Alden Global Capital completed its purchase of Tribune Publishing this week, forming what will be the second largest newspaper chain in America. We know what comes next. Dubbed a local news “vampire,” the hedge fund will slash staff in newsrooms in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and in smaller cities across the country.
We know this because Alden is known for being the industry’s most aggressive cost-cutter. And they’re not trimming fat from bloated organizations, but hacking away limbs to siphon off advertising dollars intended for local investment to benefit Wall Street billionaires.
They’ve already done this at the Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, among others.
It’s truly a perilous moment in the journalism industry. When hedge funds shutter newsrooms what’s left is an information vacuum, where the people with the power operate without scrutiny. It’s nothing less than an assault on democracy.
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