{"id":23743,"date":"2019-12-11T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T15:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=23743"},"modified":"2019-12-11T11:51:24","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T17:51:24","slug":"chicago-tribune-staffers-raise-alarm-new-owners-troubling-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2019\/12\/11\/chicago-tribune-staffers-raise-alarm-new-owners-troubling-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Tribune staffers raise alarm over new owner's 'troubling record'"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a> Chicago Tribune<\/p><\/div>\n

The unions representing editorial employees at the Chicago Tribune<\/a> and other Tribune Publishing<\/a> newspapers are speaking out against their company's new largest shareholder.<\/p>\n

In a formal petition<\/a> made public today, the Chicago Tribune Guild<\/a> urged the board of Tribune Publishing to push back against Alden Global Capital,<\/a> the New York-based hedge fund that just acquired a 32 percent stake<\/a> in the company. It cited Alden's \"troubling record of diminishing newspapers\u2019 abilities to cover their communities\" and its reputation for destroying newspapers by cutting newsroom staffs.<\/p>\n

\"To follow Alden's path would not only undermine employee morale and foment labor conflict but would violate your fiduciary responsibility to shareholders and your duty to maximize the company's value, to both its customers and to its shareholders, over the long term,\" the petition stated.<\/p>\n

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Chicago Tribune Guild<\/p><\/div>\n

Signed by more than 400 editorial employees from Tribune newspapers across the country, the petition calls on the board to \"commit to increased staffing and investments in news and business opportunities\" and to \"consider in good faith any offers from outside entities that would return Tribune\u00a0Publishing papers to civic-minded and\/or local ownership.\"<\/p>\n

It followed a similar plea<\/a> last week by Mary Schmich, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Tribune, who urged a benevolent billionaire or two to come forward and rescue the paper. \"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make your mark on Chicago history, to make yourself rich in honor, to be \u2014 no exaggeration \u2014 a hero,\" she wrote. \"But hurry. History won\u2019t wait.\"<\/p>\n

Accompanying the petition is a proposed shareholder resolution asking the board to prepare an annual \u201cjournalism report\u201d detailing the company\u2019s commitment to news.<\/p>\n

\"While our company currently measures its revenue, expenses, and profitability attached to creating news, it does not reveal to investors the impact its choices about news coverage might be having. We believe tracking and reporting on our core service news is critical for investors to assess our company,\" the resolution states. \"For investors concerned about the fate of journalism, such public monitoring represents a means to understanding how our company creates value.\"<\/p>\n

No response yet from Tribune Publishing to the petition or the call for a resolution.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Publishing includes the New York Daily News, The Baltimore Sun Media Group, The Morning Call in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Hartford Courant, the Virginian Pilot, the Daily Press and Virginia Gazette, the South-Florida Sun-Sentinel and Orlando Sentinel.<\/p>\n

Here is the full text of the petition:<\/strong><\/p>\n

To the Tribune Publishing Board of Directors:<\/em><\/p>\n

We, the undersigned employees of Tribune Publishing, urge you to take immediate steps to reaffirm your commitment to journalism \u2014 the engine that powers this company \u2014 and to fair economic investment in newsroom staffing and resources.<\/em><\/p>\n

We ask this in light of the board's expansion to include representatives of a hedge fund with a troubling record of diminishing newspapers\u2019 abilities to cover their communities. Alden Global Capital has been described as a \u201cdestroyer of newspapers,\u201d with a well-documented history of extracting short-term profits from already-lean operations by cutting newsroom jobs and denying fair wages and benefits.<\/em><\/p>\n

To follow Alden's path would not only undermine employee morale and foment labor conflict but would violate your fiduciary responsibility to shareholders and your duty to maximize the company's value, to both its customers and to its shareholders, over the long term.<\/em><\/p>\n

That's why we are asking you to take the following specific steps to help preserve our institutions:<\/em><\/p>\n