Dean Singleton’s MediaNews lost $3.6 million on revenues of $208.4 million for the quarter ending March 31, according to a report in the Denver Business Journal. That would put MediaNews’s profit margin at -1%. One particular drag on the privately held company’s fortunes is its joint operting agreement with E.W. Scripps Co. in Denver — where the two companies jointly operate the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News — a 5-year relationship that has gone sour with Scripps publicly demanding changes. Scripps VP Joseph NeCastro said last month, “As for Denver, we want you to know that we’re not at all happy with what we’re seeing out there, and we will be spending a fair amount of time and effort to address our performance issue there.” MediaNews, owner of eight dailies in the Bay Area, is forming a partnership with Hearst Corp., owner of the Chronicle, which will enable it to buy Knight Ridder’s Northern California newspapers including the San Jose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times.