New York Times "junk"

It's official. The New York Times is "junk." No, I'm not talking about the content of the Old Gray Lady. It's credit rating is junk.

Don't believe me? Read on.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Thursday lowered The New York Times Co.'s corporate credit rating to junk bond status, citing weak prospects for advertising revenues.

The agency said it cut the company's rating from "BBB-" -- its lowest investment grade -- to "BB-."

S&P said it downgraded the rating because it believes that a "likely" economic recession in the United States would worsen ad revenues for at least a year.

A recession would prolong, possibly until 2010, the time it would take for ad the revenues to reach "more manageable rates of decline," S&P said.

The news comes on the same day the Times endorsed Barack Obama for president.
For the past year, cable news cellar-dweller MSNBC has been in a partnership with the Times, covering the 2008 election. NBC runs MSNBC. The former is owned by General Electric, which reported lower earnings in the third quarter of this year.

Technorati tags: democrats elections Barack Obama Obama Politics news economy New York Times business