Disgruntled subscriber drops suit over downsized McClatchy paper

Keith Hempstead, an attorney in Durham, N.C., has dropped the lawsuit he filed against the Raleigh News & Observer for breach of contract, the paper reports. He filed the suit when paper owner McClatchy Co. made cutbacks in the paper's staff and the news hole after he paid for his subscription.

Hempstead said the suit was no longer necessary since his concerns about the industry's management were aired by numerous media outlets. But he argued that those who called his suit frivolous "are accepting of a future of mediocre news."