CHICAGO – The Chicago Tribune is facing an ownership crisis, according to industry news sources during the past week. It's so bad that the papers reporters are reportedly trying to find a new owner for their newspaper.
Gary Marx, a 31-year veteran of the Chicago Tribune, told CNN Business the reporters are trying to do whatever they can to stop the buyout. He and another one of the Tribune's top reporters, David Jackson, wrote an op-ed warning about the pernicious influence of Alden.
"Unless Alden reverses course — perhaps in repentance for the avaricious destruction it has wrought in Denver and elsewhere — we need a civic-minded local owner or group of owners. So do our Tribune Publishing colleagues," they wrote in the New York Times op-ed piece.
The op-ed says while the general impression is that other online news sources are filling the growing news void, it's not true.
The popular narrative is that these web-based news labs are stepping unto the breach to fulfill the basic mission of struggling legacy newsrooms. But many have relatively tiny readerships and specialized missions. To have impact, they often partner with major news organizations like ours. And The Tribune does not just safeguard the city; by devoting coverage to every aspect of daily life, it creates a sense of community.
Facebook and other social media sites give the impression that they offer everything you need to know. But, in reality, most of Facebook’s news is generated in traditional newsrooms. If we disappear, its news feed will consist of little more than news releases and opinion-based screeds.
