FCC Commissioner Says Agency Has Sold Out to Sinclair FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is slamming her own agency for selling out consumers and competition simply to please broadcasting giant Sinclair. FCC boss Ajit Pai is already under investigation by the FCC's bipartisan Inspector General for being far too cozy with Sinclair. And Pai's FCC has been happily gutting decades-old media consolidation rules designed to protect competition just so Sinclair can complete its $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media. Should that deal be approved, Sinclair will own 230 stations reaching 72% of the nation's households.

This entire fracas has seen renewed attention this week after Deadspin posted a video showing how Sinclair forces anchors to parrot often factually-dubious segments in perfect, albeit creepy unison. Democrats have complained that Sinclair's "news" programming simply parrots Trump's claims that any news outlet that criticizes his administration is "fake." But many Conservatives also oppose the deal, and say that Sinclair's added power will simply crowd out smaller Conservative media voices attempting to gain traction in the market. For her part, FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel isn't impressed. The FCC Commissioner tells the Daily Beast that the agency is "custom building" its policies specifically to aid Sinclair broadcasting, without considering the impact this kind of rampant consolidation has on the quality of local media and competition in the broadcasting space. In addition to gutting media consolidation rules designed to protect smaller competitors, the FCC is rushing through its ATSC 3.0 next-gen TV standard, a large number of patents for which are owned by...Sinclair. “Every element of our media policy is custom-built for the business plan of Sinclair Broadcasting," said Rosenworcel. "That is stunning, it is striking, and it looks like something’s wrong. And I’m not the only one to think that. We’re burning down the values of media policy in this agency in order to service this company." Pressure is mounting for the Ajit Pai-run FCC to block Sinclair's latest megamerger, though, much like his rushed repeal of net neutrality, it doesn't seem likely that Pai's interested in heeding the warnings of critics. Pressure is mounting for the Ajit Pai-run FCC to block Sinclair's latest megamerger, though, much like his rushed repeal of net neutrality, it doesn't seem likely that Pai's interested in heeding the warnings of critics.







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Most recommended from 36 comments

Quattrohead

Premium Member

join:2005-02-09 9 recommendations Quattrohead Premium Member They are trying to do their best....no story here The script, as transcribed by ThinkProgress based on the KOMO (Seattle) version, reads:



Hi, I’m(A) ____________, and I’m (B) _________________…



(B) Our greatest responsibility is to serve our Northwest communities. We are extremely proud of the quality, balanced journalism that KOMO News produces.



(A) But we’re concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.



(B) More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories… stories that just aren’t true, without checking facts first.



(A) Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control ‘exactly what people think’…This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.



(B) At KOMO it’s our responsibility to pursue and report the truth. We understand Truth is neither politically ‘left nor right.’ Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.



(A) But we are human and sometimes our reporting might fall short. If you believe our coverage is unfair please reach out to us by going to KOMOnews.com and clicking on CONTENT CONCERNS. We value your comments. We will respond back to you.



(B) We work very hard to seek the truth and strive to be fair, balanced and factual… We consider it our honor, our privilege to responsibly deliver the news every day.



(A) Thank you for watching and we appreciate your feedback.

Anon80f05

@comcast.net 3 recommendations Anon80f05 Anon FCC's political split in evidence once again When the FCC was controlled by DEMS 3-2, the 2 Republican commissioners attacked FCC policies non-stop. Now that the FCC is controlled by Republicans 3-2, the 2 DEM commissioners attack every FCC policy non-stop. And in both cases the FCC is merely carrying out the policies of the administration in charge in Washington. So attacks by Rosenworcel are inconsequential. If people want changes in the FCC, then it must be done in the voting booth and that only happens every 4 yrs in a presidential election. Until then the FCC has its marching orders.

HarleyDude

join:2002-01-04

Kennett Square, PA 3 recommendations HarleyDude Member Same old Same old Jessica Rosenworcel, FCC commissioner (Democrat), Ajit Pai, Chairman FCC (Republican). What did you expect? This bickering and finger pointing will never stop. It doesn't matter what the topic is, they will keep throwing insults at each other. Get used to it. microphone

Premium Member

join:2009-04-29

Parkville, MD 2 recommendations microphone Premium Member I watched the local news this morning It was on a Sinclair station. In fact it was their very first station, WBFF-45 in Baltimore. The other news channels in the area stop their news at 7:00am and go to the National News which is inconvenient for me. While the ownership may have conservative viewpoints, the newscast is not a political cast of talking heads like the cable "news" stations. It is news, traffic, weather, and some investigative reporting.



Nevertheless, Sinclair made a bad judgement call, in my opinion, of having the news anchors read a script talking about "fake news." When this occurred however, they provided a way for viewers to provide their feedback.



I have had some disagreements with Sinclair over the years. For example, when Digital TV was coming around, they considered making their alternate channels be pay TV; but fortunately, that never happened. But all in all, channel 45 has been an asset to the television community.

dolphins

Clean Up Our Oceans

Premium Member

join:2001-08-22

Westville, NJ 2 recommendations dolphins Premium Member Sinclair= Right-Wing propaganda poisoning the media -Turn off the TV.

-Delete your social media accounts.

-Shield yourself with the truth.