我的意见：
“pay attention to...”的被动语态是：“be paid attention to...”.
原句为：“the historical value and academic value of newspapers have been recognized and have been paid special attention to,especially by the publishing community and by the academic community.”在“paid”前加“have been”,与前面时态保持一致,去掉后面的“them”.“to”不能去掉.因为,这里的主语是“to”的介词宾语,没有“to”的话,“attention”后面的成分没法跟上去.