• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, May 9, 2013

Liberal activist groups are taking to the Web to oppose the Koch brothers’ much-publicized bid for the Los Angeles Times and other Tribune Co. papers, with plans to run ads on the Web sites of the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times (for readers in the LA area).
 
The ad shows the Koch brothers, Charles and David, alongside Tribune chairman Bruce Karsh and Oaktree Capital chairman Howard Marks, manipulating the LAT on puppet strings, with the headline “Save the Newspaper!”

The ad encourages readers to sign an online pledge to stop reading and subscribing to the newspaper if Tribune sells it to the Koch brothers.
 
The liberal groups, Courage Campaign Institute and Forecast the Facts, say they oppose the Koch brothers’ bid because they fear the billionaire siblings will use the LAT as a platform for their conservative agenda. The Koch brothers have established a reputation as prominent supporters of conservative causes, including think tanks and advocacy groups, as well as big donors to conservative politicians.
 
CCI founder and chair Rick Jacobs stated: “The Koch brothers want to buy the biggest paper in California and the fourth largest in the nation so they can set the debate, not cover it.”
 
Previously, the same groups delivered a petition signed by 250,000 people opposing the potential sale to the Koch brothers to the LAT headquarters.
 
Newspapers have been a popular focus of community activism recently. After Advance Publications revealed plans to cut the publication schedule of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, local civic leaders, businesspeople and celebrities formed the “Times-Picayune Citizens’ Group,” which set itself a mission to “ensure the continuation of the delivery of a high quality, seven-day-a-week newspaper, with access to the entire community.”

However, these protests -- along with demands that Advance sell the newspaper to another publisher that would commit to continuing daily publication -- were rebuffed.