Dear Editor – Local News and Political Power

Today I read about the possibility of the Koch brothers buying the L.A. Times as part of a Tribune buyout package (partially quoted below). If that happens I will cancel my current digital subscription to the Times (I had a hard copy subscription going back to 1978), give up on local news by subscribing to the NY Times or Huffington Post, and pick up truly local news in Culver City Crossroads and the two Santa Monica digital newspapers. If that sale and purchase happens it will mark the tipping point in media towards hack, partisan journalism.

[From the Los Angeles Times] “That is where David and Charles Koch come in. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based energy and manufacturing conglomerate that rakes in $115 billion annually. That’s the money to burn. And the motivation? Right-wing ideology. The Kochs hate government regulation and taxes and they love tea party Republicans. Over the years, they have dumped millions of dollars into think tanks, magazines, political action committees, candidates and attack ads – all of them staunchly conservative.

Having fallen short of their objective of crushing Democrats and liberalism, they now apparently believe a necessary component in their strategy is ownership of a few major newspapers. It is doubtful they want to merely have a voice on the editorial pages, as has always been a publisher’s prerogative. It is far more likely they hope to create print versions of Fox News.”

Rob Briner

The Actors' Gang

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