The two-page missive is a concise, collective shot at the ogre Alden has been in the industry since forming in 2007. Then, representatives of Lee’s 12 unionized newsrooms, including the Times-Dispatch, urged Lee’s board to reject Alden’s overtures. The plan “will provide Lee’s Board and our shareholders with the time needed to properly assess the acquisition proposal without undue pressure while also safeguarding shareholders’ opportunity to realize the long-term value of their investment in Lee,” Chairman Mary Junck said in a news release. (Style Weekly)Įvents moved quickly after news of Alden’s latest takeover aspirations became public.įirst, the Lee chain adopted a so-called “poison pill” plan to protect itself from a hostile takeover while the company’s board considered Alden’s offer. The former Virginian-Pilot building in Norfolk. ( I worked a total of 21 years at those two papers, and I expressed my disdain about Alden’s practices and then-pending acquisition in a column in January.) With about 200 publications under its belt, Alden is now the second-largest newspaper owner in the nation, behind only Gannett. Īlden earlier this year acquired Tribune Publishing, getting The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot and (Newport News) Daily Press as part of the deal. The company last week made an offer for the rest, proposing a cash purchase at $24 a share. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Buffalo News and Omaha World-Herald.Īlden, based in New York City, already owns about 6 percent of Lee Enterprises. Nationwide, Lee owns 75 daily newspapers in 26 states (including Virginia). The company also owns newspapers in Charlottesville, Danville, Bristol, Martinsville, Lynchburg, Waynesboro, Culpeper, Rock Mount and Wytheville. The combined seven-day paid average of those dailies is 159,000, a company spokeswoman told me. Its 10 daily newspapers in the commonwealth include the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Roanoke Times and (Fredericksburg) Free Lance-Star. Lee Enterprises is based in Davenport, Iowa. There are many pieces to this puzzle, so bear with me: “News desert” has entered the lexicon because of the increasing loss of daily and weekly publications in communities around America. It said that since 2005, about 2,200 local newspapers across America have closed. Her comments came the same day The Washington Post published a sobering, multipart account of what local stories could be lost in the current landscape. “The impact will be severe, and at a time when reliable, professional news reporting is needed more than ever.” “Our jobs are at stake, and further cuts to our already lean newsroom weaken our ability to cover our communities in deep, meaningful ways,” Holly Prestidge, president of the Richmond Newspapers Professional Association and an RTD reporter, told me by email Tuesday. National outlets simply don’t provide that sort of reporting. When no one watches the local folks who wield power, there’s no way to hold them accountable. ![]() ![]() Virginians of all stripes, though, should also be concerned: Alden would gut what little remains of local coverage in many communities – school board and city council meetings, actions by municipal officials, neighborhood disputes and the like. Think of them collectively as a dismissive, less-cuddly Scrooge McDuck for the modern times. ![]() Its execs crave profits above all else civic duty be damned. Writers, photographers, editors and others know they could lose their jobs or be saddled with more tasks – in ever-smaller newsrooms – under Alden’s leadership. It’s one of the most rapacious hedge funds targeting the media industry today, and its arrogant executives have proven they don’t care a whit about the carnage they unleash on communities. It’s no surprise journalists at the Richmond Times-Dispatch and other newspapers around the country are fighting a takeover bid by Alden Global Capital.
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