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Denver Post rally on June 17. Credit: Patrick Traylor

Some people like to say that newspapers are dying, that we shouldn’t blame Digital First Media and its hedge fund owner, Alden Global Capital, for the troubles their 200-plus daily and weekly papers face. We DFM workers get that print is in peril, and that it will take owners with a deep commitment to democracy and journalism — along with a lot of creative hard work — to keep the news alive, independent and vibrant.

But let’s get one thing straight. Hedge funds like Alden have gone FAR above and beyond other media companies in decimating the American newspaper. They’re not laying off reporters and other key staff in a desperate move to keep community papers alive — no, they’re slashing costs and gutting the very infrastructure of the nation’s news business for one reason only: quick, substantial profits for a small, unnamed group of investors.

Here, by the incredible Denver Post sports writer Nick Groke, is an eloquent Twitter-poem that explains all that’s  wrong with Alden Global Capital’s investment in the news.

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