Baltimore Sun Guild pushes back on new owners

Kathleen Bartzen Culver, PhD, assistant professor and James E. Burgess chair in journalism ethics, School of Journalism & Mass Communication; and director, Center for Journalism Ethics, University of Wisconsin-Madion. (Photo credit: Jane Feller)

It’s important that multiple voices can be heard on any given issue and no one person — no William Randolph Hearst — could control the media environment within a local community. I think it should give everyone pause that we now have multiple outlets within the community speaking one voice. How does that affect the community?”

Kathleen Culver

Editor's Note:

When the acquisition was announced, David D. Smith’s spokespersons stated he would not take questions on matters pertaining to his ownership of The Baltimore Sun. E&P welcomed comment from co-owner Armstrong Williams for this article, with no response.

Related Article:

Statement from the 
Baltimore Sun Guild

When Alden Global Capital sold The Baltimore Sun to David D. Smith, the former CEO and current executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, and conservative radio host Armstrong Williams, members of the newsroom and the broader news community wondered what it would mean for The Baltimore Sun’s future editorial direction.

A glimpse of that new direction came in June when content created by Sinclair’s Baltimore affiliate Fox45 began appearing on the Sun’s website — initially without transparency. Around the same time, two of the Sun's reporters requested their bylines be removed from an article that had been edited and appended with Fox45 contributions without their knowledge.

Christine Condon is an environmental reporter at The Baltimore Sun and an elected unit chair of the Baltimore Sun Guild. “Something like this wasn’t out of the question,” she told E&P in July. “We’re not naïve, but it did come completely without warning to us. It was especially concerning because many of the initial stories chosen for publication did not measure up to our standards.”

By “standards,” Condon refers to both the Associated Press style conventions to which the Sun’s newsroom and editorial board adhere and the journalistic methodology applied to its reporting.

“These were stories that, in many cases, just relied on single sources or seemed to have an axe to grind in how they were written,” Condon said. She suggested readers not take her word for it but welcomed them to go to the website and compare stories about the same events to see the distinction in how they’re covered. 

Christine Condon reports on the environment for The Baltimore Sun, and she serves as unit chair for The Baltimore Sun Guild.

The Guild requested a staff meeting to express their concerns, and some of what came out of that meeting was constructive. Now, contributed content from Fox45’s team is clearly labeled, so there’s no ambiguity for readers, and they were assured internal editors would scrutinize any content shared on the Sun’s site.

“But it was made clear to us during that meeting that this will not stop,” she said.

Sinclair Broadcasting Group is a network of 294 TV stations around the country. It’s often seen as a reflection of its owner’s right-leaning political proclivities and has come under fire for its from-the-top-down approach to communicating the news. In a statement, Sinclair pushed back on the notion of bias and said that national newsroom scripted stories shared with local affiliates are commonplace in TV news.

Throughout its 187-year history, the Baltimore Sun’s journalism has been recognized with numerous national and regional journalism awards, including 16 Pulitzers.

Members of the Baltimore Sun Guild — seen here at an August 14, 2024 rally — are demanding that the new owners adhere to style and journalistic standards, and negotiate with the Guild in good faith. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Sun Guild

Dan Rodricks, a long-time Baltimore Sun columnist and Guild member, speaks at the Guild's rally on August 14, 2024. The Guild has accused the new owners, David D. Smith and Armstrong Williams of "union-busting tactics." Photo credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Sun Guild

Baltimore Sun Guild's unit chair, Christine Condon, addresses guild members who took to the streets for a rally on August 14, 2024. The Guild objects to the Baltimore Sun's new owners policy of publishing Sinclair Broadcasting and Fox45 content on the Sun's website and in the newspaper. Photo credit: Courtesy of the Baltimore Sun Guild

On Wednesday, August 14, members of the Baltimore Sun Guild held a picketing rally to protest the ongoing conflation of the two brands and growing contract contention with the owners. In a statement, the Guild accused the owners of “union-busting tactics” and asserted that “articles from Fox45 and Sinclair have begun to take up a growing chunk of real estate in the newspaper and online. These stories often lack context, nuance or opposing views. Readers are noticing, and they are losing trust in the Sun as a result.”

Looking at it through an ethics lens
This also raises a question of ethics: Is the owners’ approach ethical?

Alden Global Capital sold The Baltimore Sun to David D. Smith and Armstrong Williams in January 2024. Williams took to X (formerly Twitter) on Jan. 16 with a Baltimore Sun mission statement of providing "fair, balanced news."

“Ethics is about the discussions and decision-making we go through to be able to justify our decisions to those people who are affected by them,” explained Kathleen Bartzen Culver, PhD, assistant professor and James E. Burgess chair in journalism ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also serves as the university’s director of the Center for Journalism Ethics. “In this case, putting content on a site that subscribers — the people who pay for this content — without disclosing the relationship robs those subscribers of their ability to weigh the credibility of that information. It’s saying, ‘We’re pushing something at you that is coming from a source different than the source you’ve relied on and that you’ve decided to back with your dollars.’

“And I want to be clear; this isn’t just an issue for Sinclair and The Baltimore Sun. It’s also an issue with all sorts of local news outlets that take money and include links at the bottom of their stories to things like, ‘How to transform your wrinkles in five minutes.’ They are linking out to information they have not vetted, which is a real problem. The people who have decided to put their hard-earned money backing a local news outlet deserve better than that,” Culver said.

When Smith first addressed the newsroom back in January, he reportedly spoke about the success of Fox45 — presumably its loyal audience and the financial support it receives from advertisers — and expected the Sun could emulate that successful model. Culver suggested that may be problematic not just for the newspaper’s newsroom but for the community it serves. Local TV news tends to deliver bite-sized sensationalized stories that captivate viewers — think about a story of a local person who’s been arrested for multiple DUIs.

“It leads their coverage. It leads their website. But if you talk to anyone in the world of addiction, medicine and recovery, they will tell you that that coverage is horribly stigmatizing and actually leads to people not seeking treatment, nor does it make our streets safer from people who drive under the influence. So, there’s this question of what we as news consumers want and find titillating and will click on versus the information we need to have safe, healthy and engaged communities,” Culver said.

Culver’s other concern is the consolidation of local news under a single owner. In the case of Baltimore, there are other news sources covering the city and region besides The Baltimore Sun and Fox45, but they are two of the largest and most prolific.

“It’s important that multiple voices can be heard on any given issue and no one person — no William Randolph Hearst — could control the media environment within a local community. I think it should give everyone pause that we now have multiple outlets within the community speaking one voice. How does that affect the community?” she pondered.

Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.

Editor’s Note: When the acquisition was announced, David D. Smith’s spokespersons stated he would not take questions on matters pertaining to his ownership of The Baltimore Sun. He has declined to comment on reporting related to the Sun since. E&P welcomed comment from co-owner Armstrong Williams for this article, with no response.