Project Mayhem : Reporters Race To Save Tribune Papers From Vulture Fund capradio.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from capradio.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Photo (cc) 2010 by Brent Payne
Washington Post reporters Elahe Izadi and Sarah Ellison have a terrific account of how the campaign to save Tribune Publishing from Alden Global Capital got started.
It began with Save Our Sun, a group launched by several Baltimore Sun reporters. And as recently as a few weeks ago, it looked like they had won a significant but limited victory: Alden would take ownership of eight of Tribune’s nine major-market dailies, spinning the Sun and several affiliated papers off to nonprofit ownership.
That’s when things got more interesting. When Stewart Bainum, the hotel magnate behind the nonprofit plan, grew frustrated with Alden’s terms, he put together a group of billionaires and outbid Alden for the entire chain. Though Bainum’s victory is not yet assured, things are moving in the right direction. The papers would be spun off to local owners, some of them nonprofits, which would represent the biggest victory over chain journalism in many years.
tribune-journalists-bainum-alden - The Washington Post washingtonpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from washingtonpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A year into its rallying cry to save The Baltimore Sun from being sold to a hedge fund, the newspaper’s union took to the streets Saturday facing the same uncertainties as when the long-shot quest began, but with more reason for optimism.