Hedged : How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy / Margot Susca.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Susca, Margot, 1976- author.

Series:

History of Communication

The History of Communication

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Newspaper publishing--United States--History--21st century.

Newspaper publishing.

Press and politics--United States--History--21st century.

Press and politics.

American newspapers--History--21st century.

American newspapers.

Private equity--United States.

Private equity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (284 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Urbana, Illinois : University of Illinois Press, [2023]

Summary:

"The ultrawealthy largely own and guide the newspaper system in the United States. Through entities like hedge funds and private equity firms, this investor class continues to dismantle the one institution meant to give voice to average citizens in a democracy. Margot Susca reveals the little-known history of how private investment took over the newspaper industry. Drawing on a political economy of media, Susca's analysis uses in-depth interviews and documentary evidence to examine issues surrounding ownership and power. Susca also traces the scorched-earth policies of layoffs, debt, cash-outs, and wholesale newspaper closings left behind by private investors and the effects of the devastation on the future of news and information. Throughout, Susca reveals an industry rocked less by external forces like lost ad revenue and more by ownership and management obsessed with profit and beholden to private fund interests that feel no responsibility toward journalism or the public it is meant to serve"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Intro

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication Page

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: What Crisis?

1. The Private Investment Era

2. Democracy for Sum

3. Overharvesting

4. Mergers and Acquisitions

5. The Debt

6. Layoffs

7. Neglected Audiences

Conclusion: Ending the Era

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Susca, Margot Hedged

ISBN:

9780252055089

025205508X

OCLC:

1414467690