Posted on 04/25/2013 12:46:31 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
On Sunday, the New York Times reported that the Koch brothers -- yes, those Koch brothers, of dumping mad cash into elections fame -- are considering buying the Tribune network of newspapers in a bid to establish a pro-business conservative media chain.
Well, good luck with that.
There are several reasons regional newspapers are an awkward fit for anyone looking to counter-program what they see as liberal bias in the news media.
The main reason is that all major U.S. newspapers are based in cities. Cities in America are in the main run by Democrats, because they are populated, by and large, with Democrats, and very often also surrounded by Democratic suburbs. And because cities are run by Democrats, and populated by not only by Democrats but, very often, by liberal, minority, and immigrant Democrats, they tend to have laws on the books that at least formally signal a desire to serve the interests of these voting groups -- their residents, let's call them.
Newspapers, which are businesses, are subject to the employment and other laws of the cities in which they are based. Because they are based in cities, and because cities are often at the forefront of progressive legislating, newspapers tend to work under employment laws and answer to regional communities that have distinctive views about what a just society looks like. Conservatives are right to call these views liberal, but it's just as important to recognize them as the product of representative democracy within defined urban spaces (see Richard Florida for more on what it is that causes cities to vote Democratic).
Newspapers, like other businesses, have to follow the local laws -- such as those protecting out gay employees -- or risk getting sued. And, historically, they had to appeal to urban or urbanizing local residents
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Wishful thinking.
” The Atlantic”.....nothing to see here.
Are urban media liberal, because they’re in urban areas; or, are urban areas liberal, because they have a liberal media?
i guess their grasp of their demographic ensures growth and prosperity for years to come...wait they are losing money? even here in Mississippi the NY Times was read fairly commonly, until it became devoid of news content and fair commentary. they will never learn
If they took control of the editing, only the stories, or the complete stories he/she/it approve would make it. All others get a do-over until some idiot figures it out.
I see the assumption made by the author the Koch brothers would walk into a newspaper office and say “OK, all gays, blacks and women, get out!” Uh, the liberal laws you say would keep Koch from buying the papers exist *everywhere* and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Kochs may have heard of one or two of them.
I hope the progs keep this attitude, because when the Kochs succeed in getting some papers, half of the undesirables are going to keel over with heart attacks anyway.
If they want to invest wisely in fighting the leftist propaganda machine, start buying cable assets. Cable or satellite gets out of those commie armpit cities and draws from a wider segment of the nation while still getting a potential share of those city dwellers who still have some brains left.
The author ignores Fox News, which I would describe as mildly liberal rather than conservative. It regularly trumps all the other liberal networks because it does attempt to give a balanced perspective. I think that readers are desperate for that balanced perspective, but we’re fed on pure liberalism.
As a selling author I pitched a political column to my local paper, “The Tallahassee Democrat.” I was told that only actual newspaper employees could be trusted to report politics because only they understood it. Really.
The Democrat has been on a circulation slide for decades. It was really bad when they had a black, female lead editor who regularly spewed white hatred; albeit in coded forms conservatives were not supposed to understand. Hardly a week went by when there wasn’t a retrospective on the black city (Rosewood, if I recall) that was wiped out by the KKK in the ‘20’s.
Along with losing its upper middle class white demographic it alienated the city’s blacks from their white neighbors and produced what many of us called “The Tallahassee ‘tude.”
I believe the paper has been sold at least twice, but they have never corrected the basic problem, which is that the paper’s staff is 100% ideologically Marxist.
Urban areas tend to more collectivist. Politically, the people tend to focus on things that are related to lots of folks living together in a confined space. More collectivist mindset = more liberal. Influential conservative papers in urban areas would be great because it might help to mitigate the liberalism to some degree.
What a crock!
Fear, this article is rank with it. I can almost smell the desperate prayers to Gaia from this article. “Please Earth Mother, don’t let the Koch brothers buy the Tribune group..!”
The auteur forgets that virtually all the READERS of the newspapers printed in the cities live in the SUBURBS! That’s why the Chicago Tribune, LA Times, etc. are going down the wormhole; the suburbanites see the total disconnect between what is printed and what is actually news. It may have something to do with urban education and journalism degrees of the reporters (sic)!
Nyuk!
LOL!
Gullible big spenders are liberals and that’s what advertisers want.
So big media will always be liberal.
“You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I’ll tell you what his ‘pinions is. ...”
Physical newspapers are going the way of fish wrap. If they are buying these papers they are buying their names for online applications that aren’t tied to the old printing and distribution cost considerations.
Yeah, it just stands to reason that people who voluntarily cluster up together would be more collectivist than individualist, and therefore would be more leftist than conservative.
Hi
The Des Moines (Iowa) Register’s President and Publisher Laura Hollingsworth, and Vice President and Managing Editor Rick Green were presented as being NOT the usual simpleton libs. They even overturned the Register’s long record of supporting Democrats.
But the merry band of reporters and editors have become even more outrageous, crossing the line from liberalism to Stalinist-Leninist apparatchiks. No peep from those in charge, and none expected.
Is that the stated intent of the Koch brothers, or just a liberal's assumption (seeing as how that's exactly what libs did with education).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.