Posted on 04/24/2013 6:24:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
On May 21, Los Angeles voters will go to the polls to select a new mayor. Who will govern Los Angeles, however, is only the second-most important local question in the city today. The most important, by far, is who will buy the Los Angeles Times.
The Times is one of the eight daily newspapers now owned by the creditors who took control of the Tribune Co. after real estate wheeler-dealer Sam Zell drove it into bankruptcy. Others include the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the Orlando Sentinel and the Hartford Courant. The Tribune board members whom the creditors selected want to unload the papers in favor of more money-making ventures.
Fans of newspapers are a jumpy lot these days. And in the past couple of weeks, their apprehension has gone through the roof with word that right-wing billionaires Charles and David Koch are looking to buy all eight papers.
The Koch boys, whose oil-and-gas-based fortune places them just behind Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison as the wealthiest Americans, have been among the chief donors to the tea party wing of the Republican Party. Their political funding vehicle, Americans for Prosperity, ranked with casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson among the largest funders of right-wing causes and candidates in 2012. Their purchase offer wont be buttressed by a record of involvement in or commitment to journalism on their part. But it will come complete with a commitment to journalism as a branch of right-wing ideology.
As the New York Times reported Sunday, the Koch brothers told a group of like-minded money men at a closed-door conclave in Aspen three years ago that the right needed to invest more in grass-roots activism, politics and media. Given the nature of the Kochs investment in grass-roots activism and politics, that doesnt bode well
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I agree completely.
It is long past time, for some balance in the media.
Liberals took over several decades ago, and no opposing voices have been in media for years.
I enthusiastically support this. I may become a subscriber.
I can’t tell if this is a news story, an editorial or a crying fit. Tell mommy to change your diaper, Harold.
they’re not even conservatives but liberal-tarian so their social agenda will be alright and probably even increased so why should they worry.
If they bought all the papers, they’d be idiots. If they want to get into the newspaper business, buy one, concentrate on it, rehabilitate it, and then use the same model to recover other media giants that the liberals have utterly trashed.
Besides, buying the whole company comes with a huge load of liability that would be a poison pill to anyone who purchased the company. No way to get to profitability with that kind of overhead.
As to which property, I’d prefer it to be the LA Times, but know how much of a financial disaster the paper is. But there, at least, a huge financial investment can actually reap rewards.
< gasping >
Don’t you just love it when the libs use the perjorative term “right-wing” but NEVER use the word “conservative?”
When are the liberals ever called “left-wing?” Now they call themselves “progressive.”
Also, aren’t the Koch brothers in favor of same sex “marriage” and abortion?
Still, it would be fun to see the libs have a meltdown if the Koch brothers purchase the LA Times.
Repackage it as toilet paper for humans and pets.
Make it readable.
They would shut down the paper, execute the editors, enslave the reporters and their families, break the unions at the paper, gas the union members en masse, raze the buildings, plow up the soil and salt it, zero out the EBT cards of everyone within 20 miles of the paper so they starve to death, shoot all the resultant rioters, establish a tyrannical monarchy, abolish freedom, grow cotton in vacant fields and force black folks to pick it, repeal the women’s vote amendment, kick puppies and eat fried kittens.
Oh me too, subscribe to one of the Trib’s newspapers, should Koch purchase them.
What would they do with the LA Times? Sell me a subscription?
God bless them if they do....
they could gobble up some more while they are at it
now just to staff it with our editors
not easy
They couldn’t possibly make it any worse than it is now. I say give them a try. Annoy all of the liberals in LA.
What would the Koch bros do? Have them print the truth maybe?
In reading Harold low-information Meyersons drivel, with great amusement, I almost passed a ham sandwich through my nose at this gem:
Being human beings, all newspaper owners have politics of their own. Since the 19th century, however, most havent gone into business primarily to advance a political perspective. Profit, professional and civic pride, and recognition have largely motivated them.
My observation is that, since 1800 (the start of the 19th century), most owners have gone into the business primarily to advance a political perspective. At least the ones that are most influential. I wonder if Meyerson has ever heard of William Randolph Hearst? Seems to me that a political perspective that came to be known as yellow journalism is pretty closely associated with Hearst. As for making a profit? One has to wonder what kind of logic Meyerson is prone to believe if he can write about newspaper owners going into business for profit when the central theme of the article is the bankrupt condition of some of the largest and oldest newspapers in the nation?
Is Harold the proverbial monkey producing Shakespeare? This sure seems like a random assemblage of letters.
The NappyOne
We need to organize demonstrations and letter-writing campaigns in support of the Koch brothers.
Gee whiz .. maybe tell the people of LA the truth for once ..??????? What a concept ..!!!!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.