On the this edition of Your Call's Media Roundtable, we're discussing Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink, a documentary that tells the story of Alden Global Capitol, a secretive hedge fund that is plundering what is left of US newspapers, and the journalists who are fighting back.
In 2011, Alden began buying up newspapers across the country. In 2015, reporter Julie Reynolds began investigating Alden, which bought her small-town daily, the Monterey County Herald, along with more than 100 other newspapers nationwide.
She exposed how these self-described "vulture capitalists" would strip newspapers of their real estate, gut their newsrooms, and run away with the profits. Her reporting sparked a movement of journalists who took to the streets to tell vulture capitalists to "get the hell out of the news business."
What is lost when billionaires take over our news organizations? What can we do about it?
Stripped for Parts will be streamed free, on demand, on PBS.org and the PBS app, beginning October 1. It will be broadcast nationwide on PBS-affiliated stations at various dates/times beginning also on October 1.
Guests:
Rick Goldsmith, veteran documentary filmmaker and director of Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink
Julie Reynolds, freelance investigative reporter, co-founder of Voices of Monterey Bay, and former investigative reporter with the Monterey County Herald
Resources:
Rebuild Local News: New Report Reveals Alarming and Widespread Shortage of Local Journalists Across the U.S.
The Guardian: ‘Heartbroken’: staff laid off as California TV station abruptly closes newsroom
Poynter: Gannett is cutting $100 million and rethinking subscriptions to curb falling revenue
