McClatchy, owner of The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer, reported a net loss in the first quarter Wednesday as revenues declined 5 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

The company reported a net loss of $2.1 million, or 2 cents per share, equal to the loss it posted in the first quarter of 2011.

Revenues for the quarter were $288.3 million. Advertising revenues totaled $209.8 million, down 6.8 percent from the first quarter of 2011. Digital advertising revenues increased 2.7 percent and represented 22.2 percent of the company's total advertising revenues.

McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement that the company was pleased with the advertising trends in the quarter, saying that advertising revenues were down 7.9 percent in January, 6.8 percent in February and 5.6 percent in March.

"We continue to make progress on our digital initiatives and the strong revenue results in the quarter demonstrate that digital continues to be a high-growth opportunity for the company," he said.

Pruitt announced last month that he was leaving McClatchy to take the top post at the Associated Press. His last day is May 16.

The McClatchy Company today announced the winners of 10 McClatchy President’s Awards in the community newspaper division, an annual competition designed to recognize the best journalism at McClatchy’s non-daily papers.

Eight newspapers collected the 10 awards, which honor work published in 2011. The Chapel Hill News won two President's Awards, sweeping the features category with first- and second-place finishes.

First Place: The Chapel Hill News (North Carolina)
Exonerated Man
Dave Hart
Associate Editor Dave Hart delivered his readers a spellbinding account of William Michael Dillon’s odyssey through 28 years of imprisonment in some of Florida’s harshest prisons and his 2008 release based on DNA evidence, which exonerated him of the murder for which he was convicted. But the narrative, which Hart crafted so well, takes us to a point of rebirth for the wronged man who survived the injustice of those years through a journey into the sweetness of music. He has now released a CD, “Black Robes and Lawyers,” which is the poetic testimony of the prison experience, made possible through the persistence of Jim Tullio, a Grammy Award winning producer. The “Exonerated Man” is a worthy winner.

Second Place: The Chapel Hill News (North Carolina)
House Is Home
Mark Schultz
This is a compassionate telling of the latest evolution in the long history of AIDS in the world, told so well by Editor Mark Schultz, who takes his readers on the road that Raymond McDaniel has traveled to these lingering days in a home for people with AIDS in Carrboro, N.C. For 15 years he has seen his friends die, and then has seen the little plaques placed in the dirt behind the back patio with the simple dates of their birth and death. But McDaniel, who thought for years that his plaque would have been placed in those ranks, has survived far beyond his expectations. To some, the plaques came to be painful reminders of those who had passed away. “House Is Home” helps readers realize that those with AIDS are living with their disease, not dying from it, and that the residence in Carrboro is helping them to survive

Shares of McClatchy, owner of the News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer, jumped more than 25 percent today after the Sacramento, Calif.-based newspaper chain reported fourth quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations.

The company reported net income of $42 million, or 49 cents per share, compared to income of $15.7 million, or 18 cents per share, during the fourth quarter of 2010.

That beat the consensus of 40 cents per share among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Revenues in the fourth quarter were $351.4 million, down 5 percent from the same period in 2010. Advertising revenues were down 5.7 percent and circulation revenues were down 3 percent.
 

Newspaper publisher The McClatchy Co. reported weaker third earnings today, with ad revenues slumping 10 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

Third-quarter revenue fell to $300.2 million, down 8.4 percent from a year earlier. While better than the double-digit declines the company recorded during the depths of the recession, today's results are further proof of how the weak economy is continuing to hurt newspapers.

Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy publishes 30 daily papers across the country, including the News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and Miami Herald. Its papers in Florida and California have been especially hard hit by the housing slump and high unemployment rate.

Net income fell to $12.4 million, or 14 cents a share.

Though hypocrisy knows no party boundaries, S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford's indiscretion and overall weirdness put a
bulls-eye on the back of the GOP, at least when it comes to editorial cartooning. Here's a roundup of a few McClatchy cartoons, including one by The N&O's Dwane Powell, on the subject.

A new McClatchy editorial cartoon caption-writing contest gets under way today. Have a look and then go here to enter.

The monthly McClatchy caption-writing contest features an editorial cartoon by Kevin Siers of The Charlotte Observer. Go here to enter the contest. The deadline is Sunday, May 3.

Here are five editorial cartoons from the week by McClatchy cartoonists. Lee Judge offers up what a government-designed car might look like. Rex Babin also zings Obama with a GM cartoon. There's also a hard shot at the NRA.

McClatchy has posted a new cartoon contest. The cartoon is below. You can enter here.

The winning caption for the Morin cartoon below was this one: And the winner is DFOLEY. The winning caption: "Socialist." Simple, direct, to the point.