WASHINGTON, Oct 5 — The US newspaper group known as Tronc announced yesterday it was reverting back to its old name Tribune Publishing, two years after a rebranding effort that drew widespread derision.

The publisher of the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun and other newspapers gave no reason for the change, but the name Tronc — a moniker which stood for Tribune Online Content — was ridiculed both within and outside the news industry.

"If you wanted to signify the pathetic nasal honks of the last dying dinosaur, ‘tronc’ would be a pretty good word,” tweeted The New York Times deputy tech editor Quentin Hardy at the time of the rebranding.

Despite the name change, which is effective October 9, Tribune Publishing faces a difficult road in an industry struggling to adapt to a digital world.

In July, the company announced it would be cutting half the newsroom staff at the Daily News, the iconic New York tabloid.

Tronc sold its best-known newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, to biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong in June. Some reports said it has been in talks with another newspaper chain, McClatchy, owner of the Miami Herald, Kansas City Star and others. — AFP