Join "The Wire" creator David Simon in telling the Tribune newspapers not to sell to the Koch bro...

A newspaper -- an honest one -- was a marvelous place to learn about the world and to convey what is learned to the community it serves. But this is only true, of course, if the newspaper is of and for the community and if it values its daily report more than any pre-determined point of view.

So it is alarming to me that the Koch brothers, the billionaire duo so actively engaged in supporting a particular political ideology, are interested in buying the Baltimore Sun and a dozen other newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Hartford Courant.

A sale to the Koch brothers would indeed be a journey from bad to worse. The only way to restore print journalism for the civic good is to have it practiced and owned by those who live in and are dedicated to the community itself.

Join me in signing a petition asking the Tribune Company not to sell to the Koch brothers, and to instead support the local ownership of American news organizations.