In November 2012, I wrote BIG problem: Former News Corp. exec expected to head Tribune Co., Rupert Murdoch eyes LA Times, Chicago Tribune.

I followed that up in March 2013 with If this report is true, I will cancel my subscription to the L.A. Times. That entry was in response to a report by Think Progress:

Right-wing funders and business industrialists David and Charles Koch may purchase the Tribune Company newspapers, which include the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and the Los Angeles Times. The brothers are “interested in the clout they could gain through the Times’ editorial pages,” the Hollywood Reporter notes.

Under the circumstances, saying this is a serious concern is an understatement.

Here we are a month later and Think Progress has a follow-up that has my stomach in knots. They’re reporting that Charles and David Koch are still trying to get their extremely wealthy, extremely right wing hands on up to eight (!) U.S. news outlets, per the New York Times, including including The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Orlando Sentinel and The Hartford Courant.

See, they want to “make sure our voice is being heard.” Note to Kochs: So do the rest of us.

They also have said that “they see the conservative voice as not being well represented.” We here at TPC beg to differ, or to put it another way:

This proves that there is no such thing as a so-called “liberal media.”

New York Times:

Politically, however, the papers could serve as a broader platform for the Kochs’ laissez-faire ideas. The Los Angeles Times is the fourth-largest paper in the country, and The Tribune is No. 9, and others are in several battleground states, including two of the largest newspapers in Florida, The Orlando Sentinel and The Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. A deal could include Hoy, the second-largest Spanish-language daily newspaper, which speaks to the pivotal Hispanic demographic.

As Think Progress notes, “The brothers also tried to influence the latest election by warning some 45,000 employees that there would be “consequences” if they didn’t vote for Republicans.” Yes, that’s exactly who should be running a big hunk of the media.

Freedom of the press is a right. Abusing it to spread their extremist propaganda would be reprehensible.