A former colleague of mine was in a press room yesterday when a rumor came through that Hearst is looking to buy/take over/run the L.A. Daily News, currently the big dog of MediaNews’ L.A. News Group.

Anyone know anything about this? This is complete rumor, as of this minute. I don’t see anything about it anywhere else on the web.

Hearst and MediaNews have been involved in lots of deals … and the Daily News allegedly is the biggest money-loser in the LANG group. So there is some familiarity between the groups, and it’s not like the Daily News makes any money.

The rumor alleges “a Hearst person in the Daily News newsroom” in recent days.

This could be one of those garbled things meaning nothing. Or not.

Anyway, feel free to pass along what you know (or even think you know), and I’ll put it up.