• by Ray Schultz , February 28, 2023

A battle is raging over the Federal Communications Commission’s plan to hold an administrative hearing over hedge fund Standard General’s attempt to acquire local broadcaster TEGNA.

Standard General said on Monday that it intends to fight the order. 

But on Tuesday, several major labor unions, including the Communications Worker of Ameroca (CWA), NewsGuild-CWA, and NABET-CWA weighed in to support the decision to hold a hearing, and to voice their opposition to Standard General’s proposed takeover of TEGNA.

“We have all seen what happens when private equity and hedge funds are allowed to take over,” Communications Workers of America President states Chris Shelton said. “They care about one thing and one thing only: profits. In the case of media companies, that means rapid job cuts and gutting local journalism.”

The unions cite Pew Research Center findings that overall newsroom employment fell by 26% from 2008 to 2020.

Those cuts has mostly affected newspapers while broadcast TV employment ticket up 4% in that time framd. 

The unions allege that In Guild-represented newsrooms owned by Alden Global Capital, jobs have been cut by 75% over the last 10 years, above the national average.