• by Melynda Fuller , January 20, 2020

Staffers at one of Tribune Publishing’s papers, the Chicago Tribune, are calling for new owners in an op-ed published in The New York Timesover the weekend.

Chicago Tribune investigative writers David Jackson and Gary Marx published “Wi ll the Chicago Tribune Be the Next Newspaper Picked to the Bone?” on Sunday, calling out Alden for its history of decimating local newspapers.

They wrote: “Alden’s strategy of acquiring struggling local newsrooms and stripping them of assets has built the personal wealth of the hedge-fund’s investors. But Alden has imposed draconian staff cuts that decimated The Denver Post and other once-proud newspapers that have been vital to their communities and to American democracy.”

Tribune Publishing owns the New York Daily News, The Baltimore Sun, The Hartford Courant, The Orlando Sentinel, The Sun-Sentinel, The Virginian-Pilot and The Capital Gazette.Buyouts were offered at each title after Alden acquired 32% of the company late last year.

Jackson and Marx noted in their op-ed that the ChicagoTribune has won 27 Pulitzer Prizes, while other Tribune Publishing titles have claimed another 37. Abraham Lincoln was once a subscriber.

To preserve the legacy of the newspaper and the important work of its staffers, Jackson and Marx called for “a civic-minded local owner or group of owners,” telling CNN Business they’ve already spoken with several potential buyers in recent weeks in an informal effort.

Their op-ed argues: “The alternative is a ghost version of the Chicago Tribune — a newspaper that can no longer carry out its essential watchdog mission.”