DENVER, Colo.—On the eve of another wave of layoffs, the Denver Post ran a front-page editorial Apr. 6
calling on its owner, the Alden Global Capital hedge fund, to sell the paper. “Denver deserves a newspaper owner who supports its newsroom,” it said. “If Alden isn’t willing to do good journalism here, it should sell the Post to owners who will.” Since Alden acquired the paper’s parent company, Digital First Media, in 2010, it has cut newsroom staff from more than 250 workers to about 100—and another round of layoffs scheduled to begin Apr. 9 will bring the number of journalists, editors, and layout workers down to 70. The cuts, the editorial said, “are a mystery, if you look at them from the point of view of those of us intent on running a serious news operation,” especially when the Post is solidly profitable. The NewsGuild, which represents Post newsroom staff, says Alden is “eviscerating” the paper to cover the more than $100 million it lost trying to take over the Fred’s Pharmacy chain in December 2016. Read more
