“Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink” screened at Albany FilmFest in El Cerrito today following its release two years prior. 

Rick Goldsmith, the film’s award-winning director, shared his draw to journalism in documentary filmmaking, comparing his own process as a documentarian to the newsgathering process.

“You can’t just string a bunch of facts together, you have to find the emotion in the story and how it might connect with anybody who’s watching your film,” Goldsmith said. “You have to decide in your mind who your audience is.”

Goldsmith’s career as a documentarian led him to the desk of prolific journalist, Bill Moyer. Moyer was responsible for alerting Goldsmith to the trend of hedge fund companies, specifically Alden Global Capital, acquiring small newspapers.

Moyer’s initial alert to Goldsmith was punctuated by the Denver Post rebellion in 2018, where the publication’s journalists openly revolted against Alden Global Capital’s ownership.

Alden Global Capital earned a reputation in the news ecosystem as a “vulture hedge fund,” known for buying entire newspapers with the goal of turning a quick profit and neglecting long-term sustainability. In their cost-cutting efforts, Alden Global Capital became known for mass firing a majority of newspaper employees. The Denver Post rebellion sparked the national movement against hedge funds in journalism that inspired the film.

Goldsmith’s conversations with Moyer and the events of the Denver Post rebellion led him to Julie Reynolds, a seasoned investigative reporter specialized in Alden Global Capital. Reynolds was a reporter for The Monterey Herald, a small-scale newspaper that fell victim to Alden Global Capital. Much like Goldsmith described his local paper thinning, Reynolds saw the liquidation of the paper first hand. 

“Non-journalism passing as journalism is filling the void that was left because of the destruction private equity has wrought on local news,” Reynolds said. “It’s a very severe and serious threat, but it is twofold in the sense that it has also spawned a lot of creative and incredible efforts in local communities.”

Together, the pair worked not only to alert the public of drastic changes to newsrooms across the country through hedge fund ownership, but to direct readers to alternative outlets and community-focused newsgathering. 

Goldsmith created “Stripped for Parts” to de-centralize fearmongering regarding newsgathering. 

“Without good journalism, democracy can’t work,” Goldsmith said. “It’s not hyperbole to say we are in danger of losing our democracy right now, and this is the time to save it.”

While he aimed to highlight the effects of Alden Global Capital in devastating the democracy of newsrooms, he also hoped to spur viewers to participate in the fight for local papers. 

“It’s going to be all hands on deck,” Goldsmith said. “It’s not just the journalists in town who have to figure this out. It’s everybody in town, and they’ve got to figure out how to build up those news organizations and try not to ignore the elephant in the room.”

Independent newsrooms have always been part of the industry, but in “Stripped for Parts,” Goldsmith sought to highlight their importance going forward in the midst of the hedge fund crisis. 

Print newspapers have long relied on an advertising-based model to prosper; a model that is now in danger in the digital age of news. While print is slowly dying out, Reynolds also emphasized the importance of diverse approaches to news.

“A robust media outlet now is more than a newspaper,” Reynolds said. “It is diverse in the sense that it’s going to be online, and it’s going to be reaching people in new and unusual ways.”

The camaraderie of Goldsmith and Reynolds that formed through the making of “Stripped for Parts” embodies the changing environment for creatives in the United States. 

Much like Goldsmith attributed the shift in newsgathering from individual scoops to the community pooling of ideas, journalists look to an uncertain future with stability in community. 

“It’s on us to reframe what we do in a way that people get why it’s important,” said Goldsmith. “Saving democracy is just a little bit overwhelming, but making sure your community gets the information it needs is really concrete.”