A series of regional events sparked conversation on the need for local journalists.
ALEXANDRIA — Community audiences and area journalists were left stunned and depressed during a series of events in Alexandria, Wheaton, Morris and Pelican Rapids this week, hosted by the West Central Initiative . But after spirited conversations with one another, their commitment to local journalism seemed reinvigorated.
The events began with the screening of a harrowing 2024 film called “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink .” It tells the story of hedge fund Alden Global Capital and how they’ve been buying up newspapers all over the country and gutting them, and the journalists who are fighting back.
“(A free press is) foundational to what we believe — what we stand for,” says Schierer. “I think it’s really powerful in the movie that they point out that the free press is the only industry mentioned in the Bill of Rights. I mean, I think that’s something that makes you stop and think.
“Getting all these different perspectives is really important and it’s important also that the communities are there and participating in these things. These conversations, to me, it’s just the essence of democracy. Here’s an issue that I feel is really important and equally important, people have different opinions. Each of the different editors that we’ve talked to have slightly different opinions, and so did people in the audience, but at the end they all have the same belief that local journalism is imperative to a healthy democracy.”
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STRIPPED FOR PARTS 