Journalists Rise Up Against Wall Street Hedge Fund Decimating Newsrooms Across the Country

Journalists are orchestrating a rising rebellion against censorship and layoffs implemented by the nation's second-largest newspaper chain, Digital First Media, and the New York-based hedge fund that controls it, Alden Global Capital. Reporters from Digital First publications around the country will rally outside Alden Global Capital's office here in New York City to demand that the hedge fund either invest in its newspapers or sell them. The hedge fund is known for slashing and downsizing its papers to maintain high profit margins. Since 2010, Digital First Media has cut budgets and staffs at newspapers across the country, including the Oakland Tribune, the San Jose Mercury News and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. In recent months, Digital First Media cut 30 percent of the newsroom at The Denver Post. Meanwhile, the private company reported profits of almost $160 million in 2017 and a 17 percent operating margin-far higher than other newspaper publishers. For more, we speak with Elizabeth Hernandez, a breaking news reporter for The Denver Post; Julie Reynolds, an investigative journalist who has been covering Alden Global Capital for years; and Dave Krieger, the former editorial page director at the Boulder Daily Camera before being fired last month for self-publishing an article critical of Alden Global Capital.