Unrest among Baltimore Sun staff as new owner brings change

In January, the Baltimore Sun was purchased by David Smith, an executive chairman of Sinclair, Inc. The media company is based in Hunt Valley and owns more than 200 TV stations across the country. Smith purchased the paper for an undisclosed amount with a conservative commentator, Armstrong Williams. Smith made the purchase with personal money, and the paper is not part of the Sinclair company’s holdings. At a tense meeting last January, according to reporting in the Baltimore Banner, Smith encouraged the Sun staff to emulate the journalism of the flagship station in the Sinclair chain, Fox45 in Baltimore. In recent weeks, stories by Fox 45 reporters have begun appearing in the pages of the Sun. This prompted a letter posted on social media from the Baltimore Sun Guild, the union representing the Sun staff, to Smith and Armstrong. The letter raised concerns about a lack of transparency about the paper's new relationship with Fox 45 is, and about what it might become in the future. Christine Condon, an environmental reporter for the Sun who serves as the Unit Chair of the Guild, joins Midday to discuss the situation at one of Baltimore's oldest newspapers. We invited the Sun’s co-owner, Armstrong Williams, to join the show. He did not respond to our invitation.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.