STRIPPED FOR PARTS

A series of regional events sparked conversation on the need for local journalists.

By Lisa Johnson

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.

The idea that local journalism — particularly local newspapers — are threatened is not a new one. One of the organizations made up of journalists who were victims of the so-called “vulture capitalists” describes it this way: “Buyouts, waves of crushing staff reductions and a deluge of cost-conscious subscribers absconding to free, often unvetted, “news” sources (that often crib from newspaper articles or play with fiction more than fact and adhere to a particular political bent) have contributed to the degradation of journalism,” says the Bay City News Foundation. “The sad reality is that a viable profession dedicated to maintaining American democracy and uncovering malfeasance of people in power has been on life support for a while. And the outlook remains bleak.”

Perhaps that’s true in some places, but Ben Schierer, West Central Initiative’s Director of Civic Partnerships, is optimistic after spending the week visiting communities and listening to local journalists and their audiences.

“(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.”

That point came up again in light of the closing of The Crookston Times in February.

“You can just look at the decline in the number of papers, the number of communities that are news deserts — that’s a real thing,” says Schierer. “The Crookston paper — that’s a town of 7,000 people —and that paper closed a few weeks back and is probably not coming back . So what does that mean for that community? The statistics are clear: when local journalism goes away, voting participation, civic engagement goes down, corruption goes up, and taxes go up. That’s what the statistics tell us so I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone that would say that local journalism isn’t important to their community.”

And as more small papers disappear or are acquired by larger news organizations, those in small and rural communities are fighting for their lives against bigger and better-funded competitors.

“The Star Tribune is doing some stuff that I don’t like at all,” says Al Edenloff, editor of the Alexandria Echo Press. “I was offended when I went to a Minnesota Newspaper Association convention and the new publisher for the Star Tribune got up and made some comments about how the Tribune was going to save Minnesota news. And you know how they’re going to do that? They’re going to come into our local markets, they’re going to prey upon our advertisers, and take the money and run. When everybody applauded at the end, I sat in my hands. It was really frustrating to hear that coming from the Tribune.

“They’re going to have a meeting here in Alex in May,” Edenloff continued. “They even changed their name to The Minnesota Star Tribune, and that they really ‘deeply care’ about all of these small communities that aren’t getting covered well. That makes me mad, too, when they take pot shots at us for (our coverage). So their presence is kind of creating that news desert that they talk about. They’re poaching our people. And they’re taking money that we could have made by subscribers or by advertising.”

Edenloff answered questions from the Alexandria audience on topics ranging from artificial intelligence “scrapers” as news gatherers, student engagement, and the role of the community as a news source. And he was pleased to talk about the Echo Press’s relationship with their owners, Forum Communications.

“We’ve had a very good relationship with Forum Communications ,” he says. “They’re very hands off. They let us do what we want. Ever since day one.”

Ben Schierer wasn’t surprised at the packed houses at the events. More than 40 attended the Alexandria event.

“It was a great turnout in Alexandria. We had a great turnout in Morris. The editor of The Wheaton Gazette was very surprised that on a Monday night in April, people turned out at the Wheaton Public Library to talk about the importance of local journalism in their community,” he says. “I don’t think I’m surprised. I think people recognize the importance of this issue right now and they want to be in community to talk about it — that’s the important thing. It just feels right, now. We don’t have to have everyone in the room agree on things, but just being there, talking about them in a civil way — that feels like the right thing to do right now.”

The Alexandria Echo Press is a local newspapers covering Douglas County, MN. Subscribe to the Alexandria Echo Press here