Baltimore Sun sold to Sinclair executive chairman

The Baltimore Sun, the largest newspaper in Maryland, has been acquired in a private deal by David D. Smith, executive chairman of Hunt Valley-based television station owner Sinclair Inc.

Lorraine Mirabella of The Sun reports, “Smith said Monday that he acquired Baltimore Sun Media on Friday from hedge fund Alden Global Capital, marking the first time in nearly four decades that The Sun will be in the hands of a local owner.

“Smith decided to personally buy the newspaper, along with the Capital Gazette papers in Annapolis, Carroll County Times, Towson Times and several other Baltimore-area weeklies and magazines, because of the publications’ focus on local news in the Baltimore area.

“‘I’m in the news business because I believe … we have an absolute responsibility to serve the public interest,’ Smith said in an interview. ‘I think the paper can be hugely profitable and successful and serve a greater public interest over time.'”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.