Dan Gillmor

The Washington Post noted a sad milestone this week:a media company is getting rid of 3 Pulitzer-winner editorial cartoonists in the latest whacks at journalism jobs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/comics/2023/07/12/mcclatchy-cartoonists-layoffs/

But when the Post names McClatchy as the company doing the firing, it's letting the real culprit -- the owner of McClatchy, a financial operator called Chatham Asset Management -- off the hook. Chatham is one of the hedge-fund / private equity outfits systematically looting what's left of local news.

Three Pulitzer-winning cartoonists let go in one shocking day

McClatchy, citing ‘continuing evolution’ for the firings, says its newspapers will no longer publish daily opinion cartoons.

The Washington Post
Jul 13, 2023 at 4:16amWeb
Show threadTane Piper ⁂Jul 13, 2023
@dangillmor @FroehlichMarcel no doubt they offended some billionaire.
Show threadBruce MirkenJul 13, 2023
@dangillmor I wish the late, great Paul Conrad was here to do a cartoon about this.
Show threadTimJul 13, 2023
@dangillmor
If it can be securitized then it's for sale: newspapers, hospitals, farms, roads, schools, prisons.
Show threadSecond Chance BikesJul 13, 2023
@dangillmor
"hedge-fund / private equity outfits" & individual "corporate raiders" like Icahn & musk are what's wrong with capitalism. Without strict regulation it morphs into oligarchy. RR let the dogs out. His tax cuts started a 50-year trend to absurd wealth stratification, but equally destructive was the sea change toward tearing up all socially-conscious regulations. Journalism, the 4th estate, is (mostly) anti-oligarch. So they buy it to kill it.
See:
● "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair.
Show threadNicole ParsonsJul 13, 2023

@dangillmor

Chatham Management is also the employer of the infamous David Pecker
https://www.ft.com/content/2056d7c1-5695-4a7c-a398-d0568209b7d6
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pecker
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/esg/at-hedge-fund-that-owns-trump-secrets-odd-bond-math-repeat
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/behind-trump-s-tabloid-king-a-connected-and-flush-hedge-fund-1.1130887
https://apnews.com/article/2b8b1357960a420384e5a5c33b8ca2cb
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/national-enquirer-chief-david-pecker-loses-top-job-in-company-merger/
Anthony Melchiorre's Chatham Management is an engine of anti-democracy in North America
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/business/media/hedge-fund-chatham-mcclatchy-postmedia-newspapers.html
https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/10/19/executive-from-national-enquirer-parent-joins-postmedia-board.html
https://www.pionline.com/regulation/chatham-asset-management-founder-anthony-melchiorre-hit-sec-charges
https://www.fastcompany.com/90228218/ohio-n-j-pension-funds-invested-625m-in-hedge-fund-that-controls-national-enquirer-parent
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/postmedia-shoots-more-hostages-to-keep-debt-payments-flowing-to-new-jersey-hedge-fund
https://njbiz.com/chatham-investment-firm-moves-to-acquire-vericast-for-2-85b/
"philanthropy"
https://support.fdu.edu/studentsfirst/stories/melchiorre

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Show thread@infosec_jcp 🐈🃏 done differentlyJul 13, 2023

@dangillmor

Here's to hoping they can monetize and sustainable their Indy income asap