Could the billionaire Koch brothers buy the Tribune newspapers?

Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who have earned the enmity of the left for heavily funding conservative causes, could soon add a media franchise to their business empire.

According to The New York Times' Amy Chozick, Koch Industries is seeking to purchase the newspaper holdings of the troubled Tribune Company, which include The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. Moreover, the Kochs appear to be the early frontrunners to land the papers, leading critics and media watchers to ponder what impact such a sale could have on the papers' editorial content. The Tribune Company, long mired in a financial morass, has publicly talked of selling its newspapers for some time. The Tribune Company owns eight papers with an estimated value of around $625 million, and has said it would prefer to sell them all as a package, rather than piece-by-piece. That preference could tip the field in favor of Koch Industries, says Chozick, because they have expressed interest in buying all eight papers. Other potential suitors — including News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch and a team of wealthy Los Angeles businessmen — are primarily interested in peeling off only The Los Angeles Times, the nation's fourth-largest newspaper.