This is Part 1 of a three-part investigative series examining the impact of private equity firms on local journalism. Read Part 2 tomorrow and Part 3 on Friday.
When Gateway Media Partners acquired the Riverside Daily Tribune last year, publisher Susan Martinez promised readers that nothing would change. The 127-year-old newspaper would maintain its commitment to local coverage, she assured subscribers in a front-page letter.
Eighteen months later, the Tribune’s newsroom has been gutted. Staff has been cut from 23 journalists to just seven. The paper no longer covers city council meetings regularly, and its once-robust sports section has been reduced to wire service reports and parent-submitted photos.
The Tribune’s story reflects a broader crisis in American journalism, as private equity firms acquire local newspapers and prioritize profits over public service. A six-month investigation by WordPress VIP News found that PE-owned papers have eliminated more than 3,200 journalism jobs nationwide since 2020.
“They promised us the world,” said former Tribune reporter Jake Morrison, who covered education for eight years before being laid off. “But within six months, it became clear that local journalism wasn’t the priority—quarterly returns were.”
Documents obtained through public records requests reveal a pattern of aggressive cost-cutting across Gateway’s 47-newspaper portfolio. Internal emails show executives directing publishers to achieve 15% annual profit margins through “operational efficiencies”—corporate speak for staff reductions.
The human cost extends beyond newsrooms. In communities where local papers have been hollowed out, civic engagement has plummeted. Voter turnout in local elections across Gateway markets dropped an average of 12% since the acquisitions began, according to our analysis of election data.
Gateway Media Partners did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A spokesperson for the private equity firm Meridian Capital, which owns Gateway, declined to discuss specific newspapers but said the company remains “committed to sustainable local journalism.”
Tomorrow: How local officials exploit the absence of watchdog journalism to push through controversial deals with minimal public scrutiny.
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