The Guardian:
That Charles and David Koch are putting $650m into Meredith Corp’s purchase of Time would ordinarily be cause for great soul-searching in media. But then, these are not ordinary times.
Meredith’s Koch-backed deal with Time – which owns, in addition to Time magazine, titles including People, Fortune and Sports Illustrated – was sealed Sunday night. Meredith said in a statement announcing the deal that they are building “a premier media company serving nearly 200 million American consumers.”
Observers of Koch Industries, a longtime supporter of libertarian and conservative causes, especially generous with funding for climate denial through thinktanks and research groups, say more than business is at stake.
“It’s a very proper business decision – a cheap way to wield even more political influence,” said Bill McKibben, a former New Yorker writer and and key figure in the environmental movement as founder of the group 350.org. “The return on investment on their political work is off the charts, I fear.”
At first glance, the oil and gas giant’s reason for backing the bid by Meredith is not readily apparent. Sure, the Kochs have appeared on the Time 100 list – in 2011, 2014 and 2015 – and David Koch has lunched with the magazine’s former editor. But what kind of money-minded mogul would pivot to print in 2017 – and to Time, of all places?
“Time magazine doesn’t move the needle on anything any more,” said Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University. “It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Unless they want to influence the Fortune 500 rankings or something.” ...
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This is the continuation of the right-wing/fake news media expansion that started with Rupert Murdoch’s Fox and then, Rush Limbaugh, Sinclair Radio Stations, etc. Trump wanted to get on the act too and start the Trump News when he joined the Republican Primaries, but to his surprise not only he became the GOP candidate but he also managed to get enough electoral votes to become the US President. So that project is on hold for a couple of years.
At some point the right-wing media space will become too saturated and some consolidation will take place.