Rumors that the conservative billionaire Koch brothers could be poised to buy the Tribune Company raise questions about how that might affect Tribune news outlets' coverage of environment and energy issues, in which the Kochs have a substantial stake.
"Tribune Company’s moves to sell its newspapers -- a string that includes the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune -- has reportedly sparked the interest of a number of heavyweight financiers. These include familiar media moguls like Warren Buffett and Rupert Murdoch. But heads turned when another pair of possible bidders emerged early in March: the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.
The Koch brothers, of course, are best known for funding conservative causes and conservative politicians. Unlike Buffett, who has purchased 63 newspapers in the last 15 months, and Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post among many others in Britain and Australia, the brothers don’t have much of a track record of media ownership."
Sasha Chavkin reports for Columbia Journalism Review April 2, 2013.
SEE ALSO:
"L.A. Times Rejects Courage Campaign/Daily Kos Ad Urging Tribune Co. Not To Sell Newspaper To Kochs" (Daily Kos)
"Petition Demands Tribune Company Not Sell LA Times to the Very Conservative Koch Bros" (SF Weekly)
"Los Angeles Times Relents and Decides To Run Anti-Koch Ad" (Kaily Kos)
"Koch Brothers Now at Heart of GOP Power" (Los Angeles Times)
"[UPDATED] Los Angeles Times Will Run Daily Kos’ Anti-Koch Brothers Ad on Wednesday" (Jim Romenesko)
"Secret Funding Helped Build Vast Network of Climate Denial Thinktanks" (Guardian)
"Exclusive: Billionaires Secretly Fund Attacks on Climate Science" (Guardian)
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