The McClatchy Company is the leading bidder for Knight-Ridder, plunking down over $4.8  billion US in cash and stocks.

The purchase price works out to more than $65 US per share, a figure seen as psychologically important to the newspaper industry (that's about what the company is worth now. Had people bid less, that would have been seen as a vote of non-confidence in newspapers by the market).

Here's a link to the NYT story and my previous blog post.

You might want to see Midnight Movies: From the Margins to the Mainstream, screening tonight at 9:15 p.m. at the Royal Theatre here in T.O.

Director Stuart Samuels will be there for a Q-and-A afterwards.

I blogged about the film and the issues it raises back in September.

Blake Lambert, who had been freelancing out of Uganda for a number of news organizations, has essentially been declared not welcome. Apparently the government was unhappy with his reporting.

Overheard in front of the ticket booth at the Royal Theatre Thursday evening:

Guy with credit card but no cash: Well, we can either pay $18 to see this, or we can go to my place and watch a movie on my 17-inch computer monitor

His date: Let's see this (Walk The Line)