Media World: The Philadelphia newspaper saga turns nasty

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n June 2006, Brian P. Tierney (right, in suit) came to the beautiful white art deco building that houses the troubled Philadelphia Inquirer and vowed to restore it to its Pulitzer-winning glory. Now the entrepreneur is watching his fledgling media empire slip from his grasp.

A hearing set for September 15 may help determine if Tierney, who led a $515 million purchase of the now-bankrupt Philadelphia Newspapers L.L.C., which also owns the tabloid Philadelphia Daily News, will be booted out by the media company's creditors. Among the senior lenders are Citizens Bank, a unit of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS-F); Angelo, Gordon & Co., a major creditor of the bankrupt Tribune Co. and Star-Tribune of Minneapolis); CIT Group Inc. (CIT); and Eaton Vance Management.