♦ Eric Holder agrees with Nancy Pelosi: it should be easier for a single business entity to run an area’s newspapers, Reuters reports. The House Speaker had asked the Attorney General to lower anti-trust bars restricting mergers, so Hearst and PiPress owner MediaNews could combine Bay Area operations.

The same principle could theoretically assist a future Strib-PiPress combo. (I can’t help wondering if the St. Cloud Times or community publishers would also get into the local act.)

Pelosi argues rules that once barred newspaper mergers in the name of media diversity are outdated given the Internet’s emergence. But while it’s true that some operations might die if not combined, media companies’ monopolistic urges have a way of overshooting well-intended public policy.

♦ Speaking of MediaNews, its debt was downgraded again. Standard & Poor’s rating service puts it at CCC, two levels above default. More interestingly, the Denver Business Journal reports that S&P says creditors have a 30 to 50 percent chance of recovery should the chain default. Further evidence that it’s unlikely -- or very costly -- that MediaNews could buy Strib assets should they become available.

(The Bay Area is different because Hearst is MediaNews’ banker and would benefit immediately from a merger.)

♦ Although there are pockets of small-daily health in non-metro Minnesota, Georgia-based Morris Publishing Group will cut wages at its Brainerd Daily Dispatch 5-10 percent on April 1, AP reports. Like the Strib, Morris has big debt problems: the company defaulted on a $10 million debt payment in February, Editor & Publisher reports. The company has hired lawyers and advisors with bankruptcy expertise. But Brainerd also had the state’s highest unemployment rate in January — 21 percent.

♦ One of my favorite media pieces of the week: FiveThirtyEight.com’s “How a Meme Spreads,” which uses a website called Memeorandum to show how the AIG bonus scandal spread from liberal cause célèbre to conservative campaign in two short days.

♦ I know I don't write enough about solutions for legacy media, because I don't see many. But just for kicks, I signed up for Time Magazine’s “Mine,” a 36-page free conglomeration of eight existing titles it will deliver as PDFs or by mail.

You pick five of the eight: Travel + Leisure, Sports Illustrated, Money, Time, Real Simple, Food & Wine, In Style, Golf  -- it was tough to find that many I was interested in! Which is a big part of the problem. Looks like sign-ups are still open if you want to try it.

♦ Someone starting a print publication in these towns? Meet Minnesota Commercial Real Estate, from investor Kristi Oman. I’m pretty sure it won’t rip the lid off the industry, but it’s nice to see someone with faith in the form.

♦ It’s fun to be written about in Dutch. Translation tomorrow, unless you can do it yourself. And "dank je" to all microsponsors, wherever you are!