Nov. 6, 2017 – NewsGuild members at papers owned by Digital First Media (DFM) expanded a coordinated campaign in recent weeks by exposing the devastating effect that Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund that controls DFM, has had on local news coverage and journalists’ jobs.
Workers at DFM’s 12 unionized papers recently unleashed two separate two-day Twitter storms to call attention to the corrosive effect of Alden’s management of the papers: Layoffs at twice the industry average. Gutting the papers’ assets by selling buildings and equipment. Entire communities left without news coverage.
At the same time, Randall Smith, Alden’s secretive CEO, has purchased 16 Florida mansions worth $57 million and made risky investments – in Fred’s Pharmacy, which quickly lost $100 million in value, and in Peabody Energy, a coal company that recently emerged from bankruptcy and that is rife with pollution scandals.
Using the hashtag #AldenExposed, the Twitter storms were designed to pressure Alden to change course – to invest in journalism and allow the employees of DFM papers to report the news.
The tweets, posted by union members at DFM papers, were directed at Alden, business journalists, and other hedge funds participating in “good works” conferences. The concentrated tweeting over the course of two days in October and two days in early November, garnered widespread attention.
The exposés have been anchored by investigative reporting by Julie Reynolds, including an article published in The Nation, and several posted on www.DFMworkers.org.
Contract negotiations last July that culminated in agreements covering 12 papers provided for a 3 percent pay increase on Aug. 1, 2016, and for additional negotiations over wages in 2017 and 2018. Discussions are ongoing.