Conservative media mogul David Smith owns a local-TV behemoth and has a long-held distrust of print media, which he once said serves “no real purpose." He suggested the paper could do that by following the lead of the local Sinclair TV station, Fox45, whose investigative series “Project Baltimore" focuses on the performance of local public schools. “David’s a really smart businessman who has been devoted to Baltimore for decades," veteran media banker John Chachas said. The son of Julian Sinclair Smith, an electrical engineer who founded Baltimore’s WBFF television station, David Smith built Sinclair into a local-TV giant alongside his three brothers. Alden eventually prevailed, and Bainum, who had his sights on the Sun, went on to launch Baltimore Banner, a rival news website that employs many former Sun staffers.

Source: Wall Street Journal January 20, 2024 14:06 UTC