A nonprofit group called the Other 98% says it has launched a $660 million crowdfunding campaign to buy the Tribune Co., the corporate parent of the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune and several other daily newspapers.The group says the move is designed to keep the newspapers “out of the hands of Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers.” If the group’s name didn’t clue you in to the group’s political leanings, that line should. Charles and David Koch, owners of Wichita-based Koch Industries Inc., have been rumored to be interested in buying Tribune Co., though the company has repeatedly said such talk is pure speculation. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. owns, among other things, Fox News, and he too has been rumored as a possible bidder. The Other 98% has launched its campaign on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo.com, and it says that if the efforts result in the purchase of Tribune that it would be run as a publicly owned nonprofit. As of late Thursday morning, it has raised $3,265 of its stated goal of $660 million. There has also been talk of what it could mean for the newsrooms at Tribune papers, given the Koch’s political advocacy. But Tribune Media Services columnist Cal Thomas wrote last week that a Koch purchase could not only revive the papers financially, but also win back some readership among more conservative-minded folks.
