The newspaper unions of Tribune Publishing — representing hundreds of employees across the company — are gravely concerned by Tuesday’s news that Alden Global Capital has purchased enough shares to make it the company’s largest shareholder.
In an email to staff, Tim Knight, CEO of Tribune Publishing said: “A change of investor, even a large investor, will not have a direct impact on how we conduct our daily activities.”
We strongly disagree. We don’t see Tuesday’s news as simply another change in stock ownership.
Alden is not a company that invests in newspapers so they succeed. They buy into newspaper businesses with the express purpose of harvesting out huge profits, well-above industry standards, and slashing staff and resources — until the papers ultimately closed. This has been proven over and over again.
We know we’re faced with the very real threat that Alden is looking to bleed its next chain of newspapers dry.
This news about Alden does not deter us, however, in our continuing fight for our members and for the work we do in our communities. We move forward, joining the call to Save Local News, led by the newspapers owned by Alden under its Digital First Media.
Unlike Tribune and Alden, we believe local journalism is worth fighting for.
#SaveLocalNews
Signed,
The Chicago Tribune Guild
The Tidewater Guild
The Morning Call Guild
The Chesapeake Guild
The Hartford Courant Guild
The Baltimore Sun Guild
The Threat of Alden Global Capital
- By jmoyer
- November 21, 2019
- 6:18 pm