A brief comment on the connection between newspapers and civic affairs with the offer by a vulture hedge fund to purchase Gannett Newspapers

It's a bit ironic writing a piece in favor of keeping the Gannett Newspaper group intact, because historically they were known for buying newspapers and cutting staff to increase profits.

But in the context of a chained up newspaper sector, they do support enterprise reporting on the part of the various newspapers, for example, the Indianapolis Star did an incredible series on the impact of selling tax liens and losing control of area housing stock to non-local firms, the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader did a great series on the importance of learning to read by the age of nine and the various efforts in local school systems, and the Arizona Republic does great reporting on water issues.

And USA Today, criticized as McPaper, does some important reporting too, ranging from test cheating in the DC Public Schools, to treatment of truck drivers at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and just recently, a great digital feature on the various security measures deployed along every mile of the US border with Mexico.

-- "The Wall – An in-depth examination"

But I do find troubling the announcement that Alden Global Capital wants to acquire Gannett ("Newsonomics: Let the 2019 Consolidation Games begin! First up: Alden seeks to swallow Gannett," Nieman Media) because the newspapers that the firm acquires have fewer staff and less local reportage afterwards.

In response the Journalist's Resource initiative of the Shorenstein Media Center at the Harvard Kennedy School offers a couple of interesting articles:

-- "Political polarization increases after local newspapers close"
-- "Civic engagement declines when local newspapers shut down"

The Newsonomics post makes the point that Gannett is now in play, regardless of what happens with Alden. Hopefully, it would mean that Gannett and Tribune Newspapers hook up and remain out of the clutches of private equity. Even in their reduced form, the newspapers owned by Gannett and Tribune "show better" than those owned by Alden, which include the Orange County Register, Denver Post, San Jose Mercury News, and the Boston Herald.

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Past entries include:

-- "One more blow against community media: Washington Post drops Thursday "county" news special sections," 2017
-- "Voting vs. civic participation | elections vs. governance," 2016
-- "DC's Current Newspapers introduce weekly e-letter," 2013. Note that post-bankruptcy (last year), the Current Newspaper is a pale copy of its previous form, with almost no news, limited editorials, letters to the editor and op-ed, and what was once the city's best community calendar is now significantly shrunken.
-- "The ongoing tragedy of dying print media, the latest being community newspapers in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, Maryland," 2015
-- "Grassroots communications capability in the city," 2015
-- "Protest as Civic Engagement and the role of the media," 2007