Don’t give grants to hedge fund newspapers
The local journalism business fell apart because short-sighted companies did not adapt to the digital age.
Now many local newspapers are owned by hedge funds, which are cutting and killing them. Some hedge fund papers want to get grants that usually go to nonprofit news. Some have taken over state press organzations and are pressuring government and tech platforms to give them money.
As a longtime journalism funder, how much money do I believe hedge funds (and other owners who act like them) deserve?
Not one cent.
Through initiatives like Press Forward, foundations are giving more to local news — to the fair, accurate, contextual, truthful information America’s people need to run their governments and their lives.
Commercial news is, for the moment, failing local communities. Hedge funds are the vultures who have flown in to pick the bones clean.
Here are 10 reasons to avoid giving grants to hedge fund papers.
- They are not charities. They don’t have to help anyone but themselves.
2. They don’t disclose their finances. They can cut staff even as they take your money.
3. They harvest market position by cutting newsroom staff and preserving cash flow at the expense of communities. Some of their…
