Tag: DFM

Alden Global Capital Siphoned Hundreds of Millions, Suit Alleges; Pulitzer-Prize Winners Condemn Practices

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2018

 

Contact:   Bernie Lunzer, President
NewsGuild-CWA
202-434-7175
Carl Hall, Executive Officer
NewsGuild Local 39521
Pacific Media Workers Guild
chall@mediaworkers.org

Alden Global Capital Siphoned Hundreds of Millions, Suit Alleges
Pulitzer-Prize Winners Condemn Practices

 

WASHINGTON, DC — New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars from one of America’s largest news chains, damaging local news organizations to finance insider investment deals, according to a lawsuit filed recently in a Delaware court. Continue reading “Alden Global Capital Siphoned Hundreds of Millions, Suit Alleges; Pulitzer-Prize Winners Condemn Practices”

Pulitzer-Prize Winners Denounce Alden’s ‘Ongoing Destruction’ of Newsrooms

March 8, 2018 – A group of prominent Bay Area journalists – including Pulitzer-Prize winners from the East Bay Times – have denounced “the ongoing destruction of our newsrooms” by the company’s owners, Alden Global Capital. Continue reading “Pulitzer-Prize Winners Denounce Alden’s ‘Ongoing Destruction’ of Newsrooms”

Hedge Fund Alden Siphoned 100s of Millions from Newspapers in Scheme to Gamble on Other Investments, Suit Says

By Julie Reynolds

March 8, 2018 – New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital siphoned hundreds of millions of dollars from one of America’s largest news chains, a new lawsuit charges, damaging local news organizations to finance insider investment deals. Continue reading “Hedge Fund Alden Siphoned 100s of Millions from Newspapers in Scheme to Gamble on Other Investments, Suit Says”

Guild Urges Duke to Sever Ties with Hedge Fund President

SIGN THE PETITION: Tell Duke to cut ties to Alden/Heath Freeman

This article by Julie Reynolds appears on the DFM Workers website.

March 2, 2018 – The NewsGuild-CWA, which represents workers at 12 Digital First Media newspapers, is urging Duke University to sever its ties to hedge fund president Heath Freeman, saying Freeman’s donations “directly contradict” the mission of Duke, home to one of the nation’s most prominent research centers for media and democracy. Continue reading “Guild Urges Duke to Sever Ties with Hedge Fund President”

Campaign for Raises Escalates as DFM Cuts Staff

Feb. 22, 2018 – As negotiations for wage increases get underway, workers at 12 publications owned by Digital First Media (DFM) are escalating their contract campaign against Alden Global Capital, the New York hedge fund that owns the company and that has been systematically stripping newspaper assets since 2012. Continue reading “Campaign for Raises Escalates as DFM Cuts Staff”

Layoffs, buyouts across DFM newspaper chain follow hedge fund’s profit-extraction strategy

UPDATE: Total buyouts in San Jose this week now stand at 15, at least 9 of whom are NewsGuild-represented, bringing total job losses for the Bay Area News Group this week to at least 27.

By Julie Reynolds

Feb. 2, 2018 – Recent company-wide layoffs at Digital First Media newspapers are part of a calculated strategy to extract maximum profits in the next two to three years before shutting down or selling the chain, a prominent news business analyst said Wednesday. Continue reading “Layoffs, buyouts across DFM newspaper chain follow hedge fund’s profit-extraction strategy”

DFM Workers: Stop pillaging our community newspapers to finance your mansion buying sprees!

Nov. 21, 2017 – Employees of news organizations owned by Alden Global Capital, a shadowy hedge fund that now controls 200 newspapers across the country, are telling head honchos Randall Smith and Heath Freeman: Stop pillaging our community newspapers to finance your mansion buying sprees!

Sign their petition here.

DFM Workers Expand Coordinated Campaign

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. Continue reading “DFM Workers Expand Coordinated Campaign”

Guild Conference Calls for Action

Aug. 21, 2017 – With President Trump’s attacks on journalists as a backdrop, the Guild’s August conference took on a sense of urgency. Delegates discussed the best ways to respond, approved a resolution to Defend the Right to Report, and urged its adoption by the CWA convention that followed. Continue reading “Guild Conference Calls for Action”

When hedge funds own newspapers…

Just a week after the East Bay News staff was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for “relentless” coverage of the deadly Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, Digital First Media, owner of the Bay Area News Group, announced plans to move copy desk work to Southern California, triggering 20 more layoffs from a shrunken roster of 92 Guild-represented employees in the East Bay.