phxated_wymanFreedom was the newspaper chain that, until recently, owned the East Valley Tribune. It was based in Orange County, and its flagship paper was the Orange County Register.

Freedom is now in bankruptcy.

In the narrative we hear about the trouble newspapers are in, new technology has vaporized their business model, readers want their news for free, and a watchdog vital to our democracy is at risk.

In reality, as this very long inquiry into the collapse of the company in, of all places, the Orange County Register shows, the papers brought most of their problems on themselves:

The loss of the family business could be attributed to many factors: too much debt, poor business decisions, an economic downturn of epic proportions and an inability to adapt to the changing tides of the newspaper industry.

But the center of the problem was the Hoiles family itself, the seeds planted by the pugnacious founder but exacerbated after his death by power struggles, petty jealousies, personal vendettas –- and money.

The reporter, Mary Ann Milbourn, does a good job delving into the family nuttiness that destroyed the company. Among other things, they rejected an offer in 1985 to sell the company for more than $1 billion.

A billion dollars was an enormous amount of money in 1985; it’s a trenchant indication of just how much money the industry was making at the time.

The EVT isn’t named, but it and its sister Freedom Communication papers in the Valley get this wan aside:

•In 2000, Freedom bought a group of papers in Arizona from The Thomson Corp. for a reported $180 million. Most were sold in March for $2 million.