Those of us committed to quality journalism were shocked to the core with the announcement last week that Times-Shamrock Communications is selling its newspaper group and other properties to MediaNews Group.

MediaNews Group is a subsidiary of Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund which is notorious for acquiring media properties, slashing personnel and making other draconian cuts, then selling the bones of the former properties for a tidy profit.

The sale involves four of eastern Pennsylvania’s most well-known and respected newspapers - The Times-Tribune in Scranton, the Citizens’ Voice in Wilkes-Barre, the Standard Speaker in Hazleton and the Republican Herald in Pottsville, as well as other non-newspaper properties. No sales price was disclosed.

Alden’s acquisition of these properties now gives it a virtual monopoly on most larger daily newspapers in Eastern Pennsylvania encompassing a geographical area from Scranton-Wilkes-Barre to West Chester, including The Morning Call of Allentown, The Reading Eagle, the Pottstown Mercury, the Lansdale Reporter and the West Chester Local Daily News. The only dailies which are not part of Alden in this region are the Times News, The Express-Times in Easton and the Bucks County Courier Times in Levittown.

The Lynett family traces its history with the Scranton Times to 1895. The Times and the Scranton Tribune merged in 2005. “Today marks a very sad end to that legacy,” said Times-Shamrock’s patriarch, Publisher Emeritus George Lynett Sr. He and four other family members were opposed to the sale to Alden because of its poor reputation in the industry. He and the dissenting family members issued a joint statement which describes their frustration.

“Alden does not reflect the business principles we feel are consistent with the stewardship of any newspaper,” the statement said. According to the Lynetts, the sale was driven by a majority of stockholders. “We understand the fears about the ability to remain competitive. We remained confident and hopeful that our current board of directors and management team would have been able to lead us through the headwinds more effectively and humanely than a hedge fund like Alden,” the statement said.

The Lynetts said the willingness to sell a company steeped in integrity and family tradition to a company with “such a devastating reputation in the industry runs against everything we believe in,” they said, in expressing concern for the future for their employees, communities and family legacy.

There have been several eye-popping exposes about how Alden has been operating with its newspaper acquisitions. In its piece on the company, Vanity Fair magazine referred to this hedge fund raider as the “vampire that sucks blood from newspapers.”

“In its mission to squeeze the last profits out of newspapers, Alden Global Capital has eliminated the jobs of scores of reporters and editors and decimated journalism in cities all over the country. The formula follows the same playbook: ‘Buy distressed newspapers on the cheap, cut the crap out of them, and reap the profits that can still be made from print advertising,’” Vanity Fair said.

Some personnel at such papers as The Morning Call attempted to mount public appeals to local individuals to step up to buy the paper rather than have them fall into Alden’s hands, but the efforts have until this date been largely fruitless here in Pennsylvania.

In their statement, the Lynetts acknowledged that running a newspaper in today’s environment of declining readership and loss of advertising and circulation revenue is a “tough business.” But they reminded the public that a newspaper is much more than a business, explicitly protected by the Constitution. “It is a local institution and expected to track government spending, keep an eye on politicians, advocate for the voiceless and ask tough questions,” they said.

“They are the only true local watchdog with resources capable of providing in-depth, verified news and investigative reporting on a large-scale in any community,” the statement said.

How did it come to this in our business? The quick answer might be obvious. Craigslist, eBay and similar sites compromised the classified section, Google, Facebook and other online sites muscled into the ad market, and a procession of overwhelmed newspaper owners failed to adapt promptly to the digital-media age.

The era of family journalism is pretty much gone. The Lynetts had a major stake in the Scranton-area community. The same goes for the Miller family in Allentown. These owners were not perfect, but they were committed to publishing a respectable product for their respective communities, which they loved deeply.

From the standpoint of community service, we count the remaining papers among the dwindling number that still rely on enlightened owners who understand the value of local journalism and what it means to you, your community and our country.

By BRUCE FRASSINELLI|tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.