If you read the Chicago Tribune or check out the Los Angeles Times, or simply care about democracy at all, this is an important message.

Rupert Murdoch, media mogul, will soon have the opportunity to own the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune after some changes to FCC policies from the struggling news conglomerate Tribune Co.

Some may say that this business model is popular because newspapers in general are struggling and need wealthy businessmen to save them. However, of all of the people that could buy these two newspapers, Murdoch is probably the worst and arguably corrupt.

For those who are not familiar with Murdoch, he is the most powerful media controller in the world. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of News Corporation, the world’s second-largest media conglomerate in the world next to The Walt Disney Company. News Corporation owns companies such as 20th Century Fox, the Fox cable networks, a variety of popular Internet websites, newspapers such as the UK’s The Sun, Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch, HarperCollins publishers and of course, the National Rugby League.

Most recently, he owned News of the World until the UK shut down operations after 168 years of publication. Murdoch then bought the paper in 1969 and transformed it into a tabloid in 1984.

In 2011, a phone-hacking scandal was revealed in which News of the World reporters tapped into celebrities’, politicians’ and members of the British Royal Family’s phones to get stories. One case involved the hacking of a murdered schoolgirl’s phone as well. Murdoch went on to say that this paper was only 1 percent of his conglomerate, and he had nothing to do with what happened. The paper has since been shut down.

Murdoch’s publications propagate stories and content that are filled with sex, crime and violence. Iron-core journalism is journalism that remains truthful, exposes wrongdoing and aids citizens to be more in tune with society. This news is hard news, not the daily Kardashian updates or what type of drug Lindsay Lohan did last night. This news exposes corruption and serves the people, not media interests to generate a profit. That is all Murdoch seems to care about. Murdoch’s The Sun has “Page Three Girls” in which naked women are printed across the page. While it may be a tabloid, this is something that would become popular in the U.S. if Murdoch gets the chance to buy the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. While he already owns U.S. publications, these are two very major newspapers in the second and third largest cities in the country. His influence in America will be even more evident.

This can be stopped through petitioning the FCC not to change the current policies in media ownership. By changing these policies, it serves up American media to Murdoch on a silver platter. www.freepress.net set up a petition for citizens to sign on its website. Luckily, a number of senators are against the policy changes for media ownership, but without citizen voices, the FCC could make these policy changes a reality.

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