Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is seeking more information from the hedge fund that is the largest shareholder in Tribune Publishing, the parent of the Hartford Courant, and its offer to acquire the entire company, saying that The Courant has already endured “devastating cuts to the staff and operations.”
“I am deeply troubled by the reports that Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund with a history of decimating newspapers across the country, may be poised to take complete control of the Hartford Courant,” Tong said, in a statement. “The Courant is a crucial part of Connecticut’s media landscape and has already withstood countless devastating cuts to its staff and operations since Alden acquired a third of Tribune Publishing in 2019.
“The Courant deserves an owner who will invest in the critical journalism they produce instead of making draconian cuts to line the company’s own pockets,” Tong said.
In a Jan. 14 letter to New York-based Alden Global and its president Heath Freeman, Tong said he needed more information to assess “the potential competitive ramifications of the proposed transaction.”
He noted the closure of The Courant’s Hartford newsroom at the end of last year.
In the letter to Alden, Tong argued that “Connecticut needs a robust and healthy local media ecology.”
“I am concerned that the proposed acquisition may negatively impact the cost and quality of services provided by Tribune companies as well as the diversity of news reporting and editorial content in Connecticut,” Tong wrote.
Under the deal proposed by Alden, valued at $520 million, Tribune Publishing would be taken private. The deal would need the approval of the board of directors and shareholders.
Alden Global could not be reached for comment.
Tong is requesting a detailed accounting of the media companies has a stake in Connecticut, across print, electronic and broadcast.
He also wants to know what media companies Alden Global and MediaNewsGroup have an interest in the state.
MediaNewsGroup is the operating company through which Alden owns about 200 publications nationwide.
Tong also has asked what plans Alden has for investing and strengthening Tribune Publishing’s assets, including The Courant.
Alden has three of seven seats on Tribune Publishing’s board. Tribune has extended an ownership standstill agreement until June 2021. The agreement basically prevented a hostile takeover, but it did not prevent Alden from making a “tender offer” for the company.
Tong’s letter follows a resolution backed by the Hartford City Council in September that urged Alden to end further layoffs at the Courant that have “decimated” the staff and to return the newspaper to local ownership.
(A report from the Chicago Tribune was included in this story.)
