Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman has penned a letter to the management and shareholders of Alden Global Capital in support of our local newspaper, The Capital. Alden Global Capital recently acquired Tribune Publishing which is the parent of the Baltimore Sun, which is the parent of The Capital.
In the letter, the Executive praised the work of the journalists and spotlights two in particular–Chase Cook and Rick Hutzell who recently took a buyout offered by Tribune Publishing.
On the day of the shooting, the surviving staff made a commitment. They refused to let that gunman shut down their newspaper. They kept working. A reporter named Chase Cook tweeted, “We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow,” and they did. The newspaper arrived at our homes the next day, and every single day since.
Our paper’s editor, Rick Hutzell, is also a hero. He’s worked at the Capital for 34 years, and his knowledge of t his county and his drive to tell us the truth are extraordinary. His editorial board endorsed the guy I was running against in the last election, but even I recognize that he is the heart of our paper and that our paper is the heart of our community.
Pittman said that Anne Arundel County is no ready to give up.
We’ve heard that you are bad news, that you buy papers like ours, lay off staff, cut local news coverage, and squeeze out whatever profit you can. We worried when we heard you were buying our paper’s parent company, Tribune Publishing. We rejoiced when other investors stepped in with a competing offer, promising to preserve our paper and the Baltimore Sun under the oversight of a local nonprofit. But you won. That was a blow, but we’re not ready to give up.
Finally, Pittman invited investors and management to attend the dedication of the Guardians of the First Amendment Memorial on Monday, June 28th at 10:00 am. June 28th is the third anniversary of The Capital shooting.
You can read the entire letter here:
