Someone like media executives amplifying the news in a negative light.

It does reek of market manipulation.

Edit: the short volume on 2025-08-12 was ten times that of 2025-08-11: https://fintel.io/ssv/us/kodk

So that happened the same day the news articles went public, when the SEC filing was published already on the 11th.

Someone might be looking to buy the company.

Market manipulation can also be used to cover an existing short position. More likely to be an act of desperation as well.