When journalists talk about Wall Street harvesting newspapers for organs, this is what we’re talking about. The Chicago Tribune already has layoffs to hit a 10% profit margin. Now a hedge fund comes in and wants immediate 20% profit margins. And all the rest of us are the losers. https://twitter.com/davidfolkenflik/status/1362569460796846086

Even if you’re an uptight fiscal conservative who thinks ruthless hedge fund management is just what can whip your local newspaper into its tightest shape so the profits can be sunk into needed growth, I have news for you about where that cash is going. https://dfmworkers.org/in-court-filing-hedge-fund-alden-admits-diverting-hundreds-of-millions-from-newspaper-chain/

These hedge funds aren’t stupid. They’re card sharks who have figured out how to win every hand. They know grandma and grandpa will keep paying subscription money to the paper they’ve spent their entire lives with; they just never tell your folks that nobody works there anymore.

Anyway, yes, this is ultimately a public policy problem. The current policy is capitalist, to encourage newspaper owners to siphon cash out of local newspapers to invest in other more promising industries. The current public policy is *not* to ensure people have good local news.

The tax code could be made more favorable for local publishers or journalist cooperatives; the nation could directly invest in public options, like a stronger local PBS or BBC; advertising monopolies could be regulated to give publishers a fairer shake. These are policy choices.

There are alternative to the status quo. We just have to want them bad enough.

Creative innovation from private industry will always be an option in revolutionizing the business of local news. But last I saw, the hottest new thing in media is an app where executives go to hear themselves talk.