Hedge funds, however, see newspapers as a potential bargain. Penny Abernathy, a former New York Times and Wall Street Journal executive who studies the economics of local media at the University of North Carolina’s journalism school, said Alden’s track record did not bode well for Tribune Publishing newspapers that may fall under its control. Last year, two Chicago Tribune reporters sent letters to Chicago luminaries urging them to buy the paper. In an interview on Tuesday, Gregory Pratt, the president of the Chicago Tribune’s union and a City Hall reporter, did not seem sanguine about the deal. Alden is the worst in the news business, and that is saying something, considering the variety of bad actors out there.

Source: New York Times February 17, 2021 00:04 UTC