P.M. BRIEFING : Newspaper Chain Buys Weeklies

Freedom Newspapers Inc. of Irvine, publisher of the Orange County Register, is buying 30 weekly newspapers in Southern California from Media General Inc.

The transaction was announced today by Media General at its headquarters in Richmond, Va. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The 30 papers have a circulation of 470,000.

Twenty-two of the newspapers, distributed free to more than 340,000 households in eastern Los Angeles County and northern Orange County, are published by Highlander Publications, a division of Golden West Publishing located in the City of Industry.

Eight of the publications, one of which is a paid-circulation paper, reach nearly 130,000 households in southern Orange County. Based in Mission Viejo, they are operated as the South Orange County News division of Golden West Publishing.

Media General acquired the newspapers in 1980 and 1981.