In good news for the .1% and conservative and libertarian little guys-- and bad news for the rest of us the Kock brothers plan to buy some media to spread their libertarian.conservative ideology. I know, they aren't "libertarians" they just claim to be, one has run for vp as on the Libetrarian Party and they have funded prominent think tanks like the Cato Institute. It is sort of like the 90 plus percent of self indentified libertarians who vote GOP realizing their is not much practical difference between the two idologies wrt to economics. *** Koch Brothers Plan To Buy Up Eight Major Newspapers By Annie-Rose Strasser on Apr 21, 2013 at 10:40 am The billionaire oil moguls Charles and David Koch are pushing ahead with their plans to purchase several news outlets across the United States, according to a detailed report in the New York Times on Sunday. At a recent seminar in Aspen, one attendee reported that the brothers — infamous for bankrolling conservative candidates and causes — put forth the question of, “How do we make sure our voice is being heard?” Their answer, it seems, will be to purchase the entire Tribune company, which constitutes a huge swath of American print media: The papers, valued at roughly $623 million, would be a financially diminutive deal for Koch Industries, the energy and manufacturing conglomerate based in Wichita, Kan., with annual revenue of about $115 billion. Politically, however, the papers could serve as a broader platform for the Kochs’ laissez-faire ideas. The Los Angeles Times is the fourth-largest paper in the country, and The Tribune is No. 9, and others are in several battleground states, including two of the largest newspapers in Florida, The Orlando Sentinel and The Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. A deal could include Hoy, the second-largest Spanish-language daily newspaper, which speaks to the pivotal Hispanic demographic. In total, the Tribune company is responsible for eight print publications. Charles and David Koch’s money has been instrumental in getting anti-climate politicians into office, and in funding anti-climate science studies. The brothers have also funded with the secretive conservative network ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), which has crafted “model legislation” for voter ID laws that limit voting rights, particularly for low-income people of color. The group was also responsible for the so-called “Stand Your Ground” law that temporarily allowed Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, to walk free. The brothers also tried to influence the latest election by warning some 45,000 employees that there would be “consequences” if they didn’t vote for Republicans http://thinkprogress.org/media/2013/04/21/1899241/koch-brothers-newspapers/?mobile=nc
Is that true that 90%+ of self-identified libertarians vote GOP? Anyway, of course the largest contributers of all time to the GOP aren't libertarians. The Libertarian Party is an embarrassment, and Cato Institute shuns more libertarians than they embrace. But all in all, who cares. Most major newspapers are crap anyway.
If a political activist you disagree with buys a newspaper you should condemn it and warn about the collapse of society. Didn't you get the memo?
I thought smart businessmen knew how to invest money. First Romney now a Dying industry? Good luck with that.
Yeah everything should be fair and balanced. Also should outlaw every color except red, white, and blue.
Well since glynch didn't respond, I looked it up myself. Note here they declare those who label themselves as "fiscally conservative, socially liberal" to be libertarians. I have problems with that, but whatever. Anyway, glynch was wrong. Spoiler
TV ad-time will probably always be too expensive, radio's listening window might be too narrow for most spots to be worth it; local businesses will always hedge against that with spots in the flagship paper. Also, journalists seem to be fairly well-unionized; so I think they'd be capable of striking if their editorial or journalistic perspective were collectively being corrupted. The only issue might be carriage of syndicated columns being skewed towards conservatives, or declining to back up individual journalists in any legal/free-speech issues.
