The Buzz 02.25.21

FREE SPEECH

In the annals of disastrous news for the news business, this may well top this year’s list. Alden Global Capital, the hedge fund that specializes in acquiring and bleeding out distressed assets, will acquire the remaining ownership stake in Tribune Publishing Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News, The Baltimore Sun and other newspapers. Alden became the publishing company’s largest shareholder two years ago, when it acquired a 32-percent stake. Just as news of the acquisition broke, the Maryland-based nonprofit Sunlight For All Institute, launched and led by businessman and philanthropist Stewart Bainum Jr., announced it would acquire and run The Baltimore Sun. Alden Global is a familiar and unwelcome name in Monterey County journalism – it owns the Monterey Herald, a daily which has offloaded all of its staff photographers and copy editors, reduced the size of its print edition, dismantled its press operations, sold its offices and now works with a greatly reduced staff.

Editor's note: The Free Speech column has been updated to include the following correction. The Monterey Herald is a current daily, not a former daily—while it has reduced the size of its paper it has not reduced its print schedule.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The military always tries to understand the enemy, the friendly situation and terrain we’re working in.” - Col. Varman Chhoeung, who commands the Presidio of Monterey, speaking about his previous work on ethnographic intelligence, or understanding social relationships within a culture (see Face to Face).

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

The city of Gonzales will receive $15,000 to develop a new program, the Healthy Gonzales Initiative. Gonzales was one of nine cities that obtained a 2021 Childhood Prevention and Environmental Health and Sustainability award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the American Beverage Foundation for a Healthy America. The grants were awarded during the UCSM’s 89th winter meeting, where Gonzales placed third in the small cities category. The initiative, which seeks to improve overall health for young people and prevent childhood obesity, is meant to encourage healthy eating and increased physical activity among children. The Healthy Gonzales Initiative will provide cooking classes, a community garden, and host an annual Ciclovía event, in which streets are blocked to traffic for a day, allowing for pedestrian and bicycle access only.

GREAT:

It’s Black History Month, and the 10th year that the local chapter of the NAACP has partnered with CSU Monterey Bay. They celebrate on Feb. 25 by honoring leaders new and old. Awards in the Youth Black Excellence category go to CSUMB students Darchelle Burnett, president of Black Students United, and Bryant Taylor, who has volunteered on voter registration efforts, and recent graduate Jada Carter, who has worked to connect underrepresented communities to natural spaces on Fort Ord National Monument. CSUMB faculty and staff receiving African American Advocate and Champion awards are Rhonda Mercadal-Evans and Vivian Waldrup-Patterson, co-chairs of the African Heritage Faculty and Staff Alliance. And the Black Students United Civil Rights Champion Award goes to a family that has relentlessly fought for civil liberties: Ann, Fred and Ben Jealous. They are educators and organizers; Ben formerly served as national president of the NAACP, becoming its youngest-ever leader in 2008.