CanWest's newspaper group files for bankruptcy

CanWest Global Communications, Canada's largest media group has put its newspaper division under bankruptcy protection while it searches for a buyer for the group, the BBC reported today. The division includes 10 dailies and 26 community papers, including the Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Vancouver Sun and Calgary Herald.

The group is C$1.3 billion in debt. Lenders led by five of the largest banks in Canada have taken over ownership of the titles, and announced today that "substantially all" of the 5,300 newspaper employees will be kept on, according to The Globe and Mail.

Currently there are "no obvious buyers," but because CanWest has integrated its publishing arm so fully, "piecemeal sales" would be unlikely, The New York Times reported.