Conservative commentator and entrepreneur Armstrong Williams is joining Sinclair Broadcasting chairman David Smith in purchasing The Baltimore Sun, the newspaper reported on Tuesday (Jan. 16).Williams share in ownership is for an undisclosed amount, but he says he is planning to work together with Smith to strengthen local journalism in the area.“We just want to get back to journalism,” Williams told , whose website, Journal-isms, covers diversity issues in the news media. “We want to show that newspapers can work if you have the right partnership. I couldn’t have a better partner than David Smith.”

Williams, 61, owns the broadcast company Howard Stirk Holdings, which operates seven television stations nationwide and also produces “The Armstrong Williams Show.” He is also known for his staunch conservative viewpoints, which he has expressed in his nationally syndicated columns. 

He has also published several books, including What Black and White America Must Do Now: A Prescription to Move Beyond Race and Crisis in the Classroom: Crisis in Education, which he co-authored with former HUD Secretary Benjamin Carson and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump. The three of them also launched an education advocacy non-profit last year, also called Crisis in the Classroom.Crump praised Williams for entering the deal in a message posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Smith did not disclose the purchase price for The Sun but said that he bought it with his own funds and independently of Sinclair Broadcasting, according to the newspaper. He expects to grow subscriptions by placing a focus on reporting local news and increasing the utilization of video, social media, and other technologies.

He has also been a supporter of Republicans and Sinclair is known as a conservative media conglomerate with a long list of broadcast stations in multiple markets. They’ve been criticized heavily for promoting conservative messaging in their content. With the purchase, he will also own several other daily and weekly newspapers in the Baltimore area.

The deal takes The Sun off the hands of investment firm Alden Global Capital, putting it back under local ownership for the first time in almost 40 years.“I’m in the news business because I believe... we have an absolute responsibility to serve the public interest,” Smith told . “I think the paper can be hugely profitable and successful and serve a greater public interest over time.”