaper division of the Donrey Media Group.

The announcement was made Wednesday by Donrey President Sherman R. Frederick.

"Mike is a first-rate news executive. We could not be happier to have Mike return to Donrey," said Frederick.

Ferguson, 47, was with Donrey for more than 30 years before the Ontario newspaper was moved into a partnership with Dean Singleton's newspapers in California, effective April 1.

The Donrey Media Group is comprised of 14 newspapers in several states, including Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Nevada, Texas, Washington and Hawaii....

[Ferguson] began his newspaper career at the age of 12 as a carrier for the Pomona Progress Bulletin. He worked in a variety of positions in the newspaper business. He's been publisher of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin for eight years.

(Note: the Pomona Progress Bulletin was one of two papers that was combined to form the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.)