Resistance Radio: Free Press Pushes Back Against Media Consolidation

“People have realized that this type of cookie-cutter news model is a disservice to communities around the country.”

~Timothy Karr, Senior Director of Strategy and Communications at Free Press.

Business reporters liken the drop in value of Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s over the last month to a roller coaster ride, citing a fluid regulatory regime as the cause of the media giant’s 8% drop in stock prices over the last month, but make no mention of the public backlash to a video compilation of their news anchors from around the country all reading the same statement about the dangers of distorted news.

Not only have the courts questioned the Federal Communications Commission rule change easing ownership limits, several U.S senators echoed the scrutiny by asking the FCC to hold off on approving Sinclair’s proposed merger with the Tribune Company until a review of broadcast landscape can be completed.

Features at the newly unveiled website of media watchdog Free Press illustrate that landscape with fresh data which suggests that Sinclair already bears the capacity to reach more than 70% of the nation’s households. Timothy Karr serves as the group’s Senior Director of Strategy and Communications and he told KGNU the compilation video has served as a wakeup call for audiences everywhere.  “People have realized that this type of cookie-cutter news model is a disservice to communities around the country.”

Karr says he is inspired by efforts here in Colorado to reclaim the state’s most widely read daily from Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund that owns a total of 16 papers in the state including the Denver Post and the Daily Camera.  The Denver Post recently announced another round of layoffs from its news room, prompting calls for Alden Global Capital to sell the paper to a local owner. At the end of April, Dave Krieger, the editorial page editor of the Daily Camera, was fired after he self-published on a blog, an op-ed critical of the hedge fund owners of the newspaper.

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