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Tribune Co

related to tribune media?  sinclair trying to buy see john oliver, fcc quash so --> nextstar sook trump guy

2013 Tribune Company Scribes: Koch Brothers Purchase Could Turn Papers Into "Conservative Mouthpiece"

not just 80-90's still goes on:

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/12/company-that-owns-your-local-news-might-also-influence-federal-politics/

Dec. 3, it was announced that Tribune Media would be acquired by Nexstar Media Group for over $4 billion.The resulting company will own over 200 television stations, giving it incredible access to American homes across the country through their local news programming.

Although less overtly political than their cousins on cable, local news stations have come under increased scrutiny after the viral controversy aroused in early 2018 by a “must-run” segment on stations owned by Sinclair Media. In the segment, news anchors read from a script decrying “biased and false news” on social media and other news outlets. The script was passed down from Sinclair’s corporate office in Maryland.

“Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control ‘exactly what people think’” said the script. “This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.”

Many Americans rely on stations owned by companies like Sinclair, Tribune Media and Nexstar Media Group to stay informed on local politics. But, aside from their reporting, these organizations dabble directly in politics and elections more than one might expect.

Nexstar Media Group’s PAC, for instance, has steadily ramped up its spending on political causes from 2014, with $27,100 spent that year, $95,700 spent in 2016 and $196,500 in 2018. The PAC favors Republicans, but only slightly. (They gave $5,000 to Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) in the 2018 cycle, but also gave $2,500 to Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.))

The PAC gave $10,000 to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and the same amount to committees associated with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in 2018. They also gave $5,000 to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

As the PAC distributed its funds, stations owned by Nexstar were covering politics and political races across the country. One segment, run by Nexstar-owned WATE in Knoxville, Tennessee, focused on an anti-Phil Bredesen ad that was “censored” by Facebook. (Bredeson was Blackburn’s opponent in the 2018 Tennessee Senate race.) A Memphis station owned by Nexstar also ran a version of this story. Another WATE story featured anti-Blackburn protestors demonstrating during a moment of silence for the Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting victims at a campaign event.

KTSM, an El Paso, Texas station owned by Nexstar, re-ran an article from the Texas Tribune exploring the effect of “Hispanic identity” on the Senatorial race that pitted Beto O’Rourke against Cruz. El Paso is O’Rourke’s hometown.

A July segmentin Centex Proud, a Fox-affiliated, Nexstar owned, Waco-area station, covered a Cruz event saying “(Cruz) is excited to see the current economy and business boom – with the lowest unemployment rate for Hispanics and African-Americans in a decade. He says Texas is prospering because of this, and now says it’s time to complete the jobs underway.”

Yourcentralvalley.com, a Nexstar site affiliated with NBC covering Fresno, California, ran a storyabout Kevin McCarthy’s claims that California Democrats had fallen out of touch with voters. In addition to its station in Fresno, Nexstar owns a station in Bakersfield. Fresno and Bakersfield are a stone’s throw from the 23rd congressional district where McCarthy has his seat.

They also own a station in San Francisco where Nancy Pelosi is the congressperson for the 12th district and where Dianne Feinstein was mayor in the 80s. The San Francisco station, KRON4, has run stories on both Pelosi and Feinstein. Pelosi even gave the station an exclusive interview.

Perry Sook, Nexstar’s CEO, gave $5,000 to the company’s PAC in the 2014, 2016 and 2018 election cycles. Thomas Carter, the CFO, did the same. So did Timothy Busch, the president of the company’s broadcasting subsidy.

The Chief Technology Officer, Brett Jenkins, gave $5,000 to the PAC, but only in 2018. Gregory Raifman, president of Nexstar Digital, gave $2,500 that year. Executive Vice President Elizabeth Ryder gave $2,500 in 2014 and 2016, then beefed up her contribution to $5,000 in 2018.

The company also spent $390,000 lobbying during this period and employed a former chief counsel to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and a former deputy staff director for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) as lobbyists.

After its merger with Tribune, Nexstar will be the largest owner of local broadcast stations in the U.S. Nexstar and the Illinois-based media company already have political activism in common.

Political spending at Tribune peaked around 2000 when they gave $123,280, the majority of that to Republicans. Their political giving has since plummeted to $13,034 by 2018, all but $500 of which went to Democrats.

In 2008, Tribune gave $11,450 to then-Senator Barack Obama. (Compare that to Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign when they gave him just $1,475.)  Using the Wayback Machine to return to October 2008, one can see Tribune’s official endorsement of Obama for president on the WGN-TV website. The same banner rotates between the endorsement of Obama, a banner advertising Decision 2008 coverage and links to other stories.

Tribune has another connection to Obama in Edward Lazarus, Tribune’s Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. Lazarus is a former chief of staff to the chairman of the FCC. The FCC Chairman Lazarus served under, Julius Genachowski, was nominated to the position by Obama in March 2009.

By the 2016 cycle, Tribune was throwing $4,963 behind Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. Another $2,000 went to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and $1000 went to Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).

Between the 2002 and 2018 cycles, Tribune gave generously to Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton, climbing from $1,000 in 2002, to $4,000 in 2008, then spiked again to $5,500 in 2012. Upton represents Michigan’s sixth congressional district in the Southeast of the state. WGN-TV quoted Upton’s criticisms of the Affordable Care Actand its rollout in 2013.

Before Nexstar sealed the deal to acquire Tribune, Sinclair tried to make the same purchase. Their attempt was scuttled by regulators, but Sinclair already owns a huge swath of local television stations, 191 by their count.

After flirting with bankruptcy in 2009, Sinclair was saved in part thanks to Citizens United and the ensuing influx of political ad spending. Their giving has increased dramatically since 2010 when they contributed just $8,100 to political causes. In 2014, they contributed $263,587 and in 2016 they contributed $429,504 before dipping back down to $186,648 in 2018. In each of those cycles since 2010, they gave at least two-thirds of the money to Republicans.

Sinclair is based out of Maryland and owns twelve Baltimore-area television stations. They have given generously to Maryland politicians over the years, including Rep. Andy Harris, Sen. Barbara Mikulskiand Nancy Jacobs, a Republican state Senator who lost a race for Maryland’s second congressional district in 2012.

In 2014, Sinclair gave Mikulski $25,000. They gave another $17,600 to John Boehner and $7,900 to Paul Ryan.

In a 2015 articleon the announcement that then-Senator Mikulski would receive the presidential medal of freedom, the Fox45 site included a transcript of Mikulski’s full reaction from the floor of the Senate. Mikulski also gave the Fox station an interview on receiving the medal.

South Dakota Senator John Thune received the biggest haul from Sinclair in 2016 (over $30,000). Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen (Md.) meanwhile received $9,100.

Van Hollen gave Fox45 (the first ever Sinclair station) an exclusive interview on gun control and government spending during the same election cycle. In the days before the 2016 election, Van Hollen appeared on a Fox 45 news segment called “Your Voice” where he talked about the ease of early voting and pitched his plans to accelerate job growth in Maryland.

“Good luck on Tuesday!” the host said as he concluded the interview.

“Thanks,” Van Hollen said. “Everyone get out to vote!”

Van Hollen appeared on another Your Voice segment in April 2018. Later that summer, Fox45 covered Van Hollen’s visit to a Texas border patrol processing center.

Sinclair’s top three recipients for 2018 were Republican Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Deb Fischer(R-Neb.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), all of whom received $15,000 or more. They also gave $5,700 to Rep. Greg Gianforte, who became well known nationally after physically assaulting a reporter. Blackburn got $5,700 and Arizona Senate candidate Joe Arpaio got $2,000. Both Blackburn and Arpaiohave received lavish praise from President Trump.

Sinclair’s name recognition spiked after a Deadspin compilation synchronizing the “biased news” must-run segment went viral, but Sinclair has been distributing corporate speech through local news stations for years. Segments like “News Central” and the “Terrorism Alert Desk” have been aired as must-runs at Sinclair-owned stations. Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump staffer, has arecurring editorial segment. Sinclair was even accused of trying to influence the 2004 election by airing a documentary (Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal) that accused John Kerry of fabricating parts of his military service.

In the 2000s, Sinclair had a similar a must-run segment called The Point, hosted by a Sinclair lobbyist and ex-Navy intelligence officer. The host would criticize other media outlets for their coverage of then-President Bush, once going so far as to say that “terrorist leaders would dearly love to see President Bush replaced with Senator (John) Kerry.”

Sinclair-affiliated PACs and individuals supported Donald Trump for president in 2016 with $3,804. According to the Washington Post, Sinclair stations ran fifteen exclusive interviews with Trump and did none with Hillary Clinton.

Perhaps the most explicitly pro-Trump company in local television is Minnesota-based Hubbard Broadcasting. Hubbard’s CEO, Stanley Hubbard, is on the advisory board for a pro-Trump Super PAC.

“We ended up with one guy standing. His name is Trump. And I’m a team player,” said Hubbard, who was initially skeptical of the President, in an interview with NPR. “Our country is very important. We got to get rid of all these regulations, give the little guy a chance to get ahead and stop all this government interference in our lives.”

Hubbard Broadcasting gave $350,000 to Freedom Partners Action Fund, a Koch-network Super PAC, in the 2016 election cycle. Of that sum, $200,000 came from the company itself, $150,000 from individuals within the company. In 2014, the Hubbard Broadcasting gave the Super PAC $450,000, $300,000 from the company and $150,000 from individuals.

Hubbard Broadcasting’s political contributions peaked in 2016 when they gave over $1 million to Republicans. That year they gave $18,500 to Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and $16,300 to Ted Cruz.

In 2018, their top four recipients were all Minnesota politicians: Republican Senate candidate Karin Housley, Rep. Erik Paulsen, Emmer and Rep. Jason Lewis. Each of the candidates received tens of thousands from Hubbard.

ABC 5, a Hubbard-owned station, reported on 2009 Facebook comments made by Housley in which she likened Michelle Obama to a chimpanzee. The article includes a quote from a political scientist who says, though the statement is distasteful, they “don’t think it shows she’s a virulent racist…”

On the other hand, ABC 5 gave a “D-” to an ad run by Paulsen that attempted to tie his opponent to a sexual assault. The grade was part of a segment called “Truth Test” in which political ads are rated on their factual accuracy.

Hubbard Broadcasting owns the radio station that ran the Jason Lewis Show before Lewis became a congressman. Lewis infamously used the platform to vent his frustrations with modern gender politics.

“It used to be that women were held to a little bit of a higher standard,” Lewis said on the show according to CNN. “We required modesty from women. Now, are we beyond those days where a woman can behave as a slut, but you can’t call her a slut?”

Both Lewis and Paulsen lost their seats in 2018.

Since Americans have a significantly greater level of trust in their local news stations than they do in national news outlets or in web-only publications, this level of political activity from media companies is especially significant.

In most cases, it is difficult to say whether these companies’ political activities cross-pollinate with their journalism and business dealings, but future controversies akin to the Sinclair must-run scandal could continue to increase the visibility of the companies behind these local stations and erode Americans’ faith in yet another source of news.

Note: Due to errors with CRP data obtained from the FEC that triple-counted contributions, it was originally reported that Sen. Chris Van Hollen received $28,000 from Sinclair affiliates and its PAC. That number has been corrected to $9,100. 

8/18

https://www.alternet.org/sinclair-broadcast-group-tribune-merger-officially-dead

a victory for free and independent journalism, Tribune Media said on Thursday that it is pulling out of its $3.9 billion merger with Sinclair Broadcast Group, putting the final nail in the coffin of a deal that had seemed inevitable when it was first announced in May of last year.

According to Axios,Tribune is also filing a lawsuit against Sinclair, alleging breach of contract.

Sinclair, a Maryland-based company which is the largest owner of local news stations in the U.S., is notorious for its right-wing, pro-Trump slant, and its unusual system of distributing slanted "must-run" content to its local stations to work into their broadcasts.

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aka trib co

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/24/tronc_fires_half_the_staff_of

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribune_Media

Tribune Media, also known as Tribune Media Company and formerly known as the Tribune Company, is an American conglomerate that is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States. A significant amount of the stock of publicly traded Tribune is held by three firms that were the company's senior debt holders: Oaktree Capital Management (which owns a 23% interest), Angelo, Gordon & Co. and JPMorgan Chase (which both own 9%).[1][2] Tribune announced its sale to Hunt Valley, Maryland-based conglomerate Sinclair Broadcast Groupon May 8, 2017(the deal is expected to receive FCC approval sometime in the 4th quarter of 2017).

Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media is one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 television stations across the United States and operating three additional stations through local marketing agreements; it also owns national basic cable channel/superstation WGN America, regional cable news channel Chicagoland Television (CLTV) and Chicago radio station WGN. Investment interests include the Food Network (which the company maintains a 31% ownership interest).

Prior to the August 2014 spin-off of the company's publishing division into Tronc, Inc. (formerly called Tribune Publishing), Tribune Media was the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher (behind the Gannett Company), with ten daily newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, Sun-Sentinel and The Baltimore Sun, and several commuter tabloids.

History

Print pioneer

The Tribune Company was founded on June 10, 1847, the Chicago Daily Tribune (after which the company is named) published its first edition[3] in a one-room plant located at LaSalle and Lake Streets in downtown Chicago. The original press run consisted of 400 copies printed on a hand press. The Tribune constructed its first building, a four-story structure at Dearborn and Madison Streets, in 1869.[citation needed] The building was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871, which also destroyed most of the city. The Tribune resumed printing two days later with an editorial declaring "Chicago Shall Rise Again." Joseph Medill, a native Ohioan who first acquired an interest in the Tribune in 1855, gained full control of the newspaper in 1874 and ran it until his death in 1899.[3]

Medill's two grandsons, cousins Robert R. McCormick and Joseph Medill Patterson, assumed leadership of the company in 1911.[3] That same year, the Chicago Tribune's first newsprint mill opened[3] in Thorold, Ontario, Canada. The mill marked the beginnings of the Canadian newsprint producer later known as QUNO, in which Tribune held an investment interest until 1995.

Patterson established the company's second newspaper, the New York News in 1919.[3] Tribune's ownership of the New York City tabloid[3] was considered "interlocking" due to an agreement between McCormick and Patterson.

The paper launched a European edition during World War I.[3] To compete with the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's in 1924, the Tribune Company launched a weekly national magazine, Liberty, run by a subsidiary, McCormick-Patterson.[3]

Move into broadcasting

Main article: Tribune Broadcasting

The company entered broadcasting in 1924 by leasing WDAP, one of Chicago's first radio stations. Tribune later changed the station's call letters to WGN, reflecting the Tribune's nickname, "World's Greatest Newspaper." WGN was purchased by the company in 1926 and went on to be first in the radio industry.[3]

In 1925, the company completed its new headquarters and one of Chicago's first "skyscrapers", the Tribune Tower. That same year, the company decided to fund the future Joseph Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.[3]

Liberty magazine eventually exceeded Collier's circulation, but lacked enough advertising and was sold in 1931. The Tribune's European edition was also cut. However, Tribune launched the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate content syndication service in 1933.[3]

With the death of Joe Patterson's sister and owner of the Washington Times-Herald, Eleanor (Cissy) Patterson, in 1948, the Tribune Company purchased the paper and operated it until 1954, when the Times-Herald was absorbed by The Washington Post. Expecting a printer's strike in November 1948, the Tribune printed their paper early, incorrectly proclaiming "Dewey Defeats Truman" in the 1948 presidential election. Tribune entered into the television industry, then in its infancy, in 1948, with the establishments of WGN-TV in Chicago in April and WPIX in New York City in June of that year. In 1956, the Tribune Company purchased the Chicago American from William Randolph Hearst.[3]

In the 1960s, the company entered the fast-growing Florida market, acquiring the Fort Lauderdale-based Gore Newspapers Company, owner of the Pompano-based Sun-Sentinel and Fort Lauderdale News in 1963 and the Sentinel-Star Company, owners of the Orlando Sentinel, in 1965. Also in 1963, the company purchased some part of the folded New York Mirror. The company increased its broadcast station holdings with the acquisition of radio station WQCD-FM in New York City in 1964 and independent television station KWGN-TV in Denver in 1965. In 1967, the company began printing a tabloid serving suburban areas of Chicago, The Suburban Trib.[3]

The corporation was reorganized in 1968 by reincorporating in Delaware, ending its Illinois incorporation, splitting its stock by four for one and forming a separate subsidiary of the Chicago Tribune.[3]

The 1970s became another decade of acquisitions for the company including the purchase of a Los Angeles shopper in 1973, which became the Los Angeles Daily News.[3] In 1973, the company began sharing stories among 25 subscribers via the newly formed news service, the Knight News Wire. By 1990, this service was known as KRT (Knight-Ridder/Tribune) and provided graphics, photo and news content to its member newspapers. When The McClatchy Company purchased Knight-Ridder Inc. in 2006,[4] KRT became MCT (McClatchy-Tribune Information Services), which is jointly owned by the Tribune Company and McClatchy.

The company stopped publishing the tabloid Chicago Today in 1974; the Tribune also began publishing all-day editions. An approval of changes to the Tribune bylaws in 1974 triggered a lawsuit by shareholders who saw this as a move towards taking the company public. The lawsuit by Josephine Albright – Joseph Patterson's daughter – and her son, Joseph Albright, was dismissed in 1979.[3]

The Tribune Company entered first-run television syndication in 1975 with the debut of the U.S. Farm Report. The Times-Advocate in Escondido, California was purchased by the company in 1977. In October 1978, United Video Satellite Group uplinked WGN-TV's signal to satellite, becoming a national "superstation", joining the ranks of WTCG (later WTBS, now WPCH-TV) in Atlanta and WWOR-TV in New York City. During 1978, the New York Daily News saw multiple employee strikes.[3]

In 1980, the Daily News added an afternoon edition to go head-to-head with the New York Post; this expansion failed, with the newspaper reverting to once-daily editions with the discontinuance of the afternoon edition in 1981. Also that year, the Independent Network News (an evening newscast intended for independent stations) was launched as the company's second syndicated television program, originating from WPIX. The New York Daily News was put up for sale in 1981, but a proposed deal fell through by 1982. In August of that year, Tribune purchased the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball team from William Wrigley III.[3]

In 1981, all of Tribune's television stations, which were previously under the WGN Continental Broadcasting unit, were placed under the company's umbrella subsidiary, Tribune Broadcasting Company. The following year, Tribune formed the Tribune Entertainment Company as a production subsidiary to produce the company's existing syndication programs (including the U.S. Farm Report), as well as newer shows.[3]

Public corporation:{

In 1983, The Suburban Trib was replaced by zonal editions of the Chicago Tribune. That October, the Tribune Company became a public firm, with the sale of 7.7 million shares at $26.75 a share. In 1985, Tribune Broadcasting acquired Los Angeles independent station KTLA from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts for a record $510 million; because of the Federal Communications Commission's media crossownership regulations, which prohibit the ownership of a television station and newspaper in the same market, Tribune was forced to sell the Los Angeles Daily News. With the purchase of KTLA, Tribune became the fourth largest television station owner in the United States, behind the three major broadcast networks. The company acquired Newport News, Virginia newspaper, the Daily Press in 1986, but sold off the newspaper's co-owned cable television operations.

To counteract a possible hostile corporate takeover in 1987, the Tribune Company developed a plan that allowed shareholders the right to purchase additional preferred shares from a new series of stock in the event that a buyer acquired 10% of the company's common stock or a tender offer for the company. Shareholders also ratified a two-for-one stock split. Tribune Entertainment experienced success in 1987 with the launch of the syndicated daytime talk show Geraldo. In 1988, Tribune purchased five weekly papers based in Santa Clara County, California.[3] In the wake of a dispute with some of its labor unions, Tribune sold the Daily News to British businessman Robert Maxwell in 1991.[3]

With the changes that came about in the media industry with the greater public access to the internet in the 1990s, Tribune Publishing, Tribune's publishing unit, began to sell off some of its newspaper properties. Tribune Broadcasting steadily acquired additional stations during the decade, while Tribune itself launched two new divisions, Tribune Ventures and Tribune Education. In 1993, Tribune Broadcasting launched Chicagoland Television (CLTV), a 24-hour local cable news channel for the Chicago area.

Online editions of Tribune's newspapers were developed starting in 1995, with the Chicago Tribune's digital edition launching in 1996. Also in 1996, Tribune (which held a 20% interest) created a joint venture with American Online (which held an 80% interest) called Digital City, Inc. to set up a series of Digital City websites to provide interactive local news and information services. By 1997, Tribune Publishing had only four daily newspapers remaining in its portfolio: the Chicago Tribune, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, the Orlando Sentinel and the Daily Press. Tribune also set up its Tribune Ventures division to acquire stakes in newer media businesses. During the middle of that year, Tribune Ventures purchased interests in companies such as AOL (owning 4%), electronic payment specialist CheckFree Corporation (owning 5%), search engine company Excite, Inc. (owning 7%), Mercury Mail, Inc. (owning 13%), Open Market, Inc. (owning 6%), and Peapod LP (owning 13%). Also that year, the Orlando Sentinel and Time Warner Cable joined together to create the Orlando-based local cable news channel, Central Florida News 13. Tribune also purchased a 31% stake in the Food Network.[3]

The company began the 1990s with six television stations, however changes in federal radio and television ownership regulations allowed Tribune to expand its television station holdings over the next decade. Tribune Broadcasting purchased ten additional stations by 1997, six of them were acquired through that year's purchase of Renaissance Broadcasting for $1.1 billion in cash.[5] Tribune purchased a 12.5% stake in The WB Television Network in August 1995; the company had ten of its 16 stations affiliated with the network (including five that were signed as charter affiliates through The WB's initial 1993 affiliation deal with Tribune). Tribune invested $21 million in The WB in March 1997, which increased its equity interest in the network to 21.9%.[3]

In November 1994, Tribune Broadcasting formed a partnership with several minority partners, including Quincy Jones, to form Qwest Broadcasting; Qwest operated as a technically separate company from Tribune (which owned stations in a few markets where Tribune had already owned stations, including WATL in Atlanta, which was operated alongside Tribune-owned WGNX);[6]

...

Tribune Company Scribes: Koch Brothers Purchase Could Turn Papers Into "Conservative Mouthpiece"

Hard-Right Ideology, Lack Of Experience Drives Reporters' Fear Of Koch Takeover

Blog ››› April 23, 2013 7:53 AM EDT ››› JOE STRUPP

New reports that the politically conservative Koch brothers are interested in buying the Tribune Company's eight regional newspapers -- which include the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune -- are sparking concerns from newspaper staff members that attempts to influence the editorial process in favor of their far-right political views may follow.

Among those concerned is Clarence Page, a top Chicago Tribune columnist, who said he would oppose a takeover of the paper by David and Charles Koch because of "the fact that they seem to be coming in upfront with the idea of using a major news media as a vehicle for their political voice."

Since Sunday, both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have reported that the Kochs are among leading contenders to purchase the newspapers from the financially troubled Tribune Company.

In addition to the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, the Kochs are reportedly seeking to buy The Baltimore Sun, the Orlando Sentinel, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Hartford Courant (Hartford, CT), The Morning Call (Allentown, PA), and the Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA).

The Kochs are major funders of the American conservative movement, funneling tens of millions of dollars every year to build a right-wing infrastructure geared toward reducing the size and impact of government. As the Times detailed, at a 2010 convention of like-minded political donors, the Kochs "laid out a three-pronged, 10-year strategy to shift the country toward a smaller government with less regulation and taxes." Part of the stratgy called for investing in the media.

And that has staffers at Tribune Company newspapers -- several of whom requested anonymity for fear of losing their jobs -- nervous about the possibility that a Koch takeover could bring with it an ideological focus on the news that risks turning the papers into what one reporter calls a "conservative mouthpiece."

According to those staffers, such concerns are rampant at the papers. "Nobody I know in the newsroom would find it a happy event to have the Koch brothers owning the paper," said one longtime Chicago Tribune staffer, who suggested that the purpose of the takeover is so that the brothers can use the publications to "promulgate their political views."

"I haven't heard anyone here who has welcomed the idea of the Koch brothers... the Koch brothers, that scares people," added an LA Times scribe.

"I think we all have concerns when you think an owner might try to influence editorial content," explained Angela Kuhl, Newspaper Guild unit chair at The Baltimore Sun. "That is sort of contrary to what the newspapering business should be about, free press. You don't necessarily want owners and publishers dictating content."

It's the Kochs' explicit call for investing in the media to achieve their political end that has Kuhl worried. "I read the story that said they have a three-pronged approach to how to move the country in the way they think it should head, and one is to influence the media."

A staffer in the Tribune Company Washington bureau warned that such an arrangement could destroy the credibility of the papers: "I am hard-pressed to think of any excursion into traditional media that has been ideologically-driven the way this one would be. The analogy might be Fox News or The Washington Times. The more ideological it is, the fewer people will read it and take it seriously."

While other newspaper owners have had past political interests, several of the staffers we talked to sounded a note of concern at the Kochs' lack of previous experience owning newspapers; their previous support for media outlets appears to be backing the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a non-profit organization whose websites and affiliates provide free statehouse reporting from a conservative perspective to local newspapers and other media across the country.

"You are looking for owners and publishers who are interested in the good and the public trust," said Chris Assaf, a video editor at The Sun. "Are the Kochs high on the list? I would say definitely not - they don't have a lot of experience, they have been involved in very self-interested organizations like the PACs and so forth."

A reporter at one of the smaller Tribune newspapers, The Daily Press, echoed this concern. "They don't seem to have any experience operating newspapers. I don't know what would happen, it is hard to predict. I recall they spent gobs of money on various right-wing issues."

In fact, this lack of experience has some staffers at the Tribune papers longing for the possibility that News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, another potential bidder, buy the publications.

Chicago Tribune columnist Page compared his feelings about a potential Koch purchase to the response of legendary Chicago columnist Mike Royko when Rupert Murdoch bought the Chicago Sun-Times in 1984; Royko quickly quit the Sun-Times for the Tribune.

"A reporter asked him what he thought of the purchase," Page recalled, adding that Royko said a Murdoch paper "isn't something a respectable fish would want to be wrapped in."

But Page says there is something worse than having Murdoch purchase his paper: "My personal feeling is I would much rather have Murdoch buy the Tribune than the Koch Brothers."

He's not alone. Another newsroom veteran at the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, FL, agreed that Murdoch would be a more welcomed owner than the Kochs.

"The difference between Murdoch and the Koch brothers, Murdoch is a known entity, the Koch brothers are a mystery," the staffer said.

"Of all the prospects that are out there," explained one Times reporter, "the Koch Brothers are at the bottom of the list.

media matters

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/04/23/tribune-company-scribes-koch-brothers-purchase/193720

Tribune Publishing Company is an American newspaper and print media publishing company based in Chicago, Illinois. Among other publications, the company's portfolio includes the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, Sun-Sentinel [South Florida], The Baltimore Sun, The Morning Call [Allentown, Pennsylvania], Hartford Courant, and the San Diego Union-Tribune. It also publishes several local newspapers in these metropolitan regions, which are organized in subsidiary groups. It is the nation's third-largest newspaper publisher (behind Gannett, and The McClatchy Company), with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids located throughout the United States.

Originally incorporated in 1847 with the founding of the Chicago Tribune, Tribune Publishing formerly operated as a division of the Tribune Company, a Chicago-based multimedia conglomerate, until it was spun off into a separate public company in August 2014.

Contents

History

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Early history

Tribune Publishing's history traces back to 1847; when the Chicago Tribune (for which the company and its former parent, Tribune Media, are named) published its first edition on June 10 of that year, in a one-room plant located at LaSalle and Lake Streets in Chicago.[2] The Tribune constructed its first building, a four-story structure at Dearborn and Madison Streets, in 1869; however the building was destroyed, along with most of the city, by the Great Chicago Fire in October 1871. The Tribune resumed printing two days later with an editorial declaring "Chicago Shall Rise Again". The newspaper's editor and part-owner, Joseph Medill, was elected mayor and led the city's reconstruction. A native Ohioan who first acquired an interest in the Tribune in 1855, Medill gained full control of the newspaper in 1874 and ran it until his death in 1899.

Medill's two grandsons, cousins Robert R. McCormick and Joseph Medill Patterson, assumed leadership of the company in 1911. That same year, the Chicago Tribune's first newsprint mill opened in Thorold, Ontario, Canada. The mill marked the beginnings of the Canadian newsprint producer later known as QUNO, in which Tribune held an investment interest until 1995. The Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate was formed in 1918, leading to Joseph Patterson's establishment of the company's second newspaper, the New York Daily News on June 26, 1919. Tribune's ownership of the New York City tabloid was considered "interlocking" due to an agreement between McCormick and Patterson.

Growth and acquisitions

The company acquired the Fort Lauderdale-based Sun-Sentinel newspaper in 1963; this was later followed by its purchase of the Orlando Sentinel in 1965. In 1973, the company began sharing stories among 25 subscriber newspapers via the newly formed news service, the Knight News Wire. By 1990, this service was known as Knight-Ridder/Tribune and provided graphics, photo and news content to its member newspapers. KRT became McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, which is jointly owned by the Tribune Company and McClatchy, when The McClatchy Company purchased Knight-Ridder Inc. in 2006.[3] Tribune later acquired the Newport News, Virginia-based Daily Press in 1986. In the wake of a dispute with some of its labor unions, the New York Daily News was sold to British businessman Robert Maxwell in 1991.[2]

In June 2000, Tribune acquired the Los Angeles-based Times Mirror Company in a merger deal worth $8.3 billion, which was the largest acquisition in the history of the newspaper industry.[4] The merger added seven daily newspapers to Tribune's portfolio, including the Los Angeles Times, the Long Island-based Newsday, The Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant. Tribune Media Net, the national advertising sales organization of Tribune Publishing, was established in 2000 to take advantage of the company's expanded scale and scope.

Later in the decade, Tribune launched daily newspapers targeting urban commuters, including the Chicago Tribune's RedEye edition in 2002, followed by an investment in AM New York one year later. In 2006, Tribune acquired the minority equity interest in AM New York, giving it full ownership of the newspaper. The company sold both Newsday and AM New York to Cablevision Systems Corporation in 2008, with the sale of the latter paper closing on July 29 of that year.[5]

Takeover by Sam Zell and bankruptcy

On April 2, 2007, Chicago-based investor Sam Zell announced plans to buy out the Tribune Company for $34.00 a share, totaling $8.2 billion,[6] with intentions to take the company private. The deal was approved by 97% of the company's shareholders on August 21, 2007.[7] Privatization of the Tribune Company occurred on December 20, 2007 with Tribune's stock listing being terminated at the close of the trading day.[8]

On December 8, 2008, faced with a high debt load totaling $13 billion, related to the company's leveraged buyout and subsequent privatization, and a sharp downturn in newspaper advertising revenue, Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in what was the largest bankruptcy in the history of the American media industry.[6][9] Company plans originally called for it to emerge from bankruptcy by May 31, 2010,[10] but the company would end up in protracted bankruptcy proceedings for four years.

On July 13, 2012, the Tribune Company received approval of a reorganization plan to allow the company to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Delaware bankruptcy court. Oaktree Capital Management, JPMorgan Chase and Angelo, Gordon & Co., which were the company's senior debt holders, assumed control of Tribune's properties upon the company's exit from bankruptcy on December 31, 2012.[11][12]

Spin-off of publishing unit

On February 26, 2013, Tribune reportedly hired investment firms Evercore Partners and J.P. Morgan & Co. to oversee the sale of its newspapers.[13] On July 10, 2013, Tribune announced that it would split into two companies, spinning off the newspapers that are part of its publishing division into the Tribune Publishing Company. Its broadcasting, digital media and other assets (including Tribune Media Services, which among others, provides news and features content for Tribune's newspapers) would remain with the Tribune Company.[14] On November 20, 2013, Tribune announced it would cut 700 jobs from its newspaper properties due to declining advertising revenues.[15]

On June 17, 2014, in a presentation for lenders, Tribune revealed that it had set August 4 as the target date for its spin-off of Tribune Publishing.[16][17][18] The split was finalized on the target date, with the publishing arm being spun out as Tribune Publishing Co., and its former parent company being renamed Tribune Media.[19][20][21]

Post spin-off

Tribune Publishing acquired 6 suburban daily and 32 weekly newspapers in the Chicago Metropolitan Area in October 2014. These acquisitions were similar in strategy to earlier acquisitions in the state of Maryland, expanding its footprint in its eight "core markets."[22]

On May 7, 2015, Tribune Publishing announced that it had reached a deal to acquire the San Diego Union-Tribune and its associated properties for $85 million, ending the paper's 146 years of private ownership. Following the completion of the acquisition, the Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times became part of a new operating entity known as the California News Group, led by current Times publisher and CEO Timothy E. Ryan. The two papers will retain distinct operations, but there will be a larger amount of synergy and content sharing between them. The acquisition did not include the paper's headquarters, which remains owned by the paper's previous owner, Doug Manchester.[23][24]

In April 2016, Gannett Company (which, much like Tribune, had spun out its broadcasting properties into a separate firm to focus on publishing assets) made an unsolicited bid to acquire Tribune Publishing for $12.25 per-share, or around $400 million. This deal was rejected by Tribune's shareholders in May 2016; in turn, Gannett increased its offer to around $15 per-share (around $800 million). On May 17, 2016, Tribune CEO Michael Ferro stated that he intended to make a bid to acquire Gannett instead.[25][26][27]

Tribune Publishing properties

Current properties

Newspapers
Commuter tabloids
Magazines

Former newspapers

Agency

==

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by the Tribune Publishing Company. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is currently the eighth-largest newspaper in the United States by circulation (and became the second largest under Tribune's ownership after the Chicago Tribune's parent company purchased the Los Angeles Times).[2]

Traditionally published as a broadsheet, on January 13, 2009, the Tribune announced it would continue publishing as a broadsheet for home delivery, but would publish in tabloid format for newsstand, news box and commuter station sales.[3] The move, however, proved to be unpopular with readers and in August 2011, the Tribune discontinued the tabloid edition, returning to its traditional broadsheet edition through all distribution channels.[4]

The Tribune's masthead is notable for displaying the American flag, in reference to the paper's motto, "An American Paper for Americans," which is no longer displayed on the masthead, where it was below the flag.

Contents

History

Beginnings

The Tribune was founded by James Kelly, John E. Wheeler and Joseph K. C. Forrest, publishing its first edition on June 10, 1847. The paper saw numerous changes in ownership and editorship over the next eight years. Initially, the Tribune was not politically affiliated but tended to support either the Whig or Free Soil parties against the Democrats in elections.[5] By late 1853, it was frequently running xenophobic editorials that criticized foreigners and Roman Catholics.[6] About this time it also became a strong proponent of temperance.[7] However nativist its editorials may have been, it was not until February 10, 1855 that the Tribune formally affiliated itself with the nativist American or Know Nothing party, whose candidate Levi Boone was elected Mayor of Chicago the following month.[8]

Medill editorship

By about 1854, part-owner Capt. J. D. Webster, later General Webster and chief of staff at the Battle of Shiloh, and Dr. Charles H. Ray of Galena, Illinois through Horace Greeley convinced Joseph Medill of Cleveland's Leader to become managing editor. Ray became editor-in-chief, Medill became the managing editor, and Alfred Cowles, Sr., brother of Edwin Cowles, initially was the bookkeeper. Each purchased one third of the Tribune.[9][10] Under their leadership the Tribune distanced itself from the Know Nothings and became the main Chicago organ of the Republican Party.[11] However, the paper continued to print anti-Catholic and anti-Irish editorials.[12] The Tribune absorbed three other Chicago publications under the new editors: the Free West in 1855, the Democratic Press of William Bross in 1858, and the Chicago Democrat in 1861, whose editor, John Wentworth, left his position to become Chicago Mayor. Between 1858 and 1860, the paper was known as the Chicago Press & Tribune. On October 25, 1860, it became the Chicago Daily Tribune.[13] Before and during the American Civil War, the new editors pushed an abolitionist agenda and strongly supported Abraham Lincoln, whom Medill helped secure the Presidency in 1860. The paper remained a force in Republican politics for years afterwards.

The lead editorial in the first issue the Chicago Tribune published after the Great Chicago Fire

In 1861, the Tribune published new lyrics for the song "John Brown's Body" by William W. Patton, rivaling the ones published two months later by Julia Ward Howe. Medill served as mayor of Chicago for one term after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.