Between The Lines - Timothy Karr: Campaign to Stop the Koch Brothers' Takeover of the Tribune Newspaper Company (Week Ending May 31, 2013)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

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Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

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SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

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Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

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Media Activists Organize to Stop Koch Brothers' Takeover of Tribune Newspapers

RealAudio MP3

Posted May 22, 2013

Interview with Timothy Karr, senior director of strategy with the media democracy group Free Press, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Multi-billionaires Charles and David Koch make their money by exploiting fossil fuels. They have funded all manner of conservative and right-wing political efforts and candidates, including organizations and individuals who deny the reality of human-caused climate disruption. Now the brothers are setting their sights on buying some of the most influential newspapers in the country. The Kochs have expressed interest in the bankrupt Tribune Company, which is looking for a buyer for the eight newspapers it owns: the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant, and four others in Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

According to news reports, the Koch brothers are the top contenders to make the purchase, which could be consummated in the next few months. But that outcome is being opposed by a coalition of media activists, environmentalists and grassroots community groups, all of whom see a Koch Brothers purchase of the Tribune company as a disaster.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Timothy Karr, senior director of strategy with Free Press, a media reform and pro-democracy organization that is one of several groups opposing a Koch Brothers takeover of the Tribune newspapers. Here, he explains what's at stake and how people are coming together to try to stop the Koch’s media grab.

TIMOTHY KARR: I think the Tribune Company is in pretty dire circumstances. They went through a bankruptcy proceeding recently, and the majority shareholders are now looking at ways they can hand off parts of the company they think are least profitable. The Tribune Company, people might know, not only publishes newspapers – 8 newspapers in fairly significant cities around the country – but it is also in the business of TV broadcasting, which is much more profitable. So they want to calve off, to separate those 8 newspapers, and sell them for, I've heard, between $600 million and $700 million.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Do you know if other entities are also interested in buying the Tribune papers?

TIMOTHY KARR: Well, we only know what we've read in several media reports. The LA Weekly and the New York Times have reported that the Kochs are at the top of a fairly short list of prospective buyers of the Tribune Company newspapers. And there's been interest expressed by a number of parties; in some cases, parties have wanted to purchase just one or two of the newspapers. There's a possible coalition of investors in Los Angeles that are interested in buying the LA Times, for example. But it's in the interest of the Tribune Company to sell all eight newspapers as a single package, and the only investor who's indicated – according to these news reports – an interest in all eight papers are the Koch Brothers, through their company, Koch Energy, and Koch Enterprises.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Tim Karr, it's an interesting kind of coalition where you have some media activists and some political types who are opposed to a Koch buy-out, and also a real grassroots element, like there was a big demonstration of grassroots folks in Chicago who were saying that the Kochs taking over the Tribune would be really detrimental to their lives. Is that happening in other cities as well?

TIMOTHY KARR: It has, and there have been recent protests in L.A., there have been protests in Chicago. There's a national day of action scheduled for later this month, on May 29, that will involve actions in cities around the country. While the Kochs are known for a specific brand of right-wing ideology, this is really about journalism. This is about what it is that a newspaper should represent for a community. And the problem that organizations like Free Press see with the Kochs is that they do have a track record of attacking journalism. They do have a track record of supporting organizations that have misled the public on key issues, like the science of global warming. And that their intentions for owning these newspapers are not to better serve those communities, but to further spread this misinformation, and that's not good for journalism. They don't really have an interest in supporting the kind of hard-hitting journalism these communities need. And we have seen over the last several decades that thousands and thousands of journalists have lost their jobs, whether working in newspaper newsrooms or local TV stations, and the sort of ownership we need right now are not individuals who look to further decimate the news and undermine quality journalism, but people from those communities who are willing to invest in keeping journalists on the job, as well as reporting on issues that are of concern to that community. And this is not just an argument about journalism; it's an argument about doing good business. Good business is serving your customers, and if your customers are readers in those communities, you need to put their needs first. And it's pretty clear from the readership of these communities that the Koch's political agenda doesn't align with their needs to get more local news and information that's willing to challenge powerful institutions, both corporations and powerful individuals in government.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Are people talking about a boycott to try to prevent the Koch's takeover? People saying, we just won't buy these newspapers, and therefore they would lose value and therefore might not be so desirable for the Kochs to even buy them?

TIMOTHY KARR: Some of the groups that have been involved in the Koch protest include the Courage Campaign, which is based in California. And they have received thousands of pledges from people to unsubscribe from these newspapers should the ownership transfer to the Kochs. So yes, there is a kind of pre-emptive boycott that is already taking place. And you know, I think if it gets closer to a reality, we could also be looking at reaching out to some of the traditional advertisers for Tribune newspapers, whether they be the LA Times or the Chicago Tribune, and asking whether or not they'd be willing to pull their ads as a way to protest this transfer of ownership.

For more information on growing opposition to the Koch brothers takeover of the Tribune newspapers, visit Free Press at FreePress.net.