It’s no secret that all the major SoCal Daily newspapers have dramatically cut back on their coverage of events and activities in the Los Alamitos-Rossmoor and Seal Beach areas. The trials of the money-bleeding LA Times are well known but of more impact on our community is Alden Capital’s ownership, through subsidiaries like the Southern California Newspaper Group and Digital First Media, of the OC Register and Press-Telegram, two papers that used to regularly cover everything big and small in our area.
This month’s Atlantic Magazine has an in-depth article on how Alden has made a fortune across the country from a very unfortunate business model: “Buy a struggling paper, gut the staff, sell the real estate, jack up subscription prices, and wring out as much cash as possible.”
The story and methods are nothing new. The LA Times covered it back in 2016.
