The ‘audacious lie’ behind a hedge fund’s promise to sustain local journalism

When Alden comes in, it’s slash-and-burn time. Newsroom jobs — reporters, editors, photographers — are cut to the bone. Decisions are made not for long-term sustainability, not for service to the community, not for humane treatment of skilled and dedicated staff, but for next quarter’s profit-and-loss statement.

And so it was simply realistic when journalist and press-chronicler Joshua Benton wrote this on Twitter after hearing the news: “The lamps are going out all over America, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.” Among the papers in the agreement are the New York Daily News, the Orlando Sentinel, the Daily Press in Newport News and the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk.

Read sources here.