I grew up reading the Chicago Tribune, which my Dad picked-up every evening at the corner store.  He didn’t particularly like the politics of the paper; but so long as that remained on the editorial page, the Tribune was our window on the world beyond Morse Avenue.

Like most big American papers, the Trib has fallen victim to the depreciating effects of media consolidation, but the latest bit of news really hurts.  

I don’t need to tell GMD readers how nefariously powerful the Koch brothers are.  Taking a page from Rupert Murdoch, the Kochs are now making a bid not just to influence the news, but to own it outright.  

Vermont’s  Senator Bernie Sanders and Democracy for America are working in tandem to raise public awareness of  the rumored attempt by the Koch Bros to buy the Tribune Company. They are asking concerned citizens to join them in signing a  a petition to protest that sale.

Addressed to Peter Ligouri, CEO of the Tribune Company, the petition highlights the potential impact that such a sale might have, given the scope of Tribune’s media conglomerate:

Given your large readership (The Los Angeles Times, fourth-largest circulation in the country; The Chicago Tribune, ninth-largest circulation; Hoy, second-largest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the country), it concerns us that one of the potential buyers, Koch Industries, is interested in the purchase of your print media outlets

…As the owners of a major fossil fuel company, they have also been leaders in providing substantial funding for organizations that spread misinformation about the reality of global warming — a growing crisis which threatens our entire planet.

…We remain deeply concerned that one extremely wealthy family, because of an absurd Supreme Court decision, is able to have enormous influence over our political life and elections.  We are unalterably opposed to that same family expanding its power by controlling the news and information that millions of Americans receive.

If ever our access to a free and impartial press was threatened, it is now. Sign the petition and make your voice heard.