“We endured cut after cut after cut. I had to lay people off,” he said. “We were under assault, really, from our own owners, and nothing that we did — not being faster, smarter, more digital — none of those things really matter when a hedge fund doesn’t really care about the community or the journalism that the newspaper it owns produces. It’s really about this quarter’s return.”
Ryckman walked away and, several months later, helped found The Colorado Sun, a website that specializes in the sort of public-interest journalism that Alden was unwilling to fund.

As more local news outlets close their doors amid dried up revenue streams, destructive hedge fund ownership, and tech platform monopolies, the issue has become as clear as day: local news is facing an extinction-level event. 

The NewsGuild is fighting to save the news, and the “Paths Forward Town Hall” this week provided insight into the scope of the crisis facing American journalism, and a stirring call to action from some of the leading thinkers on building a sustainable future for the news industry.

Reporters from 75 or more news outlets across the United States descended on Kenosha, Wisconsin, to cover emotional and sometimes violent protests in the days after Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, was shot in the back multiple times by Kenosha police.

But when community members gathered for a prayer service on the shores of Lake Michigan a few days after Blake was shot, the only reporter present was from the local paper, the Kenosha News.