Mark Gruenberg at People’s World reports intense pressure from the Trump Administration and the consolidation of Mass Media ownership into “four or five” newspaper chains - as some owners, in pursuit of profits and permissions, play along with President Donald Trump, poses a big threat to independent news in the U.S., NewsGuild President Jon Schleuss says. In an exclusive interview with People’s World, Schleuss, whose rapidly growing Union has campaigned for years to “Save Local News!”- added that not just Journalists, but readers and voters are the victims of such pressure. That pressure, he said, robs Journalists and the public of the protection they need to hold government and business accountable. “They work in a double symbiosis,” Schleuss says of Trump and the chains, particularly the billionaire owners of the news organizations. Meanwhile, “The chains are continuing to self-destruct because of bad management, while the need for local news coverage” and the accountability it demands from both government and business “is higher than ever,” Schleuss says. In the last several decades, the Mainstream Print Media has consolidated into two big chains listed on Securities Exchanges, McClatchy and Gannett, and a third, Tribune, owned by the Private Venture Capital Fund Alden Global Capital. Two smaller chains - including one non-profit group, own other papers. Schleuss has nicknamed Alden “Vulture Capital.” It swoops in on distressed papers, buys them, cuts their Staff in half or more, eliminates coverage, and leaves ruined families and jobless Workers. It also sells off valuable real estate and then pockets all the proceeds from those moves. 

To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: NewsGuild President Schleuss: Media consolidation threatens democracy – People's World

C-SPAN Screengrab of NewsGuild President Schleuss Courtesy Of NABET-CWA’s Website.