Baltimore Jewish Times publisher files Chapter 11

The publisher of a Jewish newspaper in Baltimore filed for bankruptcy protection.

Alter Communications, which puts out the Baltimore Jewish Times and other publications, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday, the Baltimore Sun reported.

The Baltimore Jewish Times, a weekly in the city since 1919, will continue to be published, the company told the Sun. It has a circulation of more than 50,000.

The filing comes in the wake of a dispute between Alter Communications and its former printing vendor over printing costs. The publisher told the Sun that it was overpaying as a result of a long-term contract it had signed 20 years ago and hired a new printer.

H.G. Roebuck & Son Inc. sued Alter in 2009 over the broken contract.

Alter has laid off 20 employees in recent years due to the recession, the Sun reported. Since 1996 the company, under the leadership of Andrew Alter Buerger, sold off Jewish newspapers in Detroit, Atlanta, Palm Beach and Boca Raton, Fla., as well as Vancouver, British Columbia.