Twelve senators seek FCC probe of Sinclair news scripts, pause in Tribune review

APRIL 12, 2018 / 1:18 PM
David Shepardson


Excerpt:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twelve U.S. senators on Thursday asked the Federal Communications Commission to investigate Sinclair Broadcasting Group (SBGI.O) for “deliberately distorting news” and asked the commission to pause its ongoing review of the company’s proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media Co (TRCO.N).

In a letter, the senators, 11 Democrats and Independent Bernie Sanders, expressed concern about local news anchors at Sinclair-owned stations around the country being forced to read company-mandated scripts. The scripts criticized “the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country” and have drawn fire.

“We are concerned that Sinclair is engaged in a systematic news distortion operation that seeks to undermine freedom of the press and the robust localism and diversity of viewpoint that is the foundation of our national broadcasting laws,” the senators wrote. They added that it “may have violated the FCC’s longstanding policy against broadcast licensees deliberately distorting news by staging, slanting, or falsifying information.”

Sinclair declined to comment on the senators’ letter, signed by the 11 Democrats, including Senators Maria Cantwell, Tom Udall, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Richard Blumenthal, as well as Sanders.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tribune-media-m-a-sinclair-ma/twelve-senators-seek-fcc-probe-of-sinclair-news-scripts-pause-in-tribune-review-idUSKBN1HJ2VC