I don't think anything is that secret about their business model. You see this same model with legacy enterprise software and other long tail recurring revenue soures. You largely give up on growth, but drop costs to near zero if you can and buyout based on the tail that will stick for a while.

There are often hyperbolic claims that these local newsrooms would be making tons of money if only an investor came in who understood business - but the newsrooms never seem able to find that investor. Employee buyout efforts also have fallen flat, efforts which are driven by I think very clear views on what Alden will do (cut costs!).

Separately, not all news has fallen - Wall Street Journal has to be making good money off their subscription and print product, they've taken a bit more of a middle of the road path relative to other media. NY Times and Washington Post also probably doing OK for various reasons.

There is a real need for local news however, desperate, and ideally not the hard left / right type stuff that seems to emerge on social media.