Media companies are losing money left and right….
And cutting staff…
And YES?
Becoming more dependent to making profit vs reporting objectively as the fourth estate….
McClatchy, the publisher that operates The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee and other newspapers, filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday, another sign of a collapsing local news industry.
In a Chapter 11 filing in New York, the company, one of the largest news publishers in the United States, said it planned to restructure its pension obligations and the more than $700 million in debt it has struggled with for years as it tried to strengthen its digital business. It said its 30 newsrooms in 14 states would continue operating as usual during the case.
The hedge fund Chatham Asset Management, its longtime creditor, would operate McClatchy, a 163-year-old family-controlled business, as a private company, under the plan laid out in the filing.
If the plan is approved by the court, McClatchy would become the latest in a string of local news brands propped up by hedge funds, an unlikely relationship that has become the norm as the finance industry swoops in to wring profits from an ailing industry. Journalists and industry groups have expressed grave concerns about the future of news and jobs in the hands of private equity, but there are few solutions for the growing crisis in the industry. A 2019 report from PEN America warned that the shuttering of hundreds of local newspapers would damage democracy…..
http://newspaperdeathwatch.com/
Unfortunately, the latest story here is from 2018.
More worrisome is this Reuters/Bloomberg Report from yesterday on US household debt…
NPR did a drill down on the numbers and showed the biggest growing problem is 20-30 year old credit card debt being at least 90 days delinquent. I think it was almost a trillion dollars in credit card debt for the entire nation…Could be setting the US for yet another financial crisis if the economy bottoms out…only thing supporting the debt is the low employment number, that goes the opposite direction we are in trouble, and who knows if the institutions are again bundling debt and selling it to others and then taking out insurance on it…
Good point bdog….
I have been sceptical of the rosey view of the nation’s economy for over a year here…
The debt carried by the government and consumers I believe is VASTLY understated….
The Fed has warned Trump and Congress on this but they won’t do anything with November’s elections coming up…
Worst?
A financial situation going south would put a guy in charge of helping a recovery that has had a history of just walking away…Something that cannot happen for this country and the world economy…It would be a disaster…And he wouldn’t give a shit….