Journalists and newsrooms all over the country have protested their corporate owners for many reasons including staff layoffs and draining papers' profits. One of the latest cases that has drawn nationwide attention is the Denver Post's editorial protests against its owner Alden Global Capital. Recently, journalists from The Denver Post united in a rally at Alden Global Capital's front doorsteps to take back their newspaper and demand different ownership.
For newspapers caught in financial crises and the inability to adapt to a digital market, their only choice is to turn to investors that have a lot more money than the newspapers themselves. While these newspapers are originally hopeful that the changes in ownership will make them profitable again, the stark reality does not measure up. Instead, the owners keep the profits and leave little for the papers to survive off of. This leads to staff cuts, decreased quality in journalism, rebellion and the eventual demise of the papers.
Several other hedge funds, similar to Alden Global Capital, own most of the newspapers consumers read and they are following the same practices as Alden Global Capital in laying off reporters and leaving local newspapers to nothing but the minimum amount of employees required to keep the paper alive - but barely.
This is only happening to local papers, but when most communities rely on local journalism, it hits hard and has a huge impact.