enhanced_deficit
05-22-2018, 01:20 PM
So does it mean Capitalism societies can also not have Free Press if money making is prime concern of news business owners?
The Hard Truth at Newspapers Across America: Hedge Funds Are in Charge From Miami to Denver, financial firms are playing a bigger role at local papers struggling to adapt in digital age
By Gerry Smith
May 22, 2018, 7:00 AM EDT
A group of journalists protesting outside the offices of a New York City hedge fund recently shined a light on a little-known fact about the state of the local American newspaper: Behind the scenes, financial firms often hold all the cards.
Investors like Alden Global Capital LLC, Chatham Asset Management LLC and Fortress Investment Group LLC have acquired ownership stakes in newspapers that have struggled to adapt in an online world, from the Miami Herald to the Providence Journal to the Charlotte Observer. Funds have brought their cost-cutting know-how to help restructure several newspaper chains in heavy debt after the 2008 financial crisis.
But the evolving ownership picture has sparked fresh questions over whether investment firms can really help save local newspapers by making them profitable again -- or if they’ll starve them to the point that they collapse instead. The journalists who traveled from cities like Denver and St. Paul earlier this month to join the protests outside Alden Global’s offices are convinced it’s the latter. Some analysts agree.
https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/i3hlBjYyB28Q/v0/800x-1.png
“They’re not reinvesting in the business,” Ken Doctor, a longtime newspaper analyst and president of the website Newsonomics (http://newsonomics.com), said about Alden Global. “It’s dying and they are going to make every dollar they can on the way down.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-22/the-hard-truth-at-newspapers-across-america-hedge-funds-are-in-charge
The Hard Truth at Newspapers Across America: Hedge Funds Are in Charge From Miami to Denver, financial firms are playing a bigger role at local papers struggling to adapt in digital age
By Gerry Smith
May 22, 2018, 7:00 AM EDT
A group of journalists protesting outside the offices of a New York City hedge fund recently shined a light on a little-known fact about the state of the local American newspaper: Behind the scenes, financial firms often hold all the cards.
Investors like Alden Global Capital LLC, Chatham Asset Management LLC and Fortress Investment Group LLC have acquired ownership stakes in newspapers that have struggled to adapt in an online world, from the Miami Herald to the Providence Journal to the Charlotte Observer. Funds have brought their cost-cutting know-how to help restructure several newspaper chains in heavy debt after the 2008 financial crisis.
But the evolving ownership picture has sparked fresh questions over whether investment firms can really help save local newspapers by making them profitable again -- or if they’ll starve them to the point that they collapse instead. The journalists who traveled from cities like Denver and St. Paul earlier this month to join the protests outside Alden Global’s offices are convinced it’s the latter. Some analysts agree.
https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/i3hlBjYyB28Q/v0/800x-1.png
“They’re not reinvesting in the business,” Ken Doctor, a longtime newspaper analyst and president of the website Newsonomics (http://newsonomics.com), said about Alden Global. “It’s dying and they are going to make every dollar they can on the way down.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-22/the-hard-truth-at-newspapers-across-america-hedge-funds-are-in-charge