Activists Crowdsource Tribune Bid To Prevent Koch, Murdoch Buy

The Tribune Company auction took an interesting turn with a liberal activist group’s initiative to crowdsource a bid for the newspaper publisher in order to keep it out of the hands of people it describes as untrustworthy plutocrats.

The group, called The Other 98%, has launched a crowdsourced fundraising effort on Indiegogo.com, which aims to raise $660 million to buy Tribune and convert it into a publicly owned nonprofit organization. That works out to roughly $2 for every person in the United States. In a four-minute video explaining their goals, spokeswoman Nicole Carty warned against letting Tribune fall into the hands of media mogul Rupert Murdoch or the billionaire Koch brothers, all of whom are known for conservative views.