David and Charles Koch have long eyed greater control over the media as a way to further their salacious political causes. Last month, reports of the Koch's interest in purchasing The Los Angeles Times seemed to confirm this.
Now, with the Tribune Company set to put its eight regional papers up for sale, the Billionaire brothers are finally licking their chops.
Per The New York Times:
Koch Industries, the sprawling private company of which Charles G. Koch serves as chairman and chief executive, is exploring a bid to buy the Tribune Company’s eight regional newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Orlando Sentinel and The Hartford Courant.
[...]
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.
According to reports, Koch Industries may be the most attractive buyer for Tribune, particularly since the newspaper conglomerate wants to sell all of its papers in a package deal.
With the income stratification in this country reaching epic proportions, perhaps it's inevitable that all of our largest traditional media outlets will be bought by the ruling, ideological class of one-percenters.
Inevitable? Perhaps. Frightening? Absolutely. For a world in which the likes of David and Charles Koch control large swaths of our media is not a world in which I want to live.
Author's Note: If, like me, you abhor the idea of such a sale, you can sign this Daily Kos petition.