The best commentator on the decline of the dailies, Alan Mutter - aka the Newsosaur, recently uncovered a very interesting McClatchy filing with the SEC and has written an excellent post about what it might mean. Essentially, McClatchy’s CEO has resigned from the family trusts that own a 41% stake in McClatchy, a step that would be required were the family to take the newspaper publishng company private. The company has denied that that was the intent of the resignation, but there is little doubt that as the market cap of McClatchy continues to plummet, the possibility of such a transaction becomes increasingly likely. The company’s stock has dropped 88% since it acquired Knight Ridder, and today is worth a measly $301 million. As Mutter says, if you are bullish on the long-term prospects for newspapers and believe in their future, the value play on MNI gets more attractive every day.