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Baltimore Sun
Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
3:34pm
Wed May 29

Push Back Against Koch Brothers' Potential Tribune Purchase Continues With National Day Of Action (VIDEO)

Protesters are ramping up advocacy against the potential sale of all or some of the Tribune Company to the conservative billionaire Koch brothers with a nationwide day of action. Meanwhile, the number of signatures on various online petitions has risen to more than 500,000.

“We will not sell our freedom of speech. We will not sell our right to have independent news. We will not sell the City of Chicago,” said Shani Smith, 38, a project organizer with Stand Up! Chicago. “We are here for senior citizens, for children, for working families, and that’s what we stand for. If the Koch brothers don’t stand for it, they most certainly cannot buy the Chicago Tribune.”

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Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
3:29pm
Wed May 8

Potential Koch Brothers Purchase Of Tribune Co. Incites Protest (VIDEO)

A group of approximately 20 demonstrators Wednesday protested the potential sale of all or some of the Tribune Company to the Koch brothers, Charles, 77, and David, 72, the billionaire industrialists and supporters of conservative causes.

According to protesters, if the Kansas-native Koch brothers were to own the Chicago-based multimedia corporation, right-wing propaganda will be pushed through mainstream media. 

Activists protested outside of the Tribune Tower, at 435 North Michigan Ave., and attempted to deliver a letter to Bruce Karsh, chairman of the board for the Tribune Company, asking him to intervene on the potential sale. Karsh is also the owner of Oaktree Capital Management LP, the Tribune Company’s largest shareholder.

“People need independent, objective, daily journalism that they can trust—not libertarian propaganda,” the letter addressed to Karsh, who was elected chairman in January, reads. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
4:43pm
Wed Mar 27

Rumored Koch Brothers Buy Of Tribune Company Raises Red Flags For Local Community Groups

The ultra conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch reportedly have their eye on purchasing some or all of the Tribune Company, which includes the Chicago Tribune and other major urban newspapers — and that has some local advocacy groups worried.

“It’s hard enough to get our stories covered in mainstream papers from the perspective of working families and communities of color,” said Amisha Patel, executive director of the Grassroots Collaborative, a community-labor coalition focused on racial and economic justice in the state.

The Koch brothers, who Patel said are known for dismantling the rights of workers and working families, would only be interested in purchasing the Tribune Company and its assets so they can “pass something off of it.”

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