Shareholders file class-action lawsuit against Tribune Co.

This story comes our way via ABC 7 Chicago from the AP. An excerpt:

Shareholders have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Tribune Co. and some of its officers, alleging circulation fraud that affected the Chicago-based media company's financial results, attorneys announced Tuesday.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, contends Tribune violated the Securities and Exchange Act by intentionally overstating circulation at "numerous" newspapers, including Newsday and Tribune's Spanish-language newspaper Hoy, which meant the papers could charge more for advertising.

Also named as defendants were Tribune chairman Dennis J. FitzSimons, senior vice president for finance Donald C. Grenesko and retired president of Tribune Publishing Jack Fuller, according to the law firm Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP.

The Chicago Sun-Times and its parent corporation, the article notes, has also been sued for allegedly committing the same circulation-inflating sins.

It's been a bad week for big city newspapers.