McClatchy Co., which bought Knight Ridder’s 32 dailies and now plans to sell 12 of them off, is facing a dilemma — should it sell the 12 papers now or hold out for several weeks and wait for a higher price. With Moody’s downgrading McClatchy’s bonds to one notch above junk status, CEO Gary Pruitt (pictured) is under pressure to sell them now and calm the fears of jittery investors. But waiting would allow more bidders — including many local buyers — to look over the books of the papers and make offers. Pete Carey and Chris O’Brien of the Mercury News, one of the papers for sale, examined at the choice facing Pruitt. [AP: McClatchy’s strategy is based on population growth] [The Nation’s John Nichols: Most of the KR papers’ edit pages challenged ‘the new orthodoxies of the right’] [Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) Times Leader: Ad rates could halt sale of papers]