Oakland Trib’s Deadline to Fold Extended : Media: The publisher delays the decision for 24 hours as negotiations to save the ailing newspaper continue with Gannett Co.

In a sign of hope for the financially beleaguered Oakland Tribune, Publisher Robert C. Maynard on Tuesday extended the deadline for closing the newspaper by 24 hours and said negotiations would continue “into the night” in the hope of resolving the paper’s fiscal crisis.

One Alameda County official said he believed that Maynard was close to striking a deal with Gannett Co., the Tribune’s major creditor, to save the paper from bankruptcy. Maynard announced that he would hold a press conference today to disclose the paper’s fate.

“When I talked with him (Maynard) today, they were close to stretching across the table to shake hands,” said Alameda County Supervisor Don Perata, who has been rallying community support to keep the paper alive.

The management of the Tribune would not discuss details of the negotiations, and employees of the paper said they were being kept in the dark about its future.

Through a spokeswoman, Maynard released a statement saying “negotiations to save the newspaper had reached a critical stage. Talks now appear likely to continue into the night.”

Maynard originally purchased Oakland’s only major newspaper from Gannett in 1983, owing the huge media company $17 million at the time. That debt has now grown to $31 million and the paper is having difficulty meeting its operating expenses.

The publisher has asked Gannett to forgive the debt in exchange for a payment of $2.5 million, which would then enable the newspaper to attract new investors.

Maynard had initially set today as the date the Tribune would halt publishing if an agreement could not be worked out with Gannett. But on Tuesday afternoon, he announced that the Tribune would continue publishing at least until Thursday morning’s edition.

Earlier in the day, the mood was somber in the newsroom. Some reporters brought cardboard boxes to work, expecting to clean out their desks. Others wore black to commemorate what they thought might be the newspaper’s last day of operating. Others wore T-shirts celebrating the Pulitzer Prize the paper won in 1990 for its photography of the Bay Area quake.

The collapse of the 117-year-old Tribune would leave Oakland as the top U.S. city without its own newspaper. It also would spell the end for the only major black-owned daily in the country.

Hundreds have rallied behind the Tribune and urged Gannett to step in and save the paper.

“There is a strong degree of concern,” Perata said. “All of us agree that the loss of the Tribune would go to the heart of the reputation of Oakland in the national marketplace.”