What's Up at Herald Square?

Like my friend Dan Kennedy, I was intrigued by the piece in today's Globe by Steve Bailey, indicating among other things, that Rupert Murdoch might be willing to put some dollars in the New York Times Co. coffers by letting the Globe print the New York Post.

Then there is Bailey's reporting on the state of the sale/refi of the Herald:

Information is scarce on Purcell's search for a buyer or partners to replace the private equity firms that are cashing out. A consultant for one bidder said Purcell recently rejected a bid -- estimated at $160 million to $170 million -- from a buyout firm to purchase the entire Herald Media Inc., which includes the Boston Herald and about 100 daily and weekly suburban newspapers. (That excludes the Herald's real estate, which is owned separately by the Purcell family.) Purcell countered at $205 million, the consultant said.

Two other news executives briefed on the negotiations say Purcell has recently shown a willingness to separate the suburban papers, which are considered healthy, from the Herald, which is not.

The potential buyers are seen as mostly buyout firms rather than other newspaper chains. Heritage Partners, which in December expressed an interest in Herald Media, is now seen more as a seller of its two local newspapers, the Patriot Ledger of Quincy and The Enterprise of Brockton, than a buyer, according to several executives.

No one keeps a secret better than Pat Purcell. But after a good deal of buzz and expectation that some kind of deal would be done early this year, it has been awfully quiet lately, as Bailey notes, on One Herald Square. In fact, one subject of some speculation there recently was that the Herald and Globe might hook up in a JOA  or Joint Operating Agreement, a scenario that seems so unlikely that its surfacing was taken as a sign that efforts to find a buyer/investor had at least temporarily been stymied.

For people, and that includes Herald staffers, wondering about the fate of the paper, I say Herald editorial director Ken Chandler -- the architect of the tabloid's current incarnation -- is the canary in the mine shaft. If he stops showing up for work, it's a fair bet that something is afoot.