We write to you today together as community stakeholders and union workers of Tribune newspapers in Chicago, Maryland, New York, Orlando, Allentown, Pa., coastal Virginia, Hartford, Conn., and Florida, urging you to vote NO to the proposed takeover of Tribune Publishing by predatory hedge fund Alden Global Capital.

The bid by Alden Global Capital to take over Tribune Publishing represents a profound threat to the quantity and quality of information we have about where we live. Alden’s track record as the controlling shareholder of the country’s second-largest newspaper company, MediaNews Group, has demonstrated, time and again, that they are not good stewards of either shareholder interest nor the essential mission of our newspapers.

Alden has achieved industry-leading profit margins not by innovating, improving the product or even in better meeting the needs of our “consumers.” Within a few years of acquiring a newspaper, Alden quickly hollows it out, taking a liquidation approach of selling off historic offices, shutting down printing plants and slashing staff, while hiking subscription prices. Each of these reduces the access to important information, and takes money and jobs out of our community. Similar debasement of our newspapers began almost immediately after Alden took a controlling stake in Tribune publishing nearly two years ago.

This destruction of Tribune’s newspapers comes at a cost to the communities they cover. Shareholders should consider the interests of those critical stakeholders. Communities without newspapers see increased levels of waste and corruption in their local government, more partisan polarization, lower rates of voter participation, and fewer people seeking elected office. These are tangible harms to real people when important stories go untold, not just the people who subscribe to our papers, but also millions more of their neighbors.

Tribune shareholders now have the opportunity to choose the future of local news coverage for our communities, and to protect the interests of these vital stakeholders, by voting NO to Alden's purchase offer.

Baltimore Sun Guild
Chesapeake News Guild
Chicago Tribune Guild
Daily News Union
Design Production Studio
Hartford Courant Guild
Orlando Sentinel Guild
The Morning Call Guild
Suburban Chicago Tribune Guild
Tidewater News Guild
Tribune Content Agency Guild