As another presidential election season approaches, media consumers should keep an eye on what’s brewing in Baltimore.
Sinclair Inc. Executive Chairman David D. Smith has purchased The Baltimore Sun, the largest newspaper in Maryland. As the longtime leader of the notoriously right-wing local-TV news giant, again and again Smith has used his ample resources to advance a conservative agenda. Now his potential reach will only grow.
The details of the sale have not been made public, but Smith reportedly told staff he had paid “nine figures” for Baltimore Sun Media, which also includes Annapolis’ Capital Gazette and several other local publications. Although Smith made the purchase personally — and the paper will not be tied to Sinclair Inc. — the Sun serves the same community as Sinclair’s flagship news station WBFF-TV (Fox45), and expands Smith’s control of local news operations in Baltimore to include the area’s largest paper along with one of its top local news stations.
In 2017, Michael Copps, the George W. Bush-appointed former chairman of the FCC, called Sinclair ‘the most dangerous company most people have never heard of.’
In that initial staff meeting kicking off his tenure, Smith claimed to be apolitical. But Sinclair’s reputation and Smith’s own past statements and checkbook clearly tell a different story, as extensively detailed by the Sun’s longtime media critic David Zurawik. Smith has telegraphed his political views through regular involvement in Baltimore politics and personal donations to Republican candidates and right-wing causes. The Washington Post and The New York Times both found ample evidence that Smith and his brothers — also executives at Sinclair — have funneled substantial money to support Republican causes over the years.
Those donations, though, pale in comparison to Sinclair’s record. In 2017, Michael Copps, the George W. Bush-appointed former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, called…
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