Taking the fight to the Kochs

We’ve been keeping a close eye on the potential sale of the Tribune Company papers for months now. When news broke last fall that Rupert Murdoch might buy them, we asked you to sign our petition demanding “No More Media for Murdoch” — and 220,000 of you stepped up.

Then a few weeks ago, word got out that the climate change-denying, anti-voter, anti-worker, anti-public education Koch Brothers wanted to buy up those same papers, including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun. Reports indicate that the Koch Brothers care more about pushing their politics than they do about quality, investigative reporting.

We joined the “Coalition to Save Our News” and signed a public letter urging the Tribune Company not to let Koch Brothers to turn these important community institutions into a bullhorn for their regressive agenda.

Then, earlier this month, California Common Cause Executive Director Kathay Feng addressed a rally at the LA Times headquarters. She amplified what our members in Southern California had been saying — great cities need great papers, and Koch ownership would be a step in the wrong direction.

Yesterday was our National Day of Action, and from Hartford, Connecticut to Los Angeles, California, our members and allies from the labor, media reform, and environmental movements stood up for independent media. In Baltimore, Common Cause Maryland Director Jennifer Bevan-Dangel spoke alongside Free Press CEO Craig Aaron. In Denver, our Colorado team dropped off petition signatures. In Los Angeles, 200 of our supporters and allies took to the streets to say that the Los Angeles Times should not become a Tea Party broadsheet.

The fight will not be over — not until readers have access to quality news that informs democracy and holds power accountable. Stay tuned to @coppsm and @ttoboyle for updates.