The ultrawealthy largely own and guide the newspaper system in the United States. Through entities like hedge funds and private equity firms, this investor class continues to dismantle the one institution meant to give voice to average citizens in a democracy.
In her new book, Hedged, Margot Susca reveals the little-known history of how private investment took over the newspaper industry. Susca traces the scorched-earth policies of layoffs, debt, cash-outs, and wholesale newspaper closings left behind by private investors and the effects of the devastation on the future of news and information.
Margot Susca is an assistant professor of Journalism, Accountability, and Democracy in the School of Communication at American University. Hedged is her first book.
