Brown Publishing has deep roots in Springfield area

It is also unclear what effect, if any, the decision will have on the operations of the local papers, including the Urbana Daily Citizen in Champaign County.

Company officials on Thursday filed a plan with the bankruptcy court in which they proposed to buy back the company for $15.3 million and keep much of its operations going.

“Brown’s publications have a very loyal readership, provide in-depth local market coverage and possess high audience penetration rates and a high demographic quality of readers,” the court filing states.

Overall, the company publishes 18 daily newspapers, 27 weekly papers, 15 Total Market Coverage papers and 11 TMC shoppers. Its products reach 750,000 homes in 31 counties in Ohio. The family-owned newspaper business was founded in 1920.

Gloria Malone, who works reference at the Champaign County Library, said it’s hard to know what to think about the bankruptcy.

However, she said Urbana has had a local newspaper for almost 200 years, making it an important part of the community. Residents often request the paper at the library when conducting research on family and local history.

“Having the actual newspaper just means so much for genealogy and local history and things,” she said.

Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst for the Poynter Institute, a journalism research and training facility in St. Peterburg, Fla., said he was not familiar with the specifics of the company’s situation.

While he was not sure if it applies in this case, he said the amount of debt a company takes on compared to its size is often a critical factor in determining how media companies fare in a tough economy. Declines in retail advertising revenue have been difficult to navigate for many companies, he said.

Companies that expanded before the recession were generally the ones most exposed, he said.

According to its bankruptcy filing, certain shareholders of The Brown Publishing Company created an affiliated company, Brown Media Holdings Company, in 2007 in order to acquire business publications in New York, Ohio, Iowa and Texas.