Friday, April 12, 2013

Following the Koch's Tea Party....


....to a brainwashed country that denies science and the facts?

The Kochs funded the Tea Party for their own personal agenda. Would polluters want regulation? Would gazillionares want to pay taxes?  

Will we follow them over the cliff for a controlled media?
If you object, please add your name to the petition below.
Petrochemical billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are vying to purchase the Tribune Company’s media assets, including TV stations across the country and major papers with a history of reliable climate coverage.
Under Koch ownership, millions of readers and TV viewers will no longer get the full story on climate. If the Kochs buy Tribune, we can say goodbye to pieces like Dr. James Hansen’s editorial against the Keystone XL pipeline, which appeared in the LA Times last week.
The owners of the Tribune Company are soliciting offers on the papers now. All of us who rely on a free and honest press are key stakeholders in the decision. If enough of us make it clear that we don’t want nationally influential papers—from the LA Times to the the widely-read Spanish publication Hoy—turned into a propaganda outlets for climate deniers, the Tribune Company board will have to listen.
Our friends at Daily Kos and the Courage Campaign have already mobilized 100,000 people to tell the Tribune Company to stay Koch-free because of their anti-science, anti-health, anti-labor agenda. Add your voice against Koch ownership of the Tribune Company by signing the petition:

Tribune CEO Peter Liguori has said he is committed to “best-in-class journalism” for his company—something that would be underminded if anti-science billionaires take ownership. These news outlets aren’t just financial assets, they’re essential assets to a healthy democracy. Millions of people count on them for unbiased reporting and well-respected political endorsements.

We've come to rely on papers like the LA Times for strong coverage. When out-of-state oil companies, including Koch Industries, tried to repeal California's first-in-the-nation global warming law in 2010, it took great coverage and a strong editorial by the state's largest paper, the Times, to help defeat Prop 23. But the carbon kings didn't give up there—they want to buy the Times and other major assets in order to push radical climate change denial on the general public.

Now, they want to expand their audience from corrupt politicians and misinformed voters to the big time. The purchase of Tribune would give the Koch brothers ownership over television stations in major cities like New York, San Diego, Chicago, and Houston, in addition to some of the biggest papers in the country, including the LA Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Baltimore Sun. We can't allow hallowed journalistic institutions to become mouthpieces for the Kochs' corrupt agenda.

When you sign the petition, please add a comment about why strong climate reporting and editorials are important to you. By showing Tribune Company executives that the public counts on them for accurate and informative journalism, we can help persuade them not to sell to climate change deniers.

Factually yours,
Brad, Jordan, Daniel, Emily, and the rest of the Forecast the Facts team

MORE INFORMATION
LA Weekly: Are the Koch Brothers Trying to Buy the Los Angeles Times?
http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/29?t=12&akid=27.64594.jEj3s_
The Nation: Charles Koch Reflects on Last Election, Promises to Do More to ‘Persuade Politicians’
http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/30?t=14&akid=27.64594.jEj3s_
The Independent: Billionaires secretly fund attacks on climate science
http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/31?t=16&akid=27.64594.jEj3s_
Daily Kos: Los Angeles Times relents and decides to run anti-Koch ad
http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/46?t=20&akid=27.64594.jEj3s_
Los Angeles Times: The Pipeline to Disaster
http://act.forecastthefacts.org/go/63?t=22&akid=27.64594.jEj3s_


Forecast the Facts is a grassroots organization that empowers people to fight climate change denial and promote accurate information about the climate crisis. You can follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. Help us end climate denial once and for all by contributing here.

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