The number of facilities on which impairment was recorded.

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The number of stock-based compensation plans approved by the entity's shareholders.

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Amount of accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization for physical assets used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services.

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The amount of expense recognized in the current period that reflects the allocation of the cost of tangible assets over the assets' useful lives. Includes production and non-production related depreciation.

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Amount of loss from the write-down of an asset representing the future economic benefits arising from other assets acquired in a business combination that are not individually identified and separately recognized.

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The amount of impairment loss recognized in the period resulting from the write-down of the carrying amount of a finite-lived intangible asset to fair value.

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Amount of impairment loss resulting from write-down of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance and having a projected indefinite period of benefit to fair value.

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The aggregate amount of write-downs for impairments recognized during the period for long lived assets held for use (including those held for disposal by means other than sale).

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The aggregate amount of write-downs for impairments recognized during the period for long-lived assets held for abandonment, exchange or sale.

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Carrying amount of long-term debt, net of unamortized discount or premium, including current and noncurrent amounts. Includes, but not limited to, notes payable, bonds payable, debentures, mortgage loans and commercial paper. Excludes capital lease obligations.

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The fair value amount of long-term debt whether such amount is presented as a separate caption or as a parenthetical disclosure. Additionally, this element may be used in connection with the fair value disclosures required in the footnote disclosures to the financial statements. The element may be used in both the balance sheet and disclosure in the same submission.

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Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

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Amount before accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization of physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale. Examples include, but are not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, and furniture and fixtures.

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Amount after accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization of physical assets used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include, but are not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, and furniture and fixtures.

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Useful life of long lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days. Examples include, but not limited to, land, buildings, machinery and equipment, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment.

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Amount of accelerated depreciation charged against earnings associated with exit from or disposal of business activities or restructuring plan.

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SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES - Property thru Debt (Details) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 28, 2014	Dec. 29, 2013	Dec. 28, 2014 item	Dec. 29, 2013 item	Dec. 30, 2012
Depreciation
Property, plant and equipment, gross	$ 1,120,795,000us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentGross	$ 1,206,128,000us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentGross	$ 1,120,795,000us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentGross	$ 1,206,128,000us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentGross
Less accumulated depreciation	(716,557,000)	(747,423,000)	(716,557,000)	(747,423,000)
Property, plant and equipment, net	404,238,000us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentNet	458,705,000us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentNet	404,238,000us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentNet	458,705,000us-gaap_PropertyPlantAndEquipmentNet
Depreciation expense			60,700,000us-gaap_Depreciation	64,400,000us-gaap_Depreciation	66,300,000us-gaap_Depreciation
Accelerated depreciation incurred		11,400,000	13,500,000	11,400,000
Non-cash Impairment charges related to existing production facilities and equipment		11,900,000
Number of newspapers impaired			1mni_NumberOfImpairedFacilites	1mni_NumberOfImpairedFacilites
Impairment charge of assets held for sale			1,000,000
Segment reporting
Number of operating segments				2us-gaap_NumberOfOperatingSegments
Goodwill and intangible impairment
Goodwill impairment charge			0us-gaap_GoodwillImpairmentLoss	0us-gaap_GoodwillImpairmentLoss	0us-gaap_GoodwillImpairmentLoss
Impairment charge of newspaper masthead	5,200,000	5,300,000	5,203,000	5,345,000	0
Impairment of long-lived assets subject to amortization			0	0	0
Stock-based compensation
Number of stock-based compensation plans			2
Long-term debt fair value disclosure
Estimated fair value of long-term debt	1,000,000,000us-gaap_LongTermDebtFairValue		1,000,000,000us-gaap_LongTermDebtFairValue
Carrying value of long-term debt	1,006,957,000us-gaap_LongTermDebt	1,521,871,000us-gaap_LongTermDebt	1,006,957,000us-gaap_LongTermDebt	1,521,871,000us-gaap_LongTermDebt
Land
Depreciation
Property, plant and equipment, gross	89,083,000	97,631,000	89,083,000	97,631,000
Buildings and improvements
Depreciation
Property, plant and equipment, gross	337,727,000	356,320,000	337,727,000	356,320,000
Buildings and improvements \| Minimum
Depreciation
Estimated Useful Lives			5 years
Buildings and improvements \| Maximum
Depreciation
Estimated Useful Lives			60 years
Equipment
Depreciation
Property, plant and equipment, gross	691,289,000	741,648,000	691,289,000	741,648,000
Equipment \| Minimum
Depreciation
Estimated Useful Lives			2 years
Equipment \| Maximum
Depreciation
Estimated Useful Lives			25 years
Construction in process
Depreciation
Property, plant and equipment, gross	$ 2,696,000	$ 10,529,000	$ 2,696,000	$ 10,529,000
Presses \| Minimum
Depreciation
Estimated Useful Lives			9 years
Presses \| Maximum
Depreciation
Estimated Useful Lives			25 years
Other Machinery and Equipment [Member] \| Minimum
Depreciation
Estimated Useful Lives			2 years
Other Machinery and Equipment [Member] \| Maximum
Depreciation
Estimated Useful Lives			15 years