STRIPPED FOR PARTS: American journalism on the brink: Film screening and panel discussion with local journalists

Ner Shalom Tzedek committee presents: (https://www.nershalom.org/event-calendar/2026/1/11-stripped-for-parts)
STRIPPED FOR PARTS: AMERICAN JOURNALISM ON THE BRINK
This 90-minute documentary film : The story of one secretive hedge fund that is
plundering America’s newspapers and the journalists who are fighting back.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with local journalists

DATE: Sunday, January 11, 2026
TIME: 1:30 pm – 4:30pm
PLACE: Ner Shalom Synagogue 85 La Plaza, Cotati, CA 94931

Congregation Ner Shalom is a warm and inclusive Jewish community drawing from Reconstructionist and Jewish Renewal roots.

$10 Suggested Donation

FILM SYNOPSIS:
Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink is the award winning story of one secretive hedge fund that is plundering America’s newspapers and the journalists who are fighting back. Investigative reporter Julie Reynolds, Denver Post editorialist Chuck Plunkett and a handful of others, backed by the News Guild Union, go toe-to-toe with the faceless Alden Global Capital in a battle to save and rebuild local journalism across America. Who will control the future of America’s news ecosystem: Wall Street billionaires concerned only with profit, or those who see journalism as an essential public service and the lifeblood of our democracy?

DIRECTOR’S BIO
RICK GOLDSMITH has been producing and directing documentary films since 1981. His mission as a filmmaker is to tell stories that encourage social engagement and active participation in community life and the democratic process, and to stimulate young minds to question the world around them.
Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink (2023) is the third in a trilogy of films with journalism themes, following two Academy Award nominees for Best Documentary Feature: Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press (1996) and The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009). Both films were broadcast nationwide on PBS, and Most Dangerous Man received the prestigious Peabody Award. In 2023, Goldsmith received a Maysles Bros. Lifetime Achievement Award from the St. Louis International Film Festival, The Rose F. and Charles L. Klotzer First Amendment Award for Free Speech in the Service of Democracy from the Gateway Journalism Review and, in 2024, a Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) award for Documentary Film.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:
As a documentary filmmaker, journalism and newspapers, as subject matter, have been my “beat.” The recent collapse of the newspaper industry, resulting in “ghost newspapers” and “news deserts” and the shrinking of local journalism throughout the country, has caused me to mourn the loss–but also on the lookout for the next great journalism story to tell. When I came across this story, of journalists standing up for their own profession, their communities, and for our democracy, I instinctively knew I had it.

Stripped for Parts Official Website: StrippedForPartsFilm.com

PANEL MEMBERS following the screening:
Carl Molesworth: Carl worked as a journalist for newspapers and magazines throughout Washington state for nearly 40 years and is the author of 17 non-fiction books about the history of air combat during World War II.

Laura Hagar Rush: She started her career at the East Bay Express in Berkeley, California and became the editor of The Yodeler, the Sierra Club newspaper for the Bay Area. After moving with her husband and two young children to Sonoma County in the early 2000s, she became managing editor of North Bay biz magazine and, later, editor of Sonoma West Times & News. When Sonoma West Times & News closed down after its sale Laura and Dale Dougherty opened the Sebastopol Times, which was founded in 1889.

Troy Niday:
Troy has over 25 years of executive leadership experience from working for the lead local news sources in Omaha, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Birmingham, and here in Sonoma County. He spent the past 11 years serving as the COO of Sonoma Media Investments publisher of The Press Democrat until new ownership eliminated his and several other leadership positions. Additionally, Troy is the Immediate Past President of the International News Media Association’s North America board of directors.
Troy is pursuing the establishment of a nonprofit newsroom in Sonoma County to increase the impact of quality local journalism and hold governments and the powerful to account.