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The Baltimore Sun, Maryland’s largest newspaper, has been acquired in a private deal by David D. Smith, chairman of the board of Hunt Valley-based television station owner Sinclair Corporation.
Smith announced Monday that he had acquired Baltimore Sun Media from investment firm Alden Global Capital on Friday, marking the first time in nearly 40 years that The Sun has been in the hands of a local owner.
Smith owned the publication’s focus on local news in the Baltimore area, along with the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, the Carroll County Times, the Towson Times, and several other Baltimore-area weeklies and magazines. I decided to buy the newspaper personally.
“I’m in the news industry because I believe we have an absolute responsibility to serve the public interest,” Smith said in an interview. “I believe this newspaper will bring tremendous revenue and success and serve the greater public good over time.
“Our job is to tell you the truth. That’s our job.”
Alden President Heath Freeman did not respond to a request for comment Monday, but confirmed the deal in a statement from Alden’s Media News Group. Alden acquired The Sun as part of its $633 million acquisition of Chicago-based newspaper chain Tribune Publishing in May 2021, making it the second-largest newspaper owner in the United States.
“We are always open to discussions around local ownership and our leading newspaper operations and technology platform will serve the Baltimore Sun,” Guy Gilmore, MediaNews Group’s chief operating officer, said in an email. I’m happy to continue doing so.”
Even though the ownership of the newspaper changes, nothing changes for the customers. We collect local news, place ads, and deliver newspapers. Over time, Smith said customers can expect an increase in community-focused content.
Smith declined to say how much he paid Baltimore Sun Media. He acquired the newspaper group separately from Sinclair. Sinclair owns television stations and local news programs across the country, and is known for its recent unsuccessful foray into ownership of regional sports networks. The Sinclair empire began with his WBFF Fox 45 television station in Baltimore.
Mr Smith said that through the acquisition of The Sun, he aims to turn around the struggling newspaper industry, which has failed to adapt to changing markets and the internet, which has had a major impact on the consumption and distribution of news and advertising. pointed out as the cause of the decline.
He will lead The Sun and other publications by focusing on local and community news and research, promoting the use of video and social media, and integrating technology in ways that other print media companies have not. He said he believes he can expand product subscriptions and advertising. to do.
Smith criticized “mainstream media” in general for focusing on issues that affect only a few people instead of issues that affect more people. “It’s strange how we often don’t report on things that affect us,” he added, especially when it comes to government issues and corruption.
He said the first step will be to meet with staff and management from The Sun and its affiliates on Tuesday to understand the publication’s mission and operations and begin discussions about its vision for the future.
“We understand the importance of strong public service journalism and holding local politicians and other powerful people accountable,” said Trif Alatzas, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Sun. he said on Monday. “It has been part of Baltimore Sun Media’s DNA for generations. We look forward to working together to further strengthen our organization.”
Smith said he plans to invest in the business but needs to spend time learning about operations and where resources are needed.
For now, he said Alden plans to maintain the services contract it had with Tribune Publishing for newspaper design, human resources, accounting and other behind-the-scenes services. He said at some point these agreements would be terminated and the newspaper group would operate as an independent company.
“This news came as a surprise, but we look forward to learning more in the coming days,” said the Sun’s environment reporter and the Baltimore Sun Guild, which represents the paper’s reporters, photographers and advertising staff. unit chair Christine Condon said. . “The Sun has a proud history of journalism that holds those in power to account, and we hope the new owners will help uphold those values.”
Smith said he was interested in buying the media group about two years ago, but the deal fell through.
“As time went on, I became more focused on the magazine. I thought it was the right time, so I signed on,” Smith said. He said he started reading The Sun regularly just a few months ago.
Smith said the newspaper business will have an undisclosed stake in the company. Armstrong Williams is a prominent conservative political commentator who hosts a national television show on the Sinclair Network affiliate.
The Sun has been owned by a suburban conglomerate since 1986 when AS Abell, which is connected to the Abell family that founded the Sun, sold the paper to Los Angeles-based media company Times Mirror. Ta. Los Angeles Times, Newsday, and other publications. Tribune, which owned the Chicago Tribune, acquired Times Mirror in 2000. After filing for bankruptcy in 2008 and following a series of leadership changes, Tribune Publishing was acquired by Alden and taken private in 2021.
Baltimore Sun Media has more than 150 employees and publishes seven other community publications. The Sun and its sister news organizations have more than 230,000 paying subscribers across print and digital platforms.
Although the deal with Sun is independent of Sinclair, Mr. Smith, the company’s executive chairman and former chief executive officer, said the deal with Sun is independent of Sinclair; He said he envisions partnership opportunities between Sun and Sinclair.
Sinclair’s television station, Fox 45, was founded 53 years ago by Smith’s father. WBFF-TV began as his UHF channel in 1971, focusing in part on children’s programming, including morning and afternoon cartoons during the “Captain Chesapeake” show. The company added his newscast in 1991 and now he is one of Baltimore’s top television stations.
Smith praised the news coverage of Fox 45 and other Sinclair stations as balanced and apolitical.
“We’re not perfect, but we seem to be doing a lot better than a lot of people,” he said.
The company has been criticized for requiring affiliates across the country to air conservative programming and editorial content, but many conservatives argue that most newspapers are too liberal.
While Smith is an active political supporter of the Republican Party, he said he is focused on good government. He financially supports a Baltimore City organization that calls itself a grassroots movement and promotes more accountable and transparent city government. In 2022, People for Elected Accountability and Citizen Engagement passed a ballot measure calling for term limits for the city’s mayor, auditor, and city council. They are also calling for a separate ballot measure that would allow voters to petition for a recall vote on these officials.
A Sinclair spokeswoman said Monday that Smith used his personal funds to make the acquisition and that “Sinclair was not involved in this transaction.” Mr. Smith will continue to serve as Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board of the Company. ”
Smith’s announcement comes after decades of unsuccessful attempts by wealthy individuals and groups in the Baltimore area to buy the state’s largest publishers of newspapers, websites and magazines. Although it has been discussed for years, a local buyer was unable to reach a deal with the news organization. This news organization was founded by AS Abel in 1837 as his one-penny publication for the masses.
As recently as 2021, former state senator and Choice Hotels chairman Stewart Bynum Jr. acquired The Sun, and its parent company, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News, and other major He also tried to raise money for the newspaper’s owner, Tribune Publishing. Unable to reach an agreement, Mr. Bynum instead pooled millions of dollars of his own money to launch the nonprofit Baltimore Banner website.
Mr. Smith, who grew up in Baltimore and graduated from Baltimore City University High School, joins a small group of other wealthy people who have bought local news organizations and other publications in recent years, putting them in a position to buy into the struggling business. He says he wants to revive it. The company has struggled with declining revenues, in part because of big companies like Google and Facebook that control much of the digital advertising. Thanks to mobile and social media platforms, readers have been turning to digital news sources for decades.
Billionaire businessman Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the Los Angeles Times in 2018, hoping to free the company from cost-cutting by then-Tribune. Amazon.com founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos also bought the Washington Post in 2013, leveraging his expertise in retail technology to make the investment. The pair have expanded their workforce and invested in journalism since those acquisitions, but the news organization continues to suffer from declining revenue and announced layoffs over the past year.
The Sun is one of the oldest titles in the country. Baltimore Sun Media has won 16 Pulitzer Prizes over the years, most recently in 2020 for its investigation of former Baltimore Mayor Katherine Pugh and the University of Maryland Health System. (Annapolis) Capital a year earlier won a special Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the June 2018 Annapolis office shooting that killed five co-workers. Baltimore Sun Media’s journalism has been recognized with six Pulitzer Prize nominations since 2015.
This article has been updated to correct Heath Freeman’s title and MediaNews group name. The Sun regrets the error.
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