Close up The Baltimore Sun newspaper masthead
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News that Sinclair Inc.’s executive chairman David D. Smith has acquired The Baltimore Sun sent shock waves through the local and national journalism community, and The Sun’s subscribers had a lot to say about the transaction.

Smith purchased the newspaper with personal assets, separately from Sinclair, along with also purchasing the Capital Gazette, Carroll County Times, Towson Times, and several other weeklies and magazines.

The Sun was previously owned by Alden Global Capital, who bought it in 2021 as part of its acquisition of the Tribune Publishing newspaper chain. The Sun reports that Smith’s ownership marks the first time in four decades the newspaper will be in the hands of a local owner. (Smith lives in Timonium, and his father started Baltimore’s WBFF Fox 45 television station in 1971.)

“The company has been criticized for requiring its affiliates nationwide to air conservative programming and editorial content, though many conservatives argue that most newspapers are too liberal,” wrote Lorraine Mirabella in the Sun’s announcement of the acquisition.

Most of the reactions on social media echoed this criticism, with many readers vowing to cancel subscriptions and predicting the newspaper’s demise, though some were pleased at the move.

Justin Fenton, a former Baltimore Sun reporter now doing investigative reporting for the Baltimore Banner, noted the “seismic move in our local media.”

Ben Crump, a noted civil rights attorney, expressed confidence in the new ownership.

Smith pledged to “tell the truth, present the facts, period,” as a news organization executive. He would not, however, disclose how much he paid for The Baltimore Sun.

He says he plans to learn about The Sun’s operations, and where resources need to be directed. He admitted he has only read the newspaper regularly for the last few months, though his interest in buying The Sun came about two years ago.

Mirabella wrote, “Smith criticized ‘mainstream media’ in general for focusing on issues he said affect only a few people as opposed to those affecting greater numbers, adding that he finds it ‘curious that the mainstream media in this town often chooses not to cover things that affect everybody,’ in particular concerning problems and corruption in government.”

Paul Farhi, former media reporter at The Washington Post, picked up on that and noted that The Sun won a Pulitzer Prize for its investigation of former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh.

The acquisition came as a complete surprise to employees of The Sun, though they are expressing commitment to performing their jobs and hope that the change in ownership would not affect their ability to uphold strong journalistic standards.

“While this news came as a surprise, we are eager to learn more in the days to come,” said Christine Condon, The Sun’s environmental reporter and unit chair of The Baltimore Sun Guild, which represents reporters, photographers and advertising staff at the newspaper. “The Sun has a proud history of journalism that holds the powerful accountable, and we would expect any new owner to help us preserve those values.” Lorraine Mirabella, The Baltimore Sun

A few wondered if archived reports from The Baltimore Sun’s articles about Smith’s own arrest would remain on the site, including former Guardian and Daily Beast reporter Ben Jacobs.

David Simon, former crime reporter for The Baltimore Sun and creator of HBO’s “Homicide” and “The Wire,” posted a long thread outlining the history of the newpaper’s ownership since he was employed there. It begins here:

If you are not on the X (formerly Twitter) platform, you can read the thread in ThreadReader App form by clicking this link.