There’s news today, in this article in the New York Times, that a New York hedge fund consisting of “vulture capitalists” is backing a hostile takeover bid for Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and 100 other newspapers. This is a terrible idea.
Journalists don’t often get involved in the business side, meaning talking about which company owns which media assets. That’s been a mistake we’ve made as villain after villain has come in and bought newspapers, only to strip them. Think of what Tronc did to the Chicago Tribune and then the Los Angeles Times.
Journalists don’t have the power to intervene and stop a transaction but we may be able to shape opinion and policy. We certainly have the power to make a fuss.
It’s ironic, of course, that there’s a media buyer out there who is more brutal than Gannett was in amassing its empire. But let’s let bygones be bygones. Gannett is still a credible media player.
MNG Enterprises, owned by the hedge fund Alden Global Capital, is not. If it were able to buy Gannett, it would create the largest newspaper company in the country.
The Times says critics have described Alden as a “destroyer of newspapers” and is prone to making “savage” layoffs. It is called “one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism.” Of course, local journalism is part of national journalism and that is part of international journalism. It is all tied together.
I would encourage everyone in the public arena to protest this deal. We cannot allow the level of public discourse in the United States to deteriorate any further.
