Say no to Koch brothers

Charles and David Koch, billionaires notorious for bankrolling conservative advocacy and policy groups and aggressively pushing right-wing policies, have set out to buy the Tribune Company—the owner of ten major U.S. newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. The sale would guarantee the brothers, whose wealth has already bought them considerable influence in the government, control of major media organizations.

Given the Koch brothers’ long history of leveraging their wealth to advance their business and political interests, we fear that their purchase of Tribune will jeopardize the free flow of information in the U.S., help insulate the pair from investigation and censure and assist them as they push an agenda aimed at gutting the government and augmenting corporate power. 

However, donor Bruce Karsh, Trinity ’77 and member of the Board of Trustees, has the power to stop this assault on the free press. As president of Oaktree Capital Management, Tribune’s largest shareholder, Karsh, who also co-chairs the Duke Forward campaign, can either accept or decline the Koch brother’s bid to purchase the papers. 

We strongly urge Karsh to reject the bid. Although we recognize that he has a fiduciary duty to shareholders in his company, Karsh has a more pressing social and moral responsibility to ensure that major American newspapers remain free from the corrupting influence that the Koch brothers have brought to nearly every sector of society. 

The Koch brothers dwell on the very fringes of the ideological spectrum and consistently short circuit the democratic process to protect their interests. They deny the existence of climate change, donate heavily to far-right candidates and organizations and founded an advocacy group called Americans for Prosperity—an organization that has worked tirelessly to undercut health care expansions, reduce public workers’ pensions and eviscerate environmental regulations.  

The Koch brothers’ acquisition of Tribune will not automatically turn reputable newspapers into broadsheets shaded with conservative bias. It is difficult to imagine, however, that the brothers—one of whom pulled support for the PBS station WNET after it aired a piece condemning the pair’s political activities—would happily permit, and much less encourage, critical coverage of any of the issues, candidates or groups into which they have pumped billions of dollars. 

Karsh has always exhibited unwavering support for the University. He and his wife, Martha, have helped ensure that potential Duke students have a chance to receive a top notch education by donating $50 million for a permanent endowment to support need-based financial aid. Additionally, his contributions as a trustee and donor have allowed Duke to grow and improve. If Karsh permits the Koch brothers to purchase Tribune, however, he will hasten the spread of policies that stand in direct conflict with the values held by many at Duke. Some students have already begun to voice their objections to the sale, a clamor that will only increase if Karsh strikes a deal with the Koch brothers. 

If Karsh endorses the sale, he risks undermining the work done by countless students, from environmental activists to journalists, at a University he clearly cares very much about. We hope Karsh will not take this risk. We encourage him to reassess his options, consider his responsibility to Duke and society at large, and refuse to sell Tribune to the Koch brothers.