Sinclair Opponents Protest Tribune Deal Outside FCC Meeting
Opponents of Sinclair’s buy of Tribune protested the FCC commissioners’ meeting Thursday (see 1807120033) and were joined by a panel truck across the street bearing a giant video screen showing footage critical of Sinclair from the HBO show Last Week…
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Tonight, Media Matters and sports website Deadspin. The protest was a joint effort from numerous opponents of the deal, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, Free Press and Demand Progress, and was timed with the delivery of 670,000 petitions urging the FCC to reject the transaction, Free Press said. “With Sinclair’s long history of using mergers to abandon localism and diversity in this way, the Commission must deny Sinclair’s proposed acquisition here if it intends to uphold its own public interest goals of promoting localism and diversity in broadcasting,” CEO Craig Aaron said. Although groups opposing Sinclair/Tribune electronically submitted their petitions opposing the deal to the FCC, a small group of people against the takeover gathered outside commissioners' meeting. One we briefly spoke with had a sign saying #StopSinclair; another was carrying boxes of what appeared to be the physical petitions. The combining TV station owners continue countering attacks on their divestiture plans, local news broadcasts and scale, as they seek FCC OK (see 1807060033).