Journal Register Company Enters Forbearance Agreement With Banks; Hires Chief Restructuring Officer

July 25, 2008 12:06 PM EDT

YARDLEY, PA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 07/25/08 -- Journal Register Company (the "Company") (PINKSHEETS: JRCO) today announced that it has entered into a Forbearance Agreement and Amendment No. 3 (the "Forbearance Agreement") to the Amended and Restated Credit Agreement dated as of January 25, 2006, as amended (the "Credit Agreement"), between the Company, the lenders party thereto (the "Lenders") and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., as Administrative Agent. Under the terms of the Forbearance Agreement, for the period from July 24 through October 31, 2008, interest under the Credit Agreement will accrue but not be paid, and the Lenders will forbear from exercising certain remedies with respect to these interest payments.

As a condition to the Forbearance Agreement, the Company has agreed that, during the Forbearance Period, Lender's commitments to make further extensions of credit, including new letters of credit or swingline loans, are suspended, although certain existing letters of credit can be renewed, and certain cash management procedures will apply. In addition, certain restrictive covenants, including covenants with respect to asset sale proceeds, indebtedness, acquisitions and dispositions, will be amended.

As contemplated by the Forbearance Agreement, the Company has engaged Conway, Del Genio, Gries & Co., LLC ("CDG") to provide certain financial services to the Company. As part of the engagement, the Company has appointed Robert Conway, a principal of CDG, to the newly created position of Chief Restructuring Officer.

The Company also announced that on July 22, 2008 it had filed a Form 15 with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") to deregister its common stock and suspend its reporting obligations under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The Company expects the deregistration to become effective within 90 days of filing with the SEC. As a result of filing the Form 15, the Company's obligation to file certain reports and forms including forms 10K, 10Q and 8K has been suspended and upon effectiveness will cease. The common stock may continue to be quoted on the "Pink Sheets," however, there can be no certainty of such quotation as it will only take place to the extent that market makers decide to make a market in the Company's shares.

Additional Information

The Company intends to continue to, among other things, report quarterly and annual financial results in press releases and engage an independent accounting firm to perform an annual audit of our financial statements. We plan to make our financial statements available on the Company's Web site at www.JournalRegister.com under the Investors Relations tab.

About Journal Register Company

Journal Register Company is a leading U.S. media company. Journal Register Company owns 22 daily newspapers and 298 non-daily publications. Journal Register Company currently operates 237 individual Web sites that are affiliated with the Company's daily newspapers, non-daily publications and its network of employment Web sites. These Web sites can be accessed at www.JournalRegister.com. All of the Company's operations are strategically clustered in six geographic areas: Greater Philadelphia; Michigan; Connecticut; Greater Cleveland; and the Capital-Saratoga and Mid-Hudson regions of New York. The Company owns JobsInTheUS, a network of 20 employment Web sites.

Safe-Harbor

This release contains forward-looking information about Journal Register Company that is intended to be covered by the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "project," "plan," "seek," "intend," or "anticipate" or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, and include discussions of strategy, financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, the extent or timing of cost savings, charges, the extent of employees impacted, and statements about the future performance, operations, products and services of the Company. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the success of the Company's asset sales and divestiture activities, the ability of the Company to achieve cost reductions and integrate acquisitions, competitive pressures including competition from non-newspaper forms of media, general or regional economic conditions and advertising trends, the unavailability or a material increase in the price of newsprint and increases in interest rates, changes in performance that affect financial covenant compliance or funds available for borrowing, uncertainty whether trading in the common stock will continue on the Pink Sheets, whether the Company will realize significant savings from the termination of public reporting, technological changes and the adoption of new accounting standards or changes in accounting standards. These and additional risk factors are outlined in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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For more information:

Journal Register Company
Gary A. Struening
Vice President, Finance
Tel: (215) 504-4200

790 Township Line Road
Yardley, PA  19067
Fax: (215) 504-4201

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